Mary Ann Hooper grew up in an old farmhouse in Bratleboro, Vermont, and now lives near the Peak District.  She is a Harvard graduate and former journalist.

Her book: Across America and Back charts her journey to retrace her grandparents trip across the United States on the newly-opened Transcontinental Railroad in 1871. From Chicago, just destroyed by the Great Fire, then across the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains to the Golden City of San Francisco. Filled with rich details of time, place, and culture, Mary Ann’s thoughtful and compelling narrative is both a re-creation of a family journey and a thoughtful account of how the American West has changed over the last 150 years.

Using the common thread of the same train trip across the American landscape, she weaves together the two stories—her great grandparents, Charles and Fannie Crosby’s leisurely Victorian tourist trip described in both their diaries—and her own trip. Mary Ann’s adventurous and determined voice fills the pages with entertaining encounters on the train, escapades on her folding bike, and her reflections on her birth country and her own life story.

Across America and Back, Retracing my great-grandparents remarkable journey

ISBN 978-1943859-66-5

Normally £16.50

Available for the special Scarthin Books price of £13.99