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 ""In precise, rhythmical, elegant sentences, Stephens delivers a succinct but nuanced appraisal of Hugo’s life and works. His biography succeeds in its mission to look beyond the clichés that encrust the icon and paint the “arch Romantic” in all his turbulent complexity."" - TLS ""[A] fascinating study . . . In Cloven Country, Harte sets out to discover why the 'Devil' appears in so many of our place names, and so many of the accompanying tales and folklore. Along the way it becomes an invaluable guide to some of our more puzzling local oddities . . . It all makes for a highly evocative and original guide to our ever-fascinating, multilayered landscape, so full of shadowy mysteries and stories."" - The Sunday Times ""There’s many a good tune played on an old fiddle. This enthusiastic revival of romantic historiography, blissfully innocent of any economic, social or critical theory, will appeal to traditionalists. At the same time, the clear referencing of sources of a much wider range of historical anecdotes than usual means that the reader can check and follow up the plethora of details of English Gypsy life."" - Thomas Acton, Emeritus Professor of Romani Studies, University of Greenwich ""Harte – a curator at Bourne Hall Museum in Surrey – has an encyclopedic knowledge of the diverse sources of England’s traditional tales and proves himself to be an authoritative guide . . . From the demon who appears as a fearsome figure hurling stones, gouging out valleys and heaping up hills, or as a sinister black-clad huntsman with his fiery-eyed hounds howling across Bodmin Moor, to ideas about how a woman’s wit is better than a man’s when it comes to besting the lord of darkness, Harte takes his reader on a devilishly entertaining tour of England and its richly storied landscape."" - The Guardian ""Not only does Karl Bell’s new book provide a colourful compendium of the “merfolk, ghosts, phantom ships and sea monsters” that have populated the seafaring folklore of the Atlantic nations for centuries, he also looks at how and why these tales came into being, and how they evolved and mutated as they were transmitted from place to place over time."" - Roger Cox, The Scotsman ""Jeremy Harte is one of Britain’s leading folklorists, and probably the most perceptive and humane, as well as erudite. All these virtues are displayed to the full in this book, which is a treat for readers at any level of knowledge."" - Ronald Hutton, Professor of History, University of Bristol, and author of The Witch: A History of Fear, from Ancient Times to the Present ""The go-to biography going forward . . . Stephens’ achievement is outstanding. All students of Stoicism, or of Roman imperial history, and the readers, by now in their hundreds of thousands, who find the life and work of Marcus Aurelius to be an inspiration, are very much in his debt."" - Stoicism Today ""The authors shine a light on the impact of hunger on children and their families and the book highlights how food is interwoven in everyday life and in the collective memory, which has an impact on the life course. An excellent book which leads all of us to think hard about these issues."" - Gurpinder Singh Lalli, Professor at University of Wolverhampton School of Education and author of Schools, Food and Social Learning ""The authors shine a light on the impact of hunger on children and their families and the book highlights how food is interwoven in everyday life and in the collective memory, which has an impact on the life course. An excellent book which leads all of us to think hard about these issues."" - Gurpinder Singh Lalli, Professor at University of Wolverhampton School of Education and author of Schools, Food and Social Learning ""Jeremy Harte is one of Britain’s leading folklorists, and probably the most perceptive and humane, as well as erudite. All these virtues are displayed to the full in this book, which is a treat for readers at any level of knowledge."" - Ronald Hutton, Professor of History, University of Bristol, and author of The Witch: A History of Fear, from Ancient Times to the Present ""Harte – a curator at Bourne Hall Museum in Surrey – has an encyclopedic knowledge of the diverse sources of England’s traditional tales and proves himself to be an authoritative guide . . . From the demon who appears as a fearsome figure hurling stones, gouging out valleys and heaping up hills, or as a sinister black-clad huntsman with his fiery-eyed hounds howling across Bodmin Moor, to ideas about how a woman’s wit is better than a man’s when it comes to besting the lord of darkness, Harte takes his reader on a devilishly entertaining tour of England and its richly storied landscape.'"" - The Guardian ""Jeremy Harte’s Travellers Through Time focuses on Romanies in England . . . Harte has spent many years in close conversation with Romani families, in the position of both participant observer and, more importantly, old friend. As such, he is an excellent guide to the history of Britain’s Gypsies. His knowledge of the Anglo-Romani language and its connection to both continental and older British forms of Romani is sound."" - Damian Le Bas, Literary Review ""Connor suggests in his new book: 'Bachelard’s work was a dreamwork, both in the sense that it performs work on dreams and in the sense it gives of a self-amusing dream of what intellectual work could be.' But then what about the writing and the thinking? Connor has some good commentary on those activities too."" - Michael Wood, London Review of Books ""Stephens writes with vigor and verve, and he refrains from flaunting the expertise he clearly possesses. It’s to his credit that in this book he faces head-on the controversies surrounding Marcus’ reign."" - The Wall Street Journal ""This brilliant and patient account of the life and writings of the pre-eminent mid-twentieth-century French philosopher illuminates themes of scientific reason and imaginative poetics that dominated Gaston Bachelard’s wide-ranging concerns. Steven Connor’s book offers an astute guide through the puzzles and seductions of a stylistic master whose work remains crucial to contemporary thought."" - Simon Schaffer, Emeritus Fellow, Darwin College, Cambridge ""Treasures on Earth is a captivating exploration of the myths, legends and historical accounts surrounding buried treasures across Britain. Jeremy Harte delves into the human fascination with hidden wealth, weaving together folklore, archaeology and cultural history to examine how stories of treasure troves, guarded by supernatural beings like demons, fairies and ghosts, have evolved over centuries, reflecting societal values, fears and aspirations. This book is not just a collection of stories but a thoughtful analysis of how legends are shaped by history, geography and human imagination. Harte's engaging narrative and meticulous research make this book a treasure in itself, a perfect read for anyone interested in folklore, history and the enduring allure of hidden riches."" - Simon Costin, Founder and Director, Museum of British Folklore ""Treasures on Earth is a captivating exploration of the myths, legends and historical accounts surrounding buried treasures across Britain. Jeremy Harte delves into the human fascination with hidden wealth, weaving together folklore, archaeology and cultural history to examine how stories of treasure troves, guarded by supernatural beings like demons, fairies and ghosts, have evolved over centuries, reflecting societal values, fears and aspirations. This book is not just a collection of stories but a thoughtful analysis of how legends are shaped by history, geography and human imagination. Harte's engaging narrative and meticulous research make this book a treasure in itself, a perfect read for anyone interested in folklore, history and the enduring allure of hidden riches."" - Simon Costin, Founder and Director, Museum of British Folklore ""Albon and Palmer bring us authentic voices of children and how their “foodways” have changed over time. The excellent selection of their voices and images is salutary and by turns celebratory. I recommend this fascinating book and ask for more."" - Penny Lawrence, Associate Professor, Early Childhood Education, UCL Institute of Education ""Albon and Palmer bring us authentic voices of children and how their “foodways” have changed over time. The excellent selection of their voices and images is salutary and by turns celebratory. I recommend this fascinating book and ask for more."" - Penny Lawrence, Associate Professor, Early Childhood Education, UCL Institute of Education ""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”."" - Michael Kerr, The Sunday Telegraph "". . . presenting meticulous research into the folklore that has bound maritime and coastal communities on both sides of the Atlantic . . . Bell’s research is presented with all the scholarly hallmarks one would expect, including caveats about the reliability of sources and references to other academics . . . For Bell, ancient mariners’ tales and practices can ‘teach us how to confront our own environmental fears as we attempt to navigate the turbulent currents of an uncertain future’."" - Mark Nayler, Times Literary Supplement ""[a] fascinating study . . . In Cloven Country, Harte sets out to discover why the “Devil” appears in so many of our place names, and so many of the accompanying tales and folklore. Along the way it becomes an invaluable guide to some of our more puzzling local oddities . . . It all makes for a highly evocative and original guide to our ever-fascinating, multilayered landscape, so full of shadowy mysteries and stories."" - Sunday Times ""There’s many a good tune played on an old fiddle. This enthusiastic revival of romantic historiography, blissfully innocent of any economic, social or critical theory, will appeal to traditionalists. At the same time, the clear referencing of sources of a much wider range of historical anecdotes than usual means that the reader can check and follow up the plethora of details of English Gypsy life."" - Thomas Acton, Emeritus Professor of Romani Studies, University of Greenwich ""Harte – a curator at Bourne Hall Museum in Surrey – has an encyclopedic knowledge of the diverse sources of England’s traditional tales and proves himself to be an authoritative guide . . . From the demon who appears as a fearsome figure hurling stones, gouging out valleys and heaping up hills, or as a sinister black-clad huntsman with his fiery-eyed hounds howling across Bodmin Moor, to ideas about how a woman’s wit is better than a man’s when it comes to besting the lord of darkness, Harte takes his reader on a devilishly entertaining tour of England and its richly storied landscape."" - The Guardian ""The first English biography of the literary behemoth in over 20 years, in these troubled times of ours Victor Hugo is the antidote we never knew we craved . . . Comprehensive, refreshingly accessible – and concise! – Stephen's pocket-size monograph draws a fascinating portrait both of the private man wrestling with family tragedy and the public figure navigating a society rocked by turmoil . . . Essential reading in a post-truth era!"" - France Today ""[a] thoroughly informative, highly enjoyable new biography . . . Stephens’ achievement in organizing such voluminous material is considerable indeed. His biography is detailed and wide-ranging without ever appearing rushed, while the chronological structure adopted throughout allows for careful consideration of major works alongside reflection on the lesser known . . . a compelling biography."" - Journal of European Studies ""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 ""With so much folklore resting on oral tradition, in which old cycles of storytelling disappear with the breath used to speak them, to be lost beyond recall, it is heartening to have authorities like Jeremy Harte tethering them to the record with books like this. Especially when it makes for such a wickedly good read."" - Literary Review ""Using a wide array of resources, Jeremy Harte introduces us to a 1,000-year journey that began in India but has yet to culminate in a network of safe stopping places for Romany Gypsies still travelling the UK’s roads and byways. Suspicion and open hostility tend to follow them everywhere they go, but Britain’s Romanies have managed to adapt and move with the times, bringing with them a language and culture that has, in many ways, survived to the present day. In this well-researched account that reaches beyond the stereotype, Harte writes of Gypsy history without sentiment or bias, but always with respect."" - Janet Keet-Black, co-founder and Vice President of the Romany and Traveller Family History Society ""This is a history of margins and fringes – not only of the Atlantic Ocean itself, but also of the imaginations of those who worked on its surface and lived at its edges. In his new book, Karl Bell draws on everything from street ballads to scientific treatises, mariners' memoirs, newspaper advertisements, paintings and literature . . . this is an uncanny cornucopia of folklore, hovering on the borderlands between fact and fiction . . . This is a tale that grows stronger in the telling, and it is perhaps in the later chapters that Bell's writing is at its most sparkling."" - Eleanor Barraclough, BBC History Magazine ""A useful primer for anyone interested in Marcus’s thought and the tumultuous events that defined his reign . . . Stephens is particularly insightful [on] Christian persecution, which he contextualizes within the broader clash between Roman and Christian moralities."" - The New Criterion ""In this first-ever biography of Gaston Bachelard in English, Steven Connor not only narrates Bachelard’s life, but presents and explains his works in an admirably accessible manner. This book is an excellent introduction to Bachelard, and a very good read."" - Cristina Chimisso, Professor of Philosophy at the Open University and author of Gaston Bachelard: Critic of Science and the Imagination ""With so much folklore resting on oral tradition, in which old cycles of storytelling disappear with the breath used to speak them, to be lost beyond recall, it is heartening to have authorities like Jeremy Harte tethering them to the record with books like this. Especially when it makes for such a wickedly good read."" - Literary Review ""From the Devil's Chapel in the Forest of Dean to the Devil's Chimney on the Isle of Wight, the dark lord has been credited with creating huge features in our landscape. Jeremy Harte's book is a lighthearted look at the folklore behind these landmarks, uncovering mysterious stories handed down through generations. It's a devilishly entertaining romp through our countryside, just out in paperback."" - This England ""Progressing chronologically from Tudor times when Gypsies first appear in the English written record up to the present day, [Harte] gives an in-depth description of how Romani life, culture and language have developed and adapted through the centuries . . . Harte handles their history with respect; the details of his description, his wry sense of humour and the use of telling quotes are all evidence of his enthusiasm for his subject."" - Sue Turner, Morning Star ""Steven Connor's biography of Bachelard charts a riveting journey of this remarkable French thinker from postman and soldier to Professor at the Sorbonne and philosopher of imagination par excellence. It shows how Bachelard’s unique mind expressed a double fidelity to both rational science and poetic reverie. A creation combustion of images and ideas, to be greatly welcomed. The book is an intellectual delight."" - Richard Kearney, Charles B. Seelig Professor of Philosophy at Boston College ""A model of thoughtfulness, focus, and clarity, this biography of Marcus Aurelius illuminates both the man and his philosophy. It places his life in historical context while offering a lucid window into Stoic thought."" - David Fideler, author of Breakfast with Seneca: A Stoic Guide to the Art of Living ""Although [Harte] will retell a tale with a nimble and gleeful charm, he’ll then carefully examine them. Harte's skill as a writer makes this process seamless. It also renders what could be an academic and slightly dry exercise every bit as interesting as the narratives themselves. Come for the telling of folktales; stay for the workings of folklore. Cloven Country is testament to Harte's deep personal and learned knowledge of the folklore of England. He’s seemingly read everything and been everywhere – and given the book is illustrated from his collection, clearly also bought the postcard. His writing style is wry and frequently aphoristic. Harte is one of Britain's most eminent folklorists, whose previous works have included detailed accounts of gypsy folklore, holy wells and an award-winning book on fairy traditions. As Cloven Country is coming from a more recognised publisher, hopefully his work will now reach a wider audience. Purely on the basis of this erudite, witty and exceptionally entertaining book, it clearly deserves to."" - Ross MacFarlane, Fortean Times ""Bradley Stephens has penned an elegant and succinct biography . . . He allows the dominant forces that influenced Hugo to ebb and flow throughout the narrative without attempting to marshal them into the construction of a particular image, since a guiding principle of this biography is to free Hugo from the myth-making that has beset criticism of his life and works from the beginning (and for which Hugo was partly responsible). As much as this is a biography of Hugo, it is also an exploration of the myth and a warning against the facile portrayals of a legendary and heroic figure. Again and again Stephens sends us away from the confected legend of the man back to the works through which he speaks (and of which Stephens provides excellent translations) . . . One of the jewels of the work is the final chapter, examining Hugo’s afterlives and the myth-making of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries."" - Modern Language Review ""Think of famous walkers and its 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 ""Bell sets out to challenge the traditional heroic narratives of maritime history – those dominated by explorers, naval battles, and technological triumphs . . . Bell’s work is a scholarly, yet accessible, exploration of how supernatural storytelling shaped the cultural imagination of Atlantic seafarers and coastal communities . . . an engaging and vivid book accessible to general readers interested in myth, mystery and the sea, folklorists as well as academics . . . The Perilous Deep makes several important contributions to the study of folklore and maritime history by highlighting the emotional and psychological dimensions of seafaring, often overlooked in traditional histories. It reframes maritime folklore as a dynamic cultural process, not just a repository of quaint tales."" - B.C. Kennedy, Gramarye ""The reader of Kerri Andrew's Wanderers: A History of Women Walking laces her boots and strikes out with ten women who walked, wrote and wrote about walking . . . there are some lovely vignettes . . . The book is at its best when imaginatively recreating the sole-tiring, soul-stirring, stomping simplicity of walking alone. Then the reader shares the rapture of Virginia Woolf's cry: 'Oh the joy of walking!'"" - Laura Freeman, The Critic ""Any account for Hugo’s long and eventful life makes a rattling good yarn. Bradley Stephens’s signal achievement is to have compressed it into a short and lively book that gives accurate thumbnails of all the important works. Full of enthusiasm for his subject, Stephens writes nonetheless with admirable balance and does not mask Hugo’s human flaws. This “Hugo” will surely inspire readers to delve into the wonders of the poetry, drama and fiction created by the pre-eminent public figure of nineteenth-century France and whose image and moral example continue to shape many aspects of our contemporary world."" - David Bellos, Professor of French, Princeton University and author of The Novel of the Century: The Extraordinary Adventure of Les Misérables ""This is my favourite book of the year so far. It is immaculately researched, superbly written and – like all Jeremy Harte’s work – genuinely breaks new ground in folklore studies. Only somebody with his breadth of knowledge, not only of the lore but of related fields of history, myth and literature, could have done as well."" - Ronald Hutton, Professor of History, University of Bristol, and author of Pagan Britain ""This is a rich and well-balanced account of the life and times of one of the most fascinating figures of ancient Rome. Stephens presents Marcus Aurelius in all his human imperfection as he navigates the challenges of war, plague, insurrection, bereavement, and social unrest. A fascinating read for anyone interested in Roman history or Stoic philosophy."" - John Sellars, Reader in the History of Philosophy, Royal Holloway, University of London, and editor of The Cambridge Companion to Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations ""What a wonderful book this is, chock-full of mystery and magic. Promising to take the reader “on a seafaring voyage”, it delivers on all fronts. Beautifully written, engaging throughout and wonderfully illustrated, we encounter the “merfolk, ghosts, phantom ships and sea monsters” that have populated folklore tales, myths, legends and dreams for centuries. Take a dive into The Perilous Deep with Karl Bell, who brings exemplary scholarship as well as storytelling flair to the lightless depths of the “supernatural and monstrous Atlantic”."" - Ruth Heholt, Professor of Literature and Culture, Falmouth University ""This is my favourite book of the year so far. It is immaculately researched, superbly written and – like all Jeremy Harte’s work – genuinely breaks new ground in folklore studies. Only somebody with his breadth of knowledge, not only of the lore but of related fields of history, myth and literature, could have done as well."" - Ronald Hutton, Professor of History, University of Bristol, and author of Pagan Britain ""Jeremy Harte has woven together a rich and wildly entertaining romp through the Devil-pocked English landscape. It is hard not to feel more than a little sympathy, given the amount of times the Devil seems to have been outwitted by all and sundry, but then he must be content in the knowledge that his efforts to disrupt have led to him being memorialised across the UK, in the form of dykes, tors, bridges, cauldrons and punchbowls."" - Simon Costin, director of the Museum of Witchcraft and Magic and founder of the Museum of British Folklore ""Drawing on his expertise as a scholar of Stoic philosophy, William O. Stephens has written a splendid assessment of Marcus Aurelius’ predicaments and achievements. I cannot imagine a more timely and sympathetic account of the Stoic emperor’s humanity."" - A. A. Long, author of Hellenistic Philosophy and Stoic Studies ""More than a compendium of maritime folklore, The Perilous Deep explores how mariners and landlubbers alike have used storytelling to make sense of their relationship to the sea. Engaging with the godlings, leviathans, ghost ships, serpents, selkies and mermaids that haunt the Atlantic, Karl Bell shows that while the ocean can be a place of terror, it is also a place of possibility."" - David Hopkin, Professor of European Social History, Hertford College, University of Oxford, and President of the Folklore Society ""This is a damnably good book, thanks largely to Harte's wit and erudition and ability to take folk tales at more than face value, and tease out inferences that would be opaque in a less insightful writer's hands."" - John Billingsley, Northern Earth ""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 ""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 ""Jeremy Harte has woven together a rich and wildly entertaining romp through the Devil-pocked English landscape. It is hard not to feel more than a little sympathy, given the amount of times the Devil seems to have been outwitted by all and sundry, but then he must be content in the knowledge that his efforts to disrupt have led to him being memorialised across the UK, in the form of dykes, tors, bridges, cauldrons and punchbowls."" - Simon Costin, director of the Museum of Witchcraft and Magic and founder of the Museum of British Folklore ""Engagingly written and with a fitting pinch of mischief, Cloven Country is both erudite and entertaining. Jeremy Harte is one of the country’s leading folklorists and behind his relish for telling tales lies a deep understanding of how devil legends formed in our landscape. Equally delightful to read in a comfy chair or out in the field searching for the many sites he explores."" - Owen Davies, Professor in History, University of Hertfordshire, and president of the Folklore Society ""In this absorbing and entertaining survey, Karl Bell explores how the fear of and fascination with the vastness and unknowable depths of the North Atlantic Ocean were expressed through beliefs and stories of the supernatural. The meaning of spectral ships, omens, talismans, taboos, mermaids, sea monsters and Atlantis are explored using a rich range of sources from journalism, folklore and fiction."" - Owen Davies, Professor of Social History, University of Hertfordshire ""Kerri Andrews’s Wanderers [is] an attempt to redress the masculine bias of our literary history of walking by highlighting the achievements of ten notable female walker-writers . . . what Andrews provides – and it is no mean feat – are inspiring pen-portraits of ten remarkable women, intercut with reminiscences of the author’s own exploits as either a novice or experienced walker . . . Wanderers is a delightful, impassioned study of female walkers, which should significantly raise the profile of a number of its subjects . . . this well-researched and highly readable book [carries] forward the vital project of writing women fully into our literary history of walking."" - Robin Jarvis, Women's Writing ""Engagingly written and with a fitting pinch of mischief, Cloven Country is both erudite and entertaining. Jeremy Harte is one of the country’s leading folklorists and behind his relish for telling tales lies a deep understanding of how devil legends formed in our landscape. Equally delightful to read in a comfy chair or out in the field searching for the many sites he explores."" - Owen Davies, Professor in History, University of Hertfordshire, and president of the Folklore Society ""This is a damnably good book, thanks largely to Harte's wit and erudition and ability to take folk tales at more than face value, and tease out inferences that would be opaque in a less insightful writer's hands."" - John Billingsley, Northern Earth ""Cloven Country is an extensive and well-rounded exploration of the image of the Devil as reflected in the English landscape and folklore record, penned in Harte's inimitable clever and witty style. Although rigorously academic, you always feel like you have sat down for a pint with Jeremy, probably in a pub named after one of the Devil's exploits, whilst being regaled with tales. Pull a chair up to the fire, get yourself a drink and a copy of Cloven Country . . . You will not be disappointed."" - Mark Norman, The Folklore Podcast ""Although [Harte] will retell a tale with a nimble and gleeful charm, he’ll then carefully examine them. Harte's skill as a writer makes this process seamless. It also renders what could be an academic and slightly dry exercise every bit as interesting as the narratives themselves. Come for the telling of folktales; stay for the workings of folklore. Cloven Country is testament to Harte's deep personal and learned knowledge of the folklore of England. He’s seemingly read everything and been everywhere – and given the book is illustrated from his collection, clearly also bought the postcard. His writing style is wry and frequently aphoristic. Harte is one of Britain's most eminent folklorists, whose previous works have included detailed accounts of gypsy folklore, holy wells and an award-winning book on fairy traditions. As Cloven Country is coming from a more recognised publisher, hopefully his work will now reach a wider audience. Purely on the basis of this erudite, witty and exceptionally entertaining book, it clearly deserves to."" - Ross MacFarlane, Fortean Times ""In Wanderers, the reader finds him or herself in excellent company. We accompany literary legends such as Virginia Woolf and Dorothy Wordsworth as well as less well known, but equally exceptional, figures such as Ellen Weeton and Sarah Stoddard Hazlitt as they stride out through the landscapes that inspired and sustained them . . . Although Wanderers does show its readers that there have, historically, been barriers to women’s freedom to walk, its great achievement is to remind us of the prize worth challenging convention and facing those risks, that the freedom to walk is."" - The Pilgrim ""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 ""Cloven Country is an extensive and well-rounded exploration of the image of the Devil as reflected in the English landscape and folklore record, penned in Harte's inimitable clever and witty style. Although rigorously academic, you always feel like you have sat down for a pint with Jeremy, probably in a pub named after one of the Devil's exploits, whilst being regaled with tales. Pull a chair up to the fire, get yourself a drink and a copy of Cloven Country . . . You will not be disappointed."" - Mark Norman, The Folklore Podcast ""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."" - 'Top Picks of 2020' UKHillwalking.com ""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'