Audiobook · read by volunteers
À Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains
Isabella L. Bird (1831–1904)
Read by Laura Caldwell · 23 chapters · 7 h 56
About the book
At the age of about forty, the English traveller Isabella Bird set out for the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, riding alone through snow, forests and rough camps. Her letters to her sister Henrietta describe it all: the grandeur of the peaks, the dangers of a frozen trail, the hospitality of settlers and the curious charm of a trapper known as Mountain Jim. She writes with energy, humour and a delight in the open air, and she insists on riding astride when the terrain demands it. She even climbs Longs Peak, one of the great summits of the range. Her account is both an adventure story and a picture of a western frontier on the brink of change. The letters are vivid, personal and sometimes startling, and they remain one of the most beloved travel books of the nineteenth century.
Introduction
Isabella Lucy Bird, born in 1831 and died in 1904, was an English explorer, writer and photographer. As a young woman she suffered from poor health, and her doctors recommended travel and fresh air. That advice launched a remarkable career: she journeyed through the United States, Hawaii, Japan, China, Persia and many other lands, and she became one of the first women elected fellows of the Royal Geographical Society.
A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains appeared in 1879 and drew on the letters she wrote to her sister Henrietta in 1873, during a stay in Colorado. The book was an immediate success. Readers admired its descriptive power, its candid tone and the fact that it was written by an unaccompanied woman in her forties who did not hesitate to climb a mountain or ride on horseback for days. It is also an important record of life in the American West at a time when towns and camps were still taking shape.
This LibriVox recording consists of twenty-three letters and runs for nearly eight hours. It is read by one volunteer. If you enjoy accounts of exploration and of independent women, or if you simply want a companion for a long journey, this book is a fine choice. It is easy to share Bird’s excitement, and her sense of humour is a constant pleasure.
Part of the book’s appeal lies in its sense of place. Bird describes the clear mountain air, the sudden storms and the ranching life with an eye for colour, and she has the knack of making a stranger’s hospitality feel like a gift. Listening to it, you may well find yourself longing for the open road.
Public domain
Isabella L. Bird died in 1904: the work is in the public domain in Switzerland, more than 70 years after the author’s death.
The LibriVox volunteers dedicated this recording to the public domain.
Sources : LibriVox page · Files at the Internet Archive · Original text