THE RIDE OF HER LIFE

5 stars out of 5

If nothing else, I'll give the author unlimited kudos for research on what was going on in the mid-1950s at every location mentioned - it's nothing short of amazing. That it's an engrossing, well-documented story of a very brave - and very real - woman is a plus.

The woman is Annie Wilkins, who - at age 63 - was facing an uncertain future with no income, no family and no place to live except a charity home because she'd just lost the family farm. Even worse, she was dying - or would within a couple of years, according to her doctor. Refusing to accept life in a group home or the inevitability of death so soon, she decided she had nothing to lose - and she wanted to see the Pacific Ocean before she died. How to get there, though, posed another roadblock; money for a train or bus just wasn't a possibility. She did have enough cash to buy a somewhat used horse - which she named Tarzan - so she, the horse and her beloved pooch, Depeche Toi, set off on what would be an often arduous, always adventure-filled journey from her former home in Maine to California. "I go forth as a tramp of fate among strangers," she said at the outset.

It's certainly no secret that she got there - she made local and national news many times along the way (even appearing on at the time big-time TV shows hosted by Art Linkletter and Groucho Marx). But as they say, the devil is in the details - and her experiences amid the sea-changes in the country, like burgeoning highway construction (imagine, if you will, riding a horse along a busy, truck-filled road) are often frightening. The real story, though, is how she was treated by the people she met; yes, she was a "celebrity" and, to a degree, a media darling - but she still needed places to stay and food to eat, and that depended largely on the kindness of strangers. 

Annie wrote letters by the dozen along the way and kept diaries, but most of these had disappeared by the time this book was written. Much of what's here came by way of the author's painstaking research and extensive travel; direct quotes, the author says, come from an earlier book (with permission from that author's estate, of course). It's that historical "filler" that's especially interesting to someone like me, who was a mid-teenager at the time Annie set off - meaning much of it brought back many memories of what was happening around me back then.

If you love history - and a thoroughly interesting story of a woman's courage amid adversity - you'll love this book. Many thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for allowing me the opportunity to read and review a pre-release copy.

The Ride of Her Life by Elizabeth Letts (Ballantine Books, June 2021); 336 pp.