A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains

By: Isabella Bird

Narrated by: Clare Wille

Length: 7 hrs and 44 mins

Publisher's summary

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.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

Public Domain (P)2023 Naxos AudioBooks UK Ltd.

Critic reviews

"What a treat it is to listen to Clare Wille perform this engrossing narrative by nineteenth-century British travel writer and naturalist Isabella Bird.... Wille's wonderfully expressive tone, bright English intonation, and exceptionally clear enunciation accentuate Bird's extraordinary writing.... Wille's wondrous performance transforms this collection into a theatrical experience for the ears. Listeners should be forewarned of language employed for various ethnic groups that will offend contemporary sensibilities." (AudioFile)

An evocative and fascinating 1800s travelogue with about the racism you'd expect

This is a very interesting book for someone who likes American history, but I wouldn't recommend it for everyone.

I chose this version of the audiobook because the narration was the best, and I think the narrator did a good job throughout.

The author's letters offer an incredible and detailed glimpse of the daily life of American settlers in Colorado in the late 1800s, and a general perspective of how English people viewed America, which is very interesting. If you know Colorado you will recognize the towns and the landscapes she describes, and if you don't, it will make you want to see them. She captures the beauty of the mountains and the plains with unexpected vividness, and her descriptions of the farmers, ranchers, and mountain men are humorous and sincere. She is blunt and honest about her views, which can be either funny or uncomfortable.

The author is a woman of her time and class, including religious, nationalist, and casually racist views. The majority of the book is a detailed account of her travels by horse and rail through white settlements of people colonizing Colorado. Native Americans are portrayed as a regrettable inconvenience that are being (mis)managed in various ways. Her condescending tone will be familiar to anyone who has read other 19th century literature from white authors talking about non-white populations. She seems indifferent towards people of color in general, and uses words that are considered slurs now. It's an unfiltered and sometimes unpleasant glimpse into the mindset of the people from that time.

I came away from the book feeling that I had learned a lot that I hadn't known, both good and bad.