Bold Spirit
I just finished reading "Bold Spirit: Helga Estby's forgotten walk across Victorian America" by Linda Lawrence Hunt and thought I would share some thoughts on this amazing story. "In 1896, a Norwegian immigrant and mother of eight children was behind on taxes and the mortgage when she learned that a mysterious sponsor would pay $10,000 to a woman who walked across America.
Hoping to win the wager and save her family's farm, Helga and her teenaged daughter Clara, armed with little more than a compass, red-pepper spray, a revolver, and Clara's curling iron,(my kind of gal) set out on foot from eastern Washington. Their route would pass through fourteen states."
This sounds like a fictional story, but it is true.
I can't imagine doing this now..in 2009 much less over 100 years ago, dressed in Victorian dress and wearing leather shoes-no Nike or Adidas. That in itself would make a great story, but add to it the devastating consequences of their trip: Women of this era did not just up and leave their families--even for a good cause, and the death of two of her children from Diphtheria while she was gone added to her deep grief and guilt. This caused the family to blanket her great achievement in silence, even burning the detailed memoirs that Helga had written.
I thought this would be a good story of an adventurous woman, but it was more than that. It made me ponder the importance of family stories, good or bad, they are part of who we are and who we come from.
This was a stunning book...I recommend it! Anyone want to borrow it? Let me know!
Hoping to win the wager and save her family's farm, Helga and her teenaged daughter Clara, armed with little more than a compass, red-pepper spray, a revolver, and Clara's curling iron,(my kind of gal) set out on foot from eastern Washington. Their route would pass through fourteen states."
This sounds like a fictional story, but it is true.
I can't imagine doing this now..in 2009 much less over 100 years ago, dressed in Victorian dress and wearing leather shoes-no Nike or Adidas. That in itself would make a great story, but add to it the devastating consequences of their trip: Women of this era did not just up and leave their families--even for a good cause, and the death of two of her children from Diphtheria while she was gone added to her deep grief and guilt. This caused the family to blanket her great achievement in silence, even burning the detailed memoirs that Helga had written.
I thought this would be a good story of an adventurous woman, but it was more than that. It made me ponder the importance of family stories, good or bad, they are part of who we are and who we come from.
This was a stunning book...I recommend it! Anyone want to borrow it? Let me know!
i do,i do!
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