Glowing still : a woman's life on the road / Sara Wheeler.
Sara Wheeler is Britain's foremost woman travel writer. From the Antarctic to Zanzibar, 'Glowing Still' is the story of her travelling life-what is "important, revealing or funny"-in a notoriously testosterone-laden field. Growing up among blue-collar Conservatives in Bristol where 'we didn't know anyone who wasn't like us', Wheeler knew she needed to get away. In her twenties she began a dramatic escape: Pole to Pole, via Poland. As she writes in the introduction: when she set sail, 'role models were scarce in the travel-writing game.' But advancing years usher in unheralded freedoms, and journey's end finds Wheeler at peace among Zanzibar dhows, contemplating our connection with other lives-the irreplaceable value that travel brings-and paying homage to her heroines. 'Surely,' wrote Freya Stark, 'of all the wonders of the world, the horizon is the greatest.'
Record details
- ISBN: 9781408716731 (hardcover)
- Physical Description: 351 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm
- Publisher: London : Abacus Books, 2023.
Content descriptions
| Formatted Contents Note: | Introduction -- At least 300: Antarctica -- Moni sou?: Greece -- Ladyland : India -- The storming army : Africa -- Not even past : North America -- Its own map : Latin America -- Thin paths : China -- Don't wake Sofia : Russia -- 'The Bronx, no thonx' -- The saddest pleasure : Zanzibar. |
Search for related items by subject
| Subject: | Wheeler, Sara. Travelers' writings, British. Women travelers > Biography. |
| Genre: | Biographies. Autobiographies. Personal narratives. |
Available copies
- 1 of 1 copy available at Tsuga Consortium.
Holds
- 0 current holds with 1 total copy.
Show Only Available Copies
| Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Status | Due Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cookstown Branch | 910.4092 Wheel | 31681010357382 | NONFIC | Available | - |
- Grand Central Pub
Britain's foremost woman travel writer Sara Wheeler records her life of adventure, from the Antarctic to Zanzibar.
'Funny, furious writing from the queen of intrepid travel' Daily Telegraph
'Intrepid and sparky, full of canny quips and lightly poetic observations' Mail on Sunday
'Magnificent and unusual... Glowing Still is a thoughtful and entertaining meditation on identity, geography and the position of the self in the world' Viv Groskop, Spectator
Sara Wheeler is Britain's foremost woman travel writer. Glowing Still is the story of her travelling life - what is 'important, revealing or funny' - in a notoriously testosterone-laden field. Growing up among blue-collar Conservatives in Bristol where 'we didn't know anyone who wasn't like us', Wheeler knew she needed to get away. In her twenties she began a dramatic escape: Pole to Pole, via Poland. Glowing Still recalls happy days on India's Puri Express; an Antarctic lavatory through which a seal popped up (hot fishy breath!); and the louche life of a Parisian shopgirl. Corralling reindeer with the Sámi in Arctic Sweden and towing her baby on a sledge, a helpful herdsman advised her to put foil down her bra to facilitate nursing.
Launching at Nubility, Wheeler voyages, via small children, to the welcoming port of Invisibility (she leaves Immobility for the next volume). As she writes in the introduction, when she set sail 'Role models were scarce in the travel-writing game.' But advancing years usher in unheralded freedoms, and journey's end finds Wheeler at peace among Zanzibar dhows, contemplating our connection with other lives - the irreplaceable value that travel brings - and paying homage to her heroines, among them Martha Gellhorn, the ineffable war correspondent who furnishes Wheeler's epigraph: 'I do not wish to be good. I wish to be hell on wheels, or dead.'