Pathfinding

The desire to walk is something that defines us as human beings, bringing joy and connection and freedom. But what happens to all this when we become mothers? In the wake of the complete metamorphosis of becoming a mother, Kerri Andrews determines to undertake a series of journeys on foot to understand what has happened to her. Alongside a backpack full of supplies, Kerri carries with her the shadow of post-natal depression and the idea that maybe the hills are no longer for those, like her, who bear the mental and physical scars of childbearing and childrearing. Yet, what she soon discovers are tales of mother-walkers that have long been neglected or hidden away. From Mary Wollstonecraft and Ellen Weeton to Kate Chopin, here are women whose post-partum stories are urgently pertinent as they show us how to step into new ways of living with motherhood. As Kerri traverses urban, rural and increasingly mountainous landscapes in the North-East and Scotland, she is joined by women who have also experienced the profound and sometimes devastating changes that having children can bring to bodies and minds. Together, they explore the complicated ground of motherhood today - balancing enormous responsibility and upheaval with ambition, rage and hope - creating new paths as they go. Melding history, landscape writing and memoir, Pathfinding is a deeply personal, brave and urgent exploration of what it truly means to rediscover ourselves through the land we walk and the people we walk alongside. Here are our fore-mothers who have pursued power and pleasure through their feet; here is an invitation to mothers today to set out and claim that same power and freedom. 'Dazzling, inspirational' Helen Mort on Wanderers

Auteur

Helen Jukes' writing has appeared in The New York Times, Port Magazine, Aeon and others. Her first book, A Honeybee Heart has Five Openings, was listed as a book of the year by Slate magazine, book of the month by BBC Countryfile, and book of the week at the London Review of Books. It was shortlisted for the Books Are My Bag non-fiction award. Helen has led courses and workshops in creative writing for Crisis UK, HM Prison service, the National Writing Centre of Wales and the Wordsworth Trust. She currently teaches at the University of Oxford, and lives with her daughter on the edge of the Peak District.