Type of bind: Hardcover
EAN num: 9780739454824
ISBN number: 073945482X
Label: Anchor Books
Manufacturer: Anchor Books
Printing Date: 2003
Publishing house: Anchor Books
Sale Popularity Level: 554245
Studio: Anchor Books
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Rated by buyers 
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Clearly Hunt is an academic, not a novelist, and the reader has to keep that in mind in poring over the sometimes tedious writing style. Hunt, however, should be applauded for recovering what she could about a family story that Helga Estby's children had worked for years to keep buried, including burning Estby's manuscript about the event.
With that in mind, Bold Spirit is an important, interesting academic work. Hunt recovered newspaper articles about Estby's walking trek from Spokane to New York with her daughter Clara. Hunt worked hard to put the event in context, and included a fascinating chapter at the end about how and why families silence certain stories.
Some reviewers seem upset that Hunt didn't include more details, but many of the details have been destroyed by the family. The sections in which Hunt delves into what "might have been happening" at various points during the adventure are totally within the realm of believability and provide valuable information about the cultural and gender context of the late 1800s.
Having come from a Norwegian-American culture similar to the one Hunt describes, I resonated with much of what Hunt had to say. Helga Estby stepped out of her traditional role in that cultural context and was held responsible by her family for bad things that happened while she was gone, things that were out of her control. Her immediate family chose to blame her, and buried the story for decades.
While I wouldn't recommend this book for "summer beach reading," gender studies students and people of a Scandinavian-American background will find it valuable.
Rated by buyers -
Bold Spirit
By Linda Lawrence Hunt
Review by Hailey Johnston
Little did Linda Lawrence Hunt know how great of a task she was getting herself into when she read Doug Bahr's "Grandma walks from Coast to Coast" essay entered in the Washington State History Day Contest in 1984. Helga Estby, Doug's grandmother, was a Norwegian immigrant living in Spokane, Washington who was the mother of eight and wife of Ole Estby. During a particular difficult time in 1896, Helga received an offer of ten- thousand dollars if she and her daughter, Clara, would walk across America. In order to pay the mortgage on her home, not fall behind on taxes, and keep the family farm, Helga Estby took the challenge and began walking east.
By accepting the challenge, Helga and Clara had to go through uncharted land across America while earning their own money for food and shelter along the way and make it to New York by December thirteenth. In order get to New York, they had to endure all types of weather and terrains, and meet all types of people, friendly or unfriendly. To make a statement for women's rights, they also had to dress in " bicycle skirts", a skirt five to eight inches above the ground, according to the contract from the challenge. Also, during their journey, they had to get important figures' signatures. With all these requirements, Helga and Clara still thought they could make it to New York by December, however some people did not agree with their decision to go.
Since it was the Victorian Era in America in the late nineteenth century, the women's rights movement was just beginning. Ninety- five percent of women still worked in the home doing daily chores such as cleaning or taking care of children. Hunt does a good job showing how women's roles really were in the late nineteenth century. She illustrates how Helga was in charge of the children and home, while Ole went to work and made the money to provide for the family. However, Hunt emphasizes the surge of women's rights changing in the America, almost to a point where she loses the reader's interest. The idea of women walking across America in short skirts in the 1890's was a huge deal for women's rights and Hunt brilliantly uses Helga's walk to focus on the change of women's roles in society in the book. Walking across American shows the reader how people in different parts of America react to the idea of two women breaking out of the "Victorian Woman" stereotype , but perhaps Hunt could have narrowed the story down to important moments for women's rights instead of filling the novel full with words like " perhaps", "maybe", and "could have." By filling the story with unsure thoughts, the reader does not know what to believe and therefore loses interest. Hunt should have kept the facts and discarded the inaccurate ideas to keep the reader turning pages.
We know Hunt wants to make a point and tell Helga Estby's story but because she loses the reader, she does not give Helga's story justice. She should have shortened the novel and maybe realized that she did not have enough accurate information to write Helga's story. Helga's story defiantly needs to be told but, in order to justify Helga Estby's story, Linda Lawrence Hunt should have used the truthful information she found and made a book from that.
Rated by buyers 
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Bold Spirit, written by Linda Hunt, is a biographical social commentary based on the life of a Norwegian immigrant mother of eight living in Spokane, Washington named Helga Etsby and her journey .This courageous woman walked with her teen daughter, Clara, across America in 1896 with nothing more than a revolver, $5, pepper spray and a curling iron.
This hush-hush story, concealed by the ashamed family, did not emerge from the past until Helga's great-great grandson won a contest after writing a paper he entitled "Grandma Walks from Coast to Coast". His support came from two article clippings and stories his family told him. Hunt being a resident of Spokane read the paper where the essay was posted and through this essay Hunt found out about this amazing woman's achievement while discovering her own interest in recreating this story. Thus, Bold Spirit exists.
So where does the title come in? A motif of feminine boldness exudes from this book, and Helga portrays this trait with ease. When she was little she found her motto for life in Sunday school after learning about Jonah and the whale. When Helga speaks up and says the story is impossible the teacher replies "Don't you know, Helga, that anything and everything is possible with God?" (81) With this positive mindset backing up her decisions she becomes a strong woman who pushes her physical limits while still being a loving mother. She shows no fear as she walks into the uncharted parts of the continent and even as she is harassed by wanderers she showed no panic and defends herself just as well as any man could. Helga, taking on the pioneer role of a "new woman", opened up many doors for women's rights by giving other women the encouragement they needed to become "new women" as well.
Hunt, throughout the story, drops tidbits of stories about strong women making a difference through the US, like Jane Addams' creation of the Hull House to help house poor immigrants, Wyoming becoming the very first suffrage state allowing women to have jobs and vote and the establishing of the `Rational Dress Movement' allowing women to wear comfortable healthy clothes, in opposition to the current Victorian dress. I believe that Hunt did give homage to the theme of women's rights with factual support and through her writing Hunt is clearly biased to the women's rights issue.
The year that Helga attempted this feat is important because the Panic of 1893 put much of the US into economic depression. When Helga's family's future was threatened because they were unable to pay the mortgage on their family farm Helga took up a offer from a woman up east claiming she would pay $10,000 to the woman who could walk across the US unescorted and pay her way as she went along all in a time span of seven months. That $10,000 would enable Helga to save her farm and her family along with her children's education. This great feat attempted by a woman was not expected or respected in the Victorian Age. Women were supposed to be mature and make her husband as happy as possible as stated in a popular handbook for ladies, Godey's Ladies' Book. They were especially not meant to be independent of her husband and family, or be physically active because women's nervous system could not take such stress.
The end of the book isn't the typical "Disney story" ending but Helga's failure to get the $10,000 reward seems to be portrayed in a positive tone. Hunt gives the feeling that the act was more important than the end result. Yet, Helga's family didn't seem to think that Helga's trek was very respectable and therefore hid the story and shame away. After Helga's death, her daughter she left behind to take care of the family, harbored resentment towards her mother. This is what led her daughter to burn what was left of Helga's diary and the newspaper clippings to forget the painful past. As a result, this story was almost lost in time.
Hunt's writing is very lackluster and almost ruined the story because her writing was so lifeless. Bold Spirit is Hunt's very first book, and it shows. I expected more from this book after learning that Hunt shares the same roots as Helga, both being from Spokane, and also finding that Hunt went on a trip to Norway and throughout America to gather this lost story. Personally, I think the author needs to add more colour and life to her writing if nothing else. I will say that the title of the book is appropriate and catches the reader's attention. But, to those who choose to read this book beware; this story is more of a "candle in the wind" than a "bold spirit".
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