The Finnish writer Mia Kankimäki was someone who had perhaps hit a midlife crisis - not knowing how she was meant to meaningfully fill her single, childless, 40-something existence. She quits her job, sells her apartment and moves back with her parents, whilst also struggling with her mental health. But a renewed focus is forged around the idea of following in the steps of ten heroines from history - if these women could overcome the obstacles of the times in which they lived, then surely Mia can do likewise today. Taking us on a journey through time and place, we travel across the souls of a series of 'night women' - lives that have been lived on the fringes of convention and which broke the rules women were meant to adhere to. This isn't the documentation of a life half lived, but an exploration of female empowerment.

The night women are divided into explorers and artists. The opening section takes the most in-depth focus - centred around the Danish author and coffee-plantation owner Karen Blixen, best known for her work 'Out of Africa'. Mia travels to Tanzania and briefly to Kenya to try immersing herself in Karen's world, and has a revelatory experience out on safari in the vastness of Africa. There are also biographical sections on other intrepid adventurers, such as Isabella Bird, Ida Pfeiffer, Mary Kingsley and Nellie Bly, and Mia travels to Japan to immerse herself in the world of Alexandra David-Neel. Each of these night women unveils something that Mia can learn and bring to her own travels.

In addition, Mia voyages to Italy to search for the forgotten female painters of the Renaissance - Sofonisba Anguissola, Lavinia Fontana, and Artemisia Gentileschi. The discoveries she makes from these women, as well as another detour to Japan to study the contemporary artist, Yayoi Kusama, bring guidance for Mia around her creative path.

This book offers an interesting mix in its study of these pioneering women and the sections about Mia herself - the memoir element documents Mia's own travels, her own troubles and her own tribulations as a writer. The final outcome is a true celebration of all of us who don't fit in, don't belong or don't go along with the status quo. There wasn't a woman in here who I wouldn't have liked to be or know - these women all led exceptional lives and it's just a shame that their adventures aren't more widely known. These are stories that expand our idea of what women once were and, in turn, what any woman can be.