I am an author and adventure activist who believes passionately in the power of big and small adventures to change your life for the better when youâve been through dark and difficult times. I have written three books, all of which I describe as âalternative adventure storiesâ because they donât look like the usual âBoyâs Ownâ tales of danger and derring-do (although they do include some of that, too!). Iâm drawn to the words of wonderful women warriors who give me strength in times of sadness. These books have inspired me to live big and bravely in what is often a challenging but (mainly) wonderful world.
I wrote
Save Me from the Waves: An adventure from sea to summit
This is a book that changed my life. In fact, I probably want to be Elizabeth Gilbert. Witty, wise, and wonderful, it made me want to go to Italy to eat, to pilgrimage to India to pray, to fall in love in Bali, and to write about that journey.
I read it nearly twenty years ago and it still inspires me today.
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OVER 15 MILLION COPIES SOLD WORLDWIDE
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'Eat, Pray, Love has been passed from woman to woman like the secret of life' - Sunday Times
'A defining work of memoir' - Sunday Telegraph
'Engaging, intelligent, and highly entertaining' - Time
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It's 3 a.m. and Elizabeth Gilbert is sobbing on the bathroom floor. She's in her thirties, she has a husband, a house, they're trying for a baby - and she doesn't want any of it.
A bitter divorce and a turbulent love affair later, she emerges battered and bewildered and realises it is time to pursue her ownâŚ
The first book I read that spoke intimately to my belief in the power of walking (in fact any physical and mental endurance challenge) to change your life for the better when youâve been through dark and difficult times.
I also loved it for its celebration of nature, the joy of journeying alone, and having random encounters with strangers.
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ⢠A powerful, blazingly honest memoir: the story of an eleven-hundred-mile solo hike that broke down a young woman reeling from catastropheâand built her back up again.
At twenty-two, Cheryl Strayed thought she had lost everything. In the wake of her motherâs death, her family scattered and her own marriage was soon destroyed. Four years later, with nothing more to lose, she made the most impulsive decision of her life. With no experience or training, driven only by blind will, she would hike more than a thousand miles of the Pacific Crest Trail from theâŚ
Dive deep into the high octane world of sport. Travel the world with a comical twist as Zara seeks her perfect partner. But are there underlying secrets at play. Returning from Zaraâs hedonistic past, we career into lust & temptation head on in the form of Tyler Montgomery causing sexualâŚ
I loved this book for the wallop of its beginning, which details that the narrator, Raynor (and her husband, Moth), were driven to walk Englandâs 630-mile South West Coast Path because they became homeless.
This is an extraordinarily powerful example of how when life gives you lemons, an adventure can make you lemonade.
"Polished, poignant... an inspiring story of true love."-Entertainment Weekly
A BEST BOOK OF 2019, NPR's Book Concierge SHORTLISTED FOR THE COSTA BOOK AWARD OVER 400,000 COPIES SOLD WORLDWIDE
The true story of a couple who lost everything and embarked on a transformative journey walking the South West Coast Path in England
Just days after Raynor Winn learns that Moth, her husband of thirty-two years, is terminally ill, their house and farm are taken away, along with their livelihood. With nothing left and little time, they make the brave and impulsive decision to walk the 630 miles of the sea-swept SouthâŚ
A book I read fairly recently about a woman who started adventuring in her twenties, at a much younger age than me. Yet her story of running around the coast of Britain still gave me a great sense of solidarity, particularly because she wasnât a very good runner when she started and couldnât read a map. Thank you, Elise! Ditto!
Longlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award 2021
Running away from your problems doesn't solve anything - but sometimes it's more fun than dealing with them
Elise was spending a lot of time crying on buses. She had just graduated from university; she had a shiny new flat, her first proper job and a budding relationship - and they were all making her utterly miserable. Sitting at work one day, she hit upon the obvious solution:
Run 5,000 miles around the coast of Britain, carrying her kit on her back.
This book is a literary historical novel. It is set in Britain immediately after World War II, when people â gay, straight, young, and old - are struggling to get back on track with their lives, including their love lives. Because of the turmoil of the times, the number ofâŚ
This is the only novel on my list of five that features the life and adventures of a fabulous fictional female protagonist, Emma Harte.
This is a page-turning read that is up there with one of my favorite books of all time. I became so engrossed in the ups and downs of her life that she became totally real to me, and I couldnât put it downâand that is my benchmark of a great book.
The unputdownable multi-million copy bestseller charting the rags to riches story of Emma Harte
With new Foreword from Fern Britton.
A WOMAN'S AMBITION... In the brooding moors above a humble Yorkshire village stood Fairley Hall. There, Emma Harte, its oppressed but resourceful servant girl, acquired a shrewd determination. There, she honed her skills, discovered the meaning of treachery, learned to survive, to become a woman, and vowed to make her mark on the world.
A JOURNEY OF A LIFETIME... In the wake of tragedy she rose from poverty to magnificent wealth as the iron-willed force behind a thriving international enterprise.âŚ
An adventure storyâwith a difference. From sea to summitâfully soundtracked.
Jessica Hepburn is a middle-aged, unlikely athlete who hates exercise and believes the only reason to do it is for food, booze, and box sets on the sofa. But after a succession of hard life experiences she decides to adventure her way out of heartbreak and climb to the top of the world (literally) fuelled by listening to every episode of her favourite radio programme turned podcast: the BBCâs Desert Island Discs. A funny, moving, unique memoir about the redemptive power of music and mountains and how to live big and bravely when life doesnât go to plan, which will inspire every reader to go on their own adventureâbig or small.
The Road from Belhaven is set in 1880s Scotland. Growing up in the care of her grandparents on Belhaven Farm, Lizzie Craig discovers as a small girl that she can see the future. But she soon realises that she must keep her gift a secret. While she can sometimes glimpseâŚ
Romantic & sexy dreams link a false princess to a dangerous, disgraced fae prince in this fun, steamy enemies-to-lovers romantasy. As a royal decoy, trained to replace the Krastel princess even in a political marriage, Astraâs life is not her own. With a duty like that, how can she dreamâŚ