Honno signs 'inspiring' story of woman's Wales journey

Welsh independent publisher Honno Press is to publish One Woman Walks Wales by Ursula Martin on the 15th February to coincide with Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month.

Martin was diagnosed with ovarian cancer aged 31. After treatment, she decided to walk from her home in mid-Wales to her follow-up hospital appointments in Bristol. Martin ended up walking over 3,700 miles, raising awareness of, and money for, ovarian cancer.

She had planned to take seven months: it took 18 and she walked on through harsh winter weather. With a tarpaulin and a bivvy bag, she chose to sleep wild much of the time, staying in a forest, a yurt, a campsite, a hostel, a polytunnel, a barn, a caravan, black plastic pipes, a ruined cottage, a club doorway, with nuns, in a public park, a pub garden, fields of wheat and grass, a golf course, a slate tower, a church…

One Woman Walks Wales is the "inspiring story" of Martin’s walk around her homeland, of the generosity of strangers who offered her meals and accommodation, and of her core belief which wouldn’t let her give up even at the point of exhaustion and acute physical discomfort.

Editor Caroline Oakley said: “Ursula’s walk and her story is inspirational, though she refuses to be seen as a ‘cancer heroine’. Survival can be over 90% for those diagnosed early, but the fact remains that only 36% of all UK women diagnosed with ovarian cancer will still be alive five years later.

“Everyone involved with the book remarks how strongly her unique voice and charming, determined character shine through. In Ursula we have a new kind of adventurer. Her writing about nature is clear, refreshing and sensual, and she offers a fascinating insight into a country, its landscape, its flora and fauna and its people. (Always, of course, with a good book for company.) No wonder Clare Balding chose her as one of her top 30 interviews when she interviewed her for BBC Radio 4’s 'Ramblings' describing her walk as ‘an epic adventure’."

The publisher holds world rights.