BOOKS BY MY FRIENDS
Embrace of the Wild-Inspired by Equestrian Explorer Isabella Bird by LINDA BALLOU
Welcome to Books By My Friends, Linda. Wow! You have an amazing book to tell us about today and the inspiration that motivated you to tell this story. Let’s get started!
JH: What’s the blurb for your book Embrace of the Wild-Inspired by Equestrian Explorer Isabella Bird?
LB: Some people live to travel, Isabella Lucy Bird traveled to live. A story of raw courage and fierce strength of a plucky English woman’s un-flinching desire to be free. Impetuous, strong-willed Isabella defied her strict Evangelical upbringing and the societal expectations of the Victorian age to fulfill her dreams. She redeemed her body after botched surgeries on her spine resulting in years of chronic back pain. She mustered the stamina to ride on the flank of a living volcano in Hawai’i? Herded feral cattle in the wilds of the Rocky Mountains and convinced ruffian, Rocky Mountain Jim, to guide her up Longs Peak. Ride with this intrepid horsewoman who broke barriers at every turn to become the most beloved travel writer of her time.
JH: What inspired you to write this story?
LB: My first travel writing job was in Telluride, Colorado at the Skyline Ranch where I fell in love with the majesty of the realm and discovered Isabella Lucy Bird author of A Ladies Life in the Rockies. She was a blend of frailty and ferocity determined to know the Wild West. She rode 800 miles solo through the Rockies in winter relying on the kindness of settlers to give her a warm bed at night. So, inspired was I with the spirit of this woman I went to the Rocky Mountain National Park to hike in her footprints. The story that evolved from that experience won the Solas Award at Travel Tales Publications. For at least a decade I have entertained the idea of writing her transformative story. The pandemic gave me the time. It became my salvation during the year of the virus to shine a light on this inspirational woman who became the best-loved travel writer of her day. (1873) I published Embrace of Wild inspired by this indomitable spirit in 2021.
JH: What one thing do you love most about writing?
LB: Writing allows me to relive my most memorable experiences and forces me to think about how they transformed me. I love being part of the "long conversation" that is literature. It excites me to see interconnections between what I experience at what others have reflected upon. Writing connects me with others alive today and kindred spirits who lived in a different time. It also allows me to be free of my own limitations and become the person I am writing about for that moment.
JH: What’s next for you in the way of writing/publishing?
LB: I am working on a second travel collection title Lost Angel Unleashed that will be part memoir, part travel essay, and part travel article. My adventure travel writer wings were clipped during the pandemic. Now, that I can fly again, I will be collecting new adventures for that book.
JH: How can readers contact you?
LB: Writing allows me to relive my most memorable experiences and forces me to think about how they transformed me. I love being part of the "long conversation" that is literature.
BIO:
Adventure travel writer, Linda Ballou, is the author of three novels and numerous travel articles that have appeared in national publications. Her novel Wai-nani, a New Voice from old Hawai’i, set in pre-contact Hawai’i is her ultimate destination piece. It takes you to the wild heart of old Hawai’i, a place you can’t get to any other way. Hang on tight for a thrilling ride from the show jumping arena to the ethereal beauty of the John Muir Wilderness in The Cowgirl Jumped Over the Moon. Her pandemic baby, Embrace of the Wild, is historical fiction inspired by the dynamic Isabella Bird who explored Hawai’i and the Rocky Mountains in the late 1870’s. Linda’s travel collection Lost Angel Walkabout-One Traveler’s Tales is an armchair traveler’s delight filled with adventure to whet your wander lust. Linda loves living on the coast of California and has created a collection of her favorite day trips for you in Lost Angel in Paradise.
JH: Thanks for visiting BBMF today, Linda. You have a wonderful way of helping readers learn about real people with your historical fiction. Please keep us posted on the next book and come back when it’s ready to share.
Please feel free to share your thoughts in the comment box below.
All good things,
Joy
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Thank you for sharing my story Joy. I was lucky enough to be the Isabella Bird Expert in the BBC documentary Trailblazer that aired in the UK> Hopefully, it will come to the U.S. I will keep you posted. Chees, Linda
Sounds like a fascinating story! Good luck with it.