Anna is not just some ordinary endurance adventurer. She is a story teller. She describes the majesty of the mountain views, the ecstasy of running barefoot along a beach in the middle of nowhere and the jubilation at being taken into the hearts of friends old and new.
She evokes the terrible lows of loneliness, the pain and frustration of injury and the fear of getting lost all alone in a forest.
From the heights of a precarious wrong turn on a mountain ridge to the lows of sleeping next to a dead seagull this book takes you on an almighty rollercoaster of emotions.
Anna also explains her coping mechanisms for the enormity of the challenge.
· Denial - It’s not 3,000km, honest!
· The Cheerleaders keeping the Soldiers of Self-doubt at bay (she’s clearly bonkers!)
· And finally, the fabled Pants of Perspective. A Unicorn and a robot doing battle in front of a rainbow with a backdrop of stars. How can you be depressed when you are wearing those leggings?
They’re definitely leggings, Anna. Not pants. But I suppose the Leggings of Longing wouldn’t have had the same impact.
*spoiler alert*
If a travel memoir wasn’t enough, there is also a love story subplot that runs throughout. Adventurer Jamie McDonald (author of Adventureman) features heavily, like an anchor, in the book. The ‘will they, won’t they’ plot line is kind of ruined by the fact that they are both now travelling round Canada together in a family wagon affectionately called Momma Bear. It would have been a bit of an awkward journey if they weren’t an item.
· Anna – ‘I’ve just written a book.’
· Jamie – ‘Great. Do I feature in it?’
· Anna – ‘Yeah, you’re my love interest!’
· Jamie – ‘Oh, this is awkward. I was hoping we’d just be friends. By the way, do you fancy spending the next 3 months living in a campervan with me?’
Luckily they’re fully loved up so it’s all good.
But by far the greatest achievement in the book is the emotional engagement that Anna is able to produce. She holds nothing back. It feels like her tears are literally etched into the page. Her self-aware emotional analysis demonstrates her personal strength and acute observational skills. Her candour in her fragile state at times speaks volumes about her as a person.
Here is an author who wears her heart on her sleeve and writes with her soul.
I can’t wait for the next one to come out.