"A collection of heart-pumping adventures in the company of extraordinary women"
Since leaving BBC Breakfasts’s iconic red sofa Louise Minchin has been busy. Busy caving in the wild; busy free-diving beneath ice; busy cycling across Argentina; in fact… busy having no less than 18 jaw-dropping adventures of a lifetime. In Fearless, she tells these adventure stories with the newsreader professionalism you might expect, and we get to meet the 18 phenomenal women adventurers who invited her into their worlds.
Louise seems to have crammed all this into a single year - her competence as a triathlete is widely known but even so, this is a lot of energy, risk and courage for such a short window. In her introduction she explains how career battles with sexism have nurtured a drive to tell the stories of these women, to rebalance the narrative which for so long has revolved around men in adventure circles. The women she meets in Fearless are humble, self-deprecating and honestly vulnerable as they go about their projects.
I like the way Louise Minchin tells a story. Every chapter starts with a key moment of the challenge she finds herself in, drawing you into the scene. Here she is, staring into pitch-black freezing cold water; or sapped of energy on the waters around Alcatraz; or shivering violently on a mountain … wherever she finds herself she is clearly not comfortable and yet also super-happy. Such is the contradiction of ‘Type 2 Fun’ - the idea that some hellish things are worth it for the subsequent euphoria. Beyond these dramatic opening paragraphs Louise then settles into the broader experience, but importantly the character and back-stories of the women themselves also shine through. It is clear in many cases the personal reasons why these women do what they do, and Louise finds the time to listen while getting on with the adventure in front of her, getting the job done.
Fearless is an interesting title because, of course, there is fear in these women. Fear perhaps of being unfulfilled, of not responding to their calling, fear of fear itself. This collection of adventures will inspire women everywhere to act on their dreams, to believe they can do it, because what is clear is that the women who are already out there tearing down barriers and putting up firsts and records are just like them. They don’t consider themselves special, talented or particularly different. They are just ordinary, but also extraordinary. Louise Minchin is one of them. Brave stuff.
For further tales of women in adventure, read Tough Women - a collection of adventure writing by the women themselves, under the expert curation of Jenny Tough.
| Primary Genre | Sports |
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'To get to the heart of who these women are... I decided to do it the way that I know best, by taking part, spending time right beside them to experience the things they love.'
Driven to bring more attention to female stories of courage and endeavour, Louise Minchin pushes herself to the extreme and embarks on thrilling endurance adventures with trailblazing women.
She freedives under the ice in the dark in Finland with Cath, the first woman to swim a mile in the Antarctic Circle; she cycles across Argentina with Mimi, one of the world's most famous female endurance runners; and she swims from Alcatraz with Anaya and Mitali, two young sisters who have braved the shark-infested waters over 70 times.
With her natural empathy and sense of humour, Louise forms close bonds with 18 incredible women. She explores what drives them and how they find the resilience and determination to go on despite life's setbacks.
Lizzie overcame a life-threatening illness and now paddleboards whilst cleaning up the planet with her community; Rhian set up a charity in the face of grief and fundraises through hikes; and Zee took up rugby alongside her busy nursing career and motherhood. Louise reminds us of the bravery inside us all, and how essential it is to celebrate women's achievements. Prepare to be touched and inspired by these fearless women.
Fearless features in the following genres: Sports, Biography: sport, True stories of heroism, endurance and survival, Gender studies: women and girls, Extreme sports, Active outdoor pursuits, Travel writing, Women’s health, Collected biographies, Biography: general, Biographies & Autobiographies, Biography, Literature and Literary studies, True stories: general, Gender studies, gender groups, Social groups, communities and identities, Society and culture: general, Society and Social Sciences, Other sports and competitive activities, Travel, Lifestyle, Hobbies and Leisure, Popular medicine and health, Family and health, Health & Fitness, Non-Fiction Books of the Month, Recommendations
Fearless is available in Paperback, Hardback
Fearless was written by Louise Minchin and published by Bloomsbury Sport an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Fearless has 240 pages
£9.89
