Wildly Different - by Sarah Lonsdale (Paperback)

About the Book

For millennia the 'wild' was a place heroic men went on epic quests. This book traces the lives of five women who fought against prejudice for their right to work in, enjoy and help save the earth's wild places.

Book Synopsis

The globe-trotting tales of five women who fought for the right to enjoy the wild places of the earth.

For millennia the 'wild' was a place heroic men went on epic quests. Women were prevented from joining them, either through physical control or powerful myths about what would happen if they ventured beyond the city wall or village boundary. So how did women claim their place in the remote and lovely parts of our planet?

In Wildly different, historian Sarah Lonsdale traces the lives of five women who fought for the right to work in, enjoy and help to save the earth's wild places. We'll meet Mina Hubbard, who outraged the exploration community when she stepped into a canoe in northern Labrador. Evelyn Cheesman, who became the first female keeper of insects at London Zoo. Dorothy Pilley, who shocked polite society by donning men's climbing breeches. Ethel Haythornthwaite, who helped make the Peak District Britain's first National Park. And Wangari Maathai, who started a movement to plant millions of trees across sub-Saharan Africa.

Drawing on interviews with Sir David Attenborough, Wangari Maathai's daughter and others, Lonsdale recounts the women's adventures across five continents. Evocative and inspiring, this book shows how women can be 'wildly different'.

Review Quotes

A Financial Times best summer book of 2025

'Spellbinding, '
Christopher Wilson, Daily Express

'Well worth reading.'
Carola Huttmann, Bookmunch

'Wildly different is an urgent, timely and original study of five pioneering women who fought for the right to explore and protect the wild. Sarah Lonsdale writes from the heart, and nothing has brought home to me with more force the relationship between gender and the natural world.'
Frances Wilson, author of The Ballad of Dorothy Wordsworth

'Sarah Lonsdale powerfully and vividly reconstructs the lives of these brave, norm-defying women who, like too many, have been left out of our stories of adventure and the wild. A thrilling and ultimately triumphant read.'
Kate Zernike, author of The Exceptions

'Drawing from their notes, maps, correspondence and memoirs, Sarah Lonsdale tells the stories of five courageous, wildly different women - and the "oneness" they all experienced after overcoming physical and societal boundaries, to reach some of the most remote, wild and beautiful places on our planet. That these spaces are still contested for women is a travesty, but this inspirational book will embolden new generations of women to reclaim their places in the wild. Heartfelt, uplifting and utterly compelling, I could not put this book down.'
Brigit Strawbridge Howard, author of Dancing with Bees

'It's a deeply felt, splendidly told, long overdue celebration of five wild, witty and wise voices who make a compelling case, now as then, for conservation, compassion and community.'
Dan Richards, author of Climbing Days

'Thoughtfully and carefully put together, Wildly Different introduces the reader to five women who fought for, and ultimately shaped, the world in which we live today. The book is full of exhaustive research and fascinating stories and, no doubt, these incredible women will stay with you long after you've put the book down.'
Rebecca Smith, author of Rural

'Wildly Different does for outdoor women, what Tessa Boase's Etta Lemon did for the women of the RSPB: the energy, determination and tenacity of these five wonderful women, in the face of what they were told they could not and should not do, is extraordinary. Sarah's vivid, cinematic writing and deep research brings them freshly and urgently alive, to galvanise us for these times, and the times to come. Brilliant and gleaming.'
Nicola Chester, author of Ghosts of the Farm

'The women themselves are certainly interesting and largely unknown, except for Nobel Peace Prize-winner Maathai, making this a worthy choice for environmental and women's history collections.'
Colleen Mondor, Booklist

'Lauding five ecology-minded women leaders, the enlightening biographical compilation Wildly Different shows how its subjects turned their passion for the environment and science into grand legacies.'
Katy Keefer, Foreword Reviews

About the Author

Sarah Lonsdale is Senior Lecturer in Journalism at City, University of London. She is the author of the books Rebel Women between the Wars (2020) and The Journalist in British Fiction and Film (2016) and writes for the Times Literary Supplement, History Today and the Sunday Times.