From sickly child to pioneering Victorian explorer, Isabella Bird defied convention. After back surgery in 1850 and the recommendation of life in the open air, she finally looked her malaise and her pain in the eye and set off across the world completely alone. In Colorado she covered 800 miles on horseback, climbing mountains, wrangling cattle, sleeping in snow and finding herself drawn to a violent, one-eyed outlaw with a soft spot for poetry, known as ‘Mountain Jim’. With the writing skills to match her spirit of adventure, she documented her journey in these letters to her sister, which were published as a collection in 1879. She was a true trailblazer – a Victorian woman of 4’11” with debilitating pain who chose to blow open life’s limits.
