Hard Way

Regular price €17.50
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A01=Susannah Walker
Author_Susannah Walker
British paths
Category=JBSF1
Category=NHTB
Category=SZC
cultural geography
eq_bestseller
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
eq_sports-fitness
feminist history
feminist travel history
gender and landscape
heritage trails
historical routes
memoir-history blend
rediscovering routes
social history of walking
UK women's stories
walking women
women on foot
women pioneers
women's history

Product details

  • ISBN 9781806770083
  • Weight: 160g
  • Dimensions: 129 x 198mm
  • Publication Date: 02 Apr 2026
  • Publisher: Wilton Square Books
  • Publication City/Country: GB
  • Product Form: Paperback
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'An evocative and inspiring exploration of the lives of women who refuse to be tied indoors by domesticity. The Hard Way is a powerful manifesto for women who long to walk alone - and safely - in the countryside'  Dr Sharon Blackie, author of If Women Rose Rooted

Why is it radical for women to walk alone in the countryside, when men have been doing so for centuries? The Hard Way is a powerful and illuminating book about addressing this imbalance, reclaiming fearlessness and diving into the history of the landscape from a woman’s point of view.

Setting off to follow the oldest paths in England, the Ridgeway and the Harrow Way, Susannah Walker comes across artillery fire, concern from passing policemen and her own innate fear of lone figures in the distance: a landscape shaped by men, from prehistoric earthworks to today’s army bases.

But along the way, Susannah finds Edwardian feminists, rebellious widows, forgotten writers and artists, as well as all their anonymous sisters who stayed at home throughout history. They become her companions over 135 miles of walking, revealing how much, or how little, has changed for women now.

Susannah Walker studied English Literature at Cambridge followed by Design History at the Royal College of Art and the Victoria & Albert Museum. Starting out as a curator and writer, she then worked as a television producer and director for the BBC and Channel 4. She now combines freelance writing and lecturing with running a charity, Make Space for Girls, which campaigns for better parks and public spaces for teenage girls. She is the author of several books including The Life of Stuff, which was shortlisted for the James Tait Black biography prize, and The Hard Way. She lives in Somerset.

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