Midwest Book Review Recommends The Lady and the Mountain Man

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The Lady and the Mountain Man

“A man any woman might love but no sane woman would marry.” That was Isabella Bird’s verdict on Jim Nugent, better known as Rocky Mountain Jim. And yet, when the Victorian traveler and the gruff mountain man met in Estes Park, Colorado, in 1873, neither could quite walk away from the other.

I’m delighted that Midwest Book Review calls The Lady and the Mountain Man: Isabella Bird, Rocky Mountain Jim, and Their Unlikely Friendship “a thoroughly captivating slice of history” and highly recommends it for public library Western history collections.

Isabella was a minister’s daughter, a writer, and a world traveler. She was expected to marry a man of means and position. Jim was a desperado who knew the Rocky Mountains in a way few people did. What they shared was a love of wild country, and on the climb up Longs Peak, their unlikely friendship deepened into something neither had expected.

What drew me to their story was the contrast between Isabella’s clear-eyed assessment of Jim and the affection she felt for him. She understood exactly why a woman ought to keep her distance. She also understood why one might not.

Thank you to Midwest Book Review for shining a light on this true story from the American West.