The Ride of Her Life The True Story of a Woman, Her Horse, and Their Last-Chance Journey Across America

In 1954, sixty-three-year-old Maine farmer Annie Wilkins faced an impossible choice: move into the county charity home or chase one last dream. With just two years to live, no money, and no family, Annie chose the Pacific Ocean. She bought a cast-off gelding named Tarzan, pulled on men’s dungarees, and rode south into the unknown—no map, no plan, just an unwavering faith in the kindness of strangers.

From National Bestseller and #1 New York Times bestselling author Elizabeth Letts comes this “heartwarming and engaging folk-hero biography” that reads like an adventure novel but happened in real life. Annie, Tarzan, and her faithful mutt Depeche Toi pushed through blizzards, forded rivers, and clung to highway shoulders as America transformed around them. Over four thousand miles and two years, they met everyone from Andrew Wyeth (who sketched Tarzan) to Groucho Marx, inspiring an outpouring of neighborliness in a rapidly modernizing world.

Letts—author of The Perfect Horse and The Eighty-Dollar Champion—brings her signature storytelling to this remarkable true story. Booklist calls it a vivid portrait of “an audacious woman whose optimism, courage, and good humor are to be marveled at and admired.” It’s a tale about the America we once were, the connections we’ve lost, and the extraordinary courage it takes to choose adventure over safety.

Perfect for fans of historical narratives, animal stories, and anyone who believes in the transformative power of saying yes to the impossible.

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