While recovering, Abbs becomes obsessed with walking-with women and walking. She “grew up carless,” a member of a “self-exiled English family” raised in Wales. Her father followed Rousseau’s ideas of the importance of the outdoors, of freedom, notwithstanding the fact that Rousseau abandoned all his children. This is a book that found its perfect writer.Īnnabel Abbs has a near out-of-body experience after a horrific fall, literally breaking her skull, where she realizes “without my legs I am captive.” I read this book with hunger and it fed me well. That privilege to do whatever it is we wish to do, see what we wish to see, for whatever our purpose, in safety, without being limited by our vulnerabilities or worrying for our lives. Windswept crosses continents and centuries in a provocative and poignant account of the power of walking in nature.Windswept: Walking the Paths of Trailblazing Women acknowledges the concurrent dreams and fears of women to experience the world with the privilege given to men-that privilege of power in the natural world. Abbs explores a forgotten legacy of moving on foot and discovers how it has helped women throughout history to find their voices, to reimagine their lives, and to break free from convention.Īs Abbs traces the paths of exceptional women, she realizes that she, too, is walking away from her past and into a radically different future. Part historical inquiry and part memoir, the stories of these writers and artists are laced together by moments in Abb’s own life, beginning with her poet father who raised her in the Welsh countryside as an “experiment,” according to the principles of Rousseau.

In captivating and elegant prose, Abbs follows in the footsteps of women who boldly reclaimed wild landscapes for themselves, including Georgia O’Keeffe in the empty plains of Texas and New Mexico, Nan Shepherd in the mountains of Scotland, Gwen John following the French River Garonne, Daphne du Maurier along the River Rhône, and Simone de Beauvoir―who walked as much as twenty-five miles a day in a dress and espadrilles―through the mountains and forests of France. “A gorgeous and revelatory blend of memoir, travelogue, and long-forgotten history.”―Abbott KahlerĪnnabel Abbs’s Windswept: Walking the Paths of Trailblazing Women is a beautifully written meditation on connecting with the outdoors through the simple act of walking.

Windswept book annabel abbs