AustLit

'It begins with lightkeeper Esther Nunn, inspired after she is sent Tracks by a friend. Or it begins with author Anna Krien, for whom Robyn Davidson has been a moral compass since, as a child, Krien saw Davidson on the cover of National Geographic. Or it begins with Richard Cooke’s wife, Loulou, similarly smitten. The story really begins long before those moments though, before the 1980 publication of Davidson’s influential Tracks, when journalists travelled to interview “the camel lady” while she was on her now-famous journey. Cooke seeks to understand the appeal of Davidson and, while he keeps his enthusiasm in check, he clearly numbers among those who have been inspired.' (Introduction)

'The women that Robyn Davidson had a powerful effect on, Richard Cooke tells us, include author Anna Krien, adventurer Esther Nunn, and his wife. ‘I watched as the power of this book and its author, their energy and weight, worked an entrainment across cultures and generations,’ writes Cooke. In some ways his essay charts his struggle with that power. How not to fall into the trap that others who have tackled Davidson have fallen into? ‘I lagged decades of writers and pilgrims, interlopers and fans. Reading interviews to try to chicane through the questions already asked was pointless. They most often sought answers about the same thing – her first book, now published forty years ago.’' (Introduction)