The Life and Travels of Isabella Bird: The Fearless Victorian Adventurer

A biography of a tenacious Englishwoman who defied Victorian-era societal expectations and sought adventure around the world.
Isabella Bird traveled to the wildest places on earth, but at home in Britain she lay in bed, hardly able to write: 'an invalid at home and a Samson abroad.'
In Japan she rode on a 'yezo savage' through foaming floods along unbeaten tracks, and was followed in the city by a crowd of a thousand, whose clogs clattered 'like a hailstorm' as they vied for a glimpse of th...