Wanderers

Through the life stories of 10 wandering women, Andrews explores “the previously unacknowledged breadth, depth and distinctiveness” of their writing, and reveals a rich “female tradition of walking” . . . For Linda Cracknell, who lives in the Tayside town of Aberfeldy, both writing and walking are empathetic activities. The paths she walks “ring with the voices of earlier women-walkers who passed there”. After writing this book, Andrews too finds her paths “companioned” (to use Nan Shepherd’s word) by other women-wanderers, part of a rich cultural heritage that her fascinating research has revealed. * The Guardian *
The reader of Kerri Andrews’s Wanderers: A History of Women Walking laces her boots and strikes out with ten women who walked, wrote and wrote about walking . . . [She] shares the rapture of Virginia Woolf’s cry: “Oh the joy of walking!” * Laura Freeman, The Critic *
Historically, women were consigned to domestic tasks that hemmed them in. For a woman to walk as freely as a man was a radical act and fraught with potential danger. Here Andrews turns a scholarly eye on ten women throughout history, most of whom lived in Great Britain, who walked or, rather, hiked long distances. . . . Andrews interacts with each walker by either tracing similar paths herself or reflecting upon those paths’ significance. * Booklist *
Think of famous walkers and it’s men like Wordsworth and Keats who likely spring to mind. But that's only half the story: here Andrews fills in the blanks with a history of women walkers of the last 300 years. * Country Walking Magazine *
Andrews features a wonderful cast of characters . . . It still feels somehow radical to talk about women ramblers and flâneuses; the sensitive, well-researched portraits in Wanderers rightly begin to redress the balance. * The Idler *
The history of walking has always been women's history, Kerri Andrews declares, even if the weight of man-made literature suggests otherwise. Wanderers is about 10 women "who have found walking essential to their sense of themselves as women, writers and people", including Elizabeth Carter, a parson's daughter of the 18th-century, who wanted nothing more than to be taken for a vagabond, to Cheryl Strayed, author of Wild, who set out to be "a woman who walks alone in the wilderness for eleven hundred miles". * Sunday Telegraph *
Andrews' academic background is balanced by her sociable writing style which gives it a broad appeal. This is a truly pioneering book from an author whose love of her subject shines through. Whether you read it from the comfort of your armchair or take it with you on your next walking adventure, it is the kind of book that will stay with you for many years to come. * Yorkshire Gazette and Herald, 'Books of the Month' *
Literary scholar (and walker) Andrews offers a deft introduction to ten women walker/writers. Her overall point is that women's walking has been overlooked by those (men) who have considered walking a modern cultural activity . . . Recommended * Choice *
The written works of these women walker-authors offer new insights into the role of walking in human creativity. They also demonstrate that while women at times walked for the same purposes as men, the experience of being on foot has often meant markedly different things for them. As Andrews makes clear, the burdens placed on women throughout the centuries have never stopped them from walking. * Geographical Magazine *
This book not only brings to light some women who walked and have been hidden in the shadows, but inspires us to consider our own reasons for walking and what we get from it. Kerri brings her own experiences and connections with the women she introduces in the book into each chapter, and her own love of walking shines through . . . If I hadn’t read this book already, it would be on my wish list this Christmas! * Scottish Mountaineer *
In giving voice to female walker-writers, Wanderers fills out some big blanks in the history of walking, from an 18th Century pioneer to walkers of the present day . . . In Andrews' sensitive portrayals there's a sense of identification with her subjects. This may be as close as you'll get to the inside of Nan Shepherd's head - and that seems like an interesting place to be. * UKHillwalking.com *
What unites these accounts of plucky women is that they use walking and wandering to break gender barriers and to acquire a measure of freedom and independence. * Perceptive Travel *
[Kerri Andrews'] study successfully fills in several of the blanks that have characterized and marginalized the Western history of female walking until today. As such, Andrews’s pioneering book is a must-read for any scholars working on the interplays of gender and mobility. * Transfers: Interdisciplinary Journal of Mobility Studies *
A wild portrayal of the passion and spirit of female walkers and the deep sense of “knowing” that they found along the path. * Raynor Winn, author of The Salt Path *
For centuries, women have walked for freedom, pleasure, identity and solace: they have walked-for-their-lives. Kerri Andrews’s remarkable history of these wanderers is timely and exciting. Enchanted by Andrews’s accessible, engaging, rigorous work, I opened this book and instantly found that I was part of a conversation I didn’t want to leave. A dazzling, inspirational history. * Helen Mort, author of No Map Could Show Them *