Women Travelers - A Century of Trailblazing Adventures 1850-1950

£24.00

Inspiring stories of a century of pioneering women, with essays by Alexandra Lapierre, the bestselling novelist of “Artemesia”.

An award-winning novelist brings to life the stories of the greatest women adventurers in history. Crossing five continents, these indomitable women faced unimaginable dangers, from deserts and jungles to mountains and icebergs, often armed with little in the way of specialist equipment other than an umbrella and a “good, thick skirt.” Spanning a century, this book mixes triumph and tragedy as it follows these heroines’ extraordinary adventures.

The 31 women celebrated here hail from 13 countries and travelled to the farthest reaches of the globe. They include Fanny Vandegrift, the wife of Robert Louis Stevenson who ventured all the way from Indiana to Samoa, and Nellie Bly, an American journalist and social reformer who took on Jules Verne’s challenge and went around the world in 72 days.

Arguably twice as brave as their male counterparts, these adventurous women set off into the unknown while flying in the face of social convention, and often at grwta personl cost. Yet their bold journeys across the globe had long-lasting effects on the role and status of women in society, and they made important contributions to disciplines as varied as medicine, archaeology and anthropology.

Archival photographs and extracts from diaries, letters and other writings thrillingly bring to life the unquenchable spirit of adventure of these courageous women.