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emilybh's review against another edition
5.0
'My life is now (in this season) one of wild roving, after my years of helpless sickness. I ride like a Borderer, - walk like a pedlar, - climb like a Mountaineer...' (Harriet Martineau)
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I really enjoyed this account of women and walking. It included people I'd heard of - Virginia Woolf, Dorothy Wordsworth - and several I hadn't - Elizabeth Carter, Ellen Weeton. The women Andrews writes about walked in different places - the Cairngorms, the Lake District, London streets - and with different identities, from their class to their health, family ties or independence. They covered miles and miles, and found different types of freedom.
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I really enjoyed this account of women and walking. It included people I'd heard of - Virginia Woolf, Dorothy Wordsworth - and several I hadn't - Elizabeth Carter, Ellen Weeton. The women Andrews writes about walked in different places - the Cairngorms, the Lake District, London streets - and with different identities, from their class to their health, family ties or independence. They covered miles and miles, and found different types of freedom.
rabse's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
3.5
carsonwolfe's review against another edition
3.0
I like the concept of this book, but it's very white centred and almost talks from the lens of Elizabeth Carter inventing walking for leisure. I'm not an expert, but I'm sure people have been walking since humans grew legs. It should be called 'a short history of white women walking'.
Having said that. I'm here for books written by women, about women. So I give this book 3 stars.
Having said that. I'm here for books written by women, about women. So I give this book 3 stars.
alsvider's review against another edition
3.0
I was really looking forward to this book, but ultimately it felt like a set of assigned essays written by a college student.
schopflin's review against another edition
slow-paced
3.0
I don't know why I didn't like this book more. It's not badly written, it's a subject of interest and a format I usually like. I just somehow wasn't convinced that there was a common theme to all the female walkers described. When Olivia Laing does this it doesn't seem to matter though. Who knows?