Frauen, an die ich nachts denke

If a creative mind seeks inspiration, it's always fruitful to look into the past and find inspiring personalities who stand out due to their tenacious execution of their vision. Kankimäki finds her heroines in a series of 19th and early 20th century Africa/World travelers (Karen Blixen, Isabella Bird, Ida Pfeiffer, Mary Kingsley, Alexandra David-Neel, Nellie Bly) and a few Italian Renaissance painters (Sofonisba Anguissola, Lavinia Fontana, Artemisia Gentileschi). We get biographical portraits about these women, interspersed with the author's own travels following into their footpaths.

All these women are fascinating, and the book starts out strong with a long focus on Karen Blixen (part of this destroyed my overall romantic vision of Blixen that obviously came from the Sydney Pollack movie). But after a while the other women start to blend into each other, as their experiences feel too similar (even if admirable). And then it becomes more about the author herself than about her ‘night women', as she struggles to write this exact book.

This book definitely could have been shorter, or divided into two parts (the travelers, the artists). It's always sad if a book that starts out great drags towards the finishing line. Nevertheless, I loved learning about all these women. 3.5