Author(s): Annabel Abbs

Travel Literature

The story of extraordinary women who lost their way - their sense of self, their identity, their freedom - and found it again through walking in the wild. A feminist exploration of the power of walking in nature, following in the footsteps of Gwen John, Georgia O'Keeffe, Frieda Lawrence, Clara Vyvyan, Simone de Beauvoir and Nan Shepherd. Recovering from a life-threatening accident, Annabel Abbs rediscovered a lost love of long, wild hikes. Consequently fascinated by the art, literature and philosophy of walking in nature, she realised it had never before been told from a woman's point of view. In Windswept, she retraces the lives and walks of remarkable women who found solace, redemption and personal and artistic freedom in walking. From  Nan Shepherd's iconic wanderings through the Scottish Highlands, to the isolation of Texas and New Mexico where Georgia O'Keeffe roamed and following Gwen John's path along the Garbonne, Windswept crosses continents and centuries in a beautifully written, feminist meditation on the power of walking in nature.