A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains (The Western Frontier Library, 14) Reviews

Isabella Bird was an extraordinary woman, an adventurer who traveled through Asia, the Hawaiian Islands, and all over the United States in the 1800s. This particular book covers her 1873 trip to the Colorado Rockies, in which she encounters bears, blizzards, and grizzled desperadoes. She scales mountain peaks, sleeps in ice-cold cabins, and sallies forth into lumber camps and wilderness strongholds with daring intrepidity.
One of the most interesting aspects of this adventure is the intriguing chemistry between Bird and "Rocky Mountain Jim" Nugent, a hard-drinking "ruffian" with a dangerous temper. She's a short, rather dumpy Englishwoman. He's a scruffy Irish mountain man who lost an eye to a grizzly. One can imagine the pair they make.. Yet, the hints of romance are barely touched on in Isabella's letters. Did they get together or was it all unrequited longing? I guess we'll never truly know, but it makes for an interesting read