Rating: 
Summary: Inspiring Story
Review: Helga's faith was an inspiration to me. She knew that with God, all things are possible. She came from far away to a new country, learned the language and was still able to maintain her love for her home country and language and be devoted to her new country and family. Helga told her children to have faith in God. If anything sustained them during her absence and has stuck with the family for all the years since her death, it is that belief that only with God, are all things possible. This, I believe is one of the most important lessons to be learned from this story. Second, do not dismiss your family's stories and cherish them, no matter what. They are part of who you are, good and bad and may not seem important to you now, but are part of your history and your family's history.
Rating:
Summary: Inspiring Story
Review: Helga's faith was an inspiration to me. She knew that with God, all things are possible. She came from far away to a new country, learned the language and was still able to maintain her love for her home country and language and be devoted to her new country and family. Helga told her children to have faith in God. If anything sustained them during her absence and has stuck with the family for all the years since her death, it is that belief that only with God, are all things possible. This, I believe is one of the most important lessons to be learned from this story. Second, do not dismiss your family's stories and cherish them, no matter what. They are part of who you are, good and bad and may not seem important to you now, but are part of your history and your family's history.
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Summary: This gem of book is a unique treat.....
Review: I confess to a penchant for accounts of pioneer history and this amazing biography offers far more than the oft-published times, dates and places.Bold Spirit-Helga Estby's Forgotten Walk Across Victorian America, is simply riveting. Helga's true story, brimming with struggle, loss, hope, peril and audacious moxie, portrays a complex woman pushing prevalent cultural boundaries, while holding loyally to her values surrounding family ties and religious conviction. Born in Scandinavia, Helga emigrated to Minnesota as a child. Following her marriage at 16, she, Ole and their growing family eventually homestead south of Spokane, Washington. Within a short time, the depression of 1893 finds them desperate for work and for funds with which to pay their mortgage. When an anonymous donor offers $10,000 to any woman who will walk across America under stringent constraints, Helga and her 18 year-old daughter Clara accept the dangerous challenge and strike out together for New York City. Defying the era's "suitable" behavior standards for women, and confronting myriad hazardous obstacles, Helga and Clara display a determination to save their home that results in a confusing combination of respect and condemnation from those who follow their journey. Their arrival in New York heralds both an ironic ending and another beginning to this fascinating story. Utilizing accounts garnered from extensive research and personal interviews, Linda Hunt recounts this absorbing saga with the objective of preserving the truth of Helga's gifts, tragedies and legacy. The story, stilled for many years by members of Helga's family, might have been lost altogether. We are indebted to Professor Hunt for her gift of presenting this glimpse of a truly surprising Victorian woman. Historically intriguing, poignant, engrossing and beautifully illustrated with vintage photographs, Bold Spirit is absolutley recommended for individuals and Book Groups alike.
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Summary: Thoroughly enjoyable
Review: I read very little non-fiction, but have really enjoyed two non-fiction books this summer, this book (BOLD SPIRIT) and SEABISCUIT by Laura Hillenbrand. They are similar stories about overcoming the odds and doing what no one thought possible. I hope BOLD SPIRIT gets the attention it deserves.
Rating:
Summary: Thoroughly enjoyable
Review: I read very little non-fiction, but have really enjoyed two non-fiction books this summer, this book (BOLD SPIRIT) and SEABISCUIT by Laura Hillenbrand. They are similar stories about overcoming the odds and doing what no one thought possible. I hope BOLD SPIRIT gets the attention it deserves.
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Summary: A great book that has changed my life!
Review: I received this book in the mail from Professor Hunt by way of my grandmother in Spokane, in which Linda Hunt informed me that Helga Estby was my great great grandmother.
At first, I did not know what to think of it, but after reading the book I am proud that decendants of mine accomplished such a task; however, it was so covered up in the family that I never even knew that Helga and her family existed, or that I came from Norwegian roots.
Since then I have joined the "House of Norway" here in San Diego located in the International Village at Balboa Park, and I am very excited to see what other jems lie within my famalies history. This has taught me to always charish your family and its' history and traditions. Without Linda Hunt I would have never known, so I thank her, and I will never forget.
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Summary: Helga's Story
Review: I was completely mesmerized by this book. This remarkable story tells how Helga, a ninetheeth century pioneer woman, accompanied by her daughter Clara, walks across America. The tragic circumstances of her personal life show with heart-wrenching clarity the conflict between the inner and outer life of a woman. It is a fascinating historical account of women's struggle to prove they were fearless and tough. Linda Hunt did an impressive job researching this forgotten story and then writes an unforgetable book.
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Summary: Fascinating Story
Review: Linda Hunt weaves a fascinating story from the old newspaper accounts of the extreme challenges and dangers faced by Helga and Clara Estby as they walked across America in a bid to win the money that could save their family farm. Once I started reading, I could hardly put the book down. (I'm an opera singer, and I read this book during my waits between entrances in a run of performances for Mozart's Don Giovanni.) As I read this book, I expected to learn more about the role and place for women in late nineteenth century American culture, and I expected to learn about the silencing of stories that happens within families. However, I was surprised to find the story so relevant to my own history. I gained a new insight for myself from Ms. Hunt's description of "breaking the central code of a culture"; that a story simply cannot be heard when the actions of the characters in the story go beyond or "break" what is accepted in the prevailing culture. I highly recommend this book for anyone who is interested in a glimpse of what life was like for independent thinking women at the turn of the last century, and I also recommend it for anyone who cherishes family stories.
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Summary: Helga, your story has finally been told.
Review: Linda Lawrence Hunt has crafted a real gem from her extensive research. Helga and her daughter Clara set out on their trek across America on a dare, from an anonymous sponsor, promising a whopping $10,000 if they could walk the distance in the time alotted and under strict rules. The lure of money was strong, because at the time Helga feared they were about to lose the family farm to forclosure. This little book ought to be required reading for young people, who cannot imagine what life was like for these pioneer women. Hunt takes the reader through Helga and Ole's homesteading years on the Minnesota prairie, living in a sod house, a harsh environment which included fires, tornadoes, winter blizzards and illness. Lured to Spokane, WA life seemed much better, till the big fire of 1889. After that the big financial panic of 1893 sent life tumbling for just about everyone in the country, especially for Helga and Ole. That Helga and Clara's feat could not be celebrated, and in fact was never talked about over the years is so sad. They deserved a parade, and instead were not even given train tickets home. Author Hunt reminds us that silencing of family stories prevents grand children and future generations from knowing interesting and sometimes awsome personal revelations. History books dwell more on very big events and momentous catastrophies. But our own family history gives us a sense of where we came from and who we are. Eighth grader Doug Bahr knew he had a good story when he wrote an essay in a history writing contest, and I admire Linda Lawrence Hunt for recognizing that it was a story worth presenting to a wide audience. Thank you.
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Summary: The Silencing of Her Story
Review: One of the things readers might find interesting about Dr. Linda Hunt's book Bold Spirit: Helga Estby's Forgotten Walk Across Victorian America is her final chapter on the Silencing of History. Just as Helga Esby's amazing achievement was very nearly obliterated by her bitter relatives, how many other accomplishments by others outside the mainstream have been lost?
Dr. Hunt lists several ways "theads" that may silence any story that occurs outside societal norms of the day. These threads are Breaking the Code; Underestimating the Worth (Negation by Neglect); Believing One's Experiences are Incomprehensible to Others; Sealing the Shame; Keeping the Peace and Avoiding the Anger.
Reading this book made me consider how many blanks there are in any family's history ... and in any society's history ... and wonder how many other fantastic achievements have been silenced. Surely the fabric of American history can be woven of threads beyond the ones of war, government, mechanical invention and conquest to include stories like Helga's act of desperation and bravery, undertaken at great personal peril to support a family she loved more than her own life.
Bold Spirit is an inspiring story, as is the story of Dr. Hunt's nearly 20-year effort to research and tell the tale of Helga and Clara Estby and the Estby family. Despite overwhelming obstacles in her own life, Dr. Hunt was unable to abandon Helga and Clara. For seventeen years, she searched for clues to Helga Estby and her forgotten journey, often in the blurry microfiche or dusty pages of 100-year-old newspaper accounts. Dr. Hunt traveled to Norway and throughout the United States as she pieced together scraps of information about Helga, gradually weaving them into what she calls a "rag rug" history -- colorful, strong, one-of-a-kind. Along the way, Dr. Hunt contacted widely dispersed family members who had no idea they were related to Helga nor what Helga had accomplished.
The completion of this book is a significant achievement in its own right, and I am so grateful to Dr. Hunt for sharing what she discovered about Helga. Her dedication to Helga and Clara Estby resurrected a story that needs to be heard, and should never be silenced again.
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