Christian Lewis – författare

The Sunday Times Bestseller – As featured on Ben Fogle's New Lives in the Wild.Join Christian Lewis as he walks the entire coastline of the UK – his dog Jet in tow – and rebuilds his life, step by step. With a foreword from longtime supporter Ben Fogle, Finding HIldasay is his inspiring true story of reconnecting with nature and finding hope along the way.Ex-paratrooper Christian Lewis had hit rock bottom, suffering with depression so severe he would shut himself in his bedroom for weeks. Then while surfing – his sole respite – he cast his eyes along the coastline and realized it was the only place he really wanted to be.Then, Chris made an impulsive decision. He set himself a challenge: to walk the entire coastline of the UK. He gave himself a few days to rustle up a tent and walking boots, then left for good with just a tenner in his pocket and two days’ worth of food. Little did he know at the time just how long it would take to cross the finish line – and the encounters lying ahead would turn his life around.Almost six years later, Chris has navigated the West Coast, Northern Ireland, the hard-rock cliffs of Scotland and the perimeters of the Scottish Islands. He spent three months on an uninhabited island called Hildasay, with beloved dog Jet. It was there, the most barren his route had become, that he found within himself the pride and respect he needed – and his journey became all the more remarkable. Happiness and hope was just around the corner . . .'Exhilarating' – The Observer'The real journey here is one of self-discovery' – The Mail on Sunday

The No. 1 Sunday Times BestsellerWalking saved his life. Now it will help find him a family. In the follow-up to his Sunday Times bestselling Finding Hildasay, Christian Lewis takes his next steps – along the coastline of Britain, and on the road of life.Since his time on Hildasay, Chris’ adventure has only gotten wilder. No one was more surprised than Chris when, in November 2020, he had an unlikely (seemingly destined) encounter with fellow adventurer Kate. The two turned out to be kindred spirits and – even more astonishingly – Kate made the bold decision to join Chris on the walk of a lifetime. Day in, day out, as they trekked the coastline down from Scotland together, their relationship grew, and soon the couple were thrown in at the deep end when their first child – baby Magnus – arrived.But, away from Scotland, Chris’ struggles with mental health returned. The solitude of Hildasay seemed far away, and he unravelled once again.Through injuries and setbacks, with Jet the dog ageing and baby Magnus growing by the day, the adventurous family of four had to find their feet and come together to complete this epic challenge. They’ve navigated the east coast of Scotland, through Yorkshire and East Anglia, and struggled on to the Jurassic Coast where Chris slowly came back into himself.In Hildasay to Home Chris finally crosses the finish line back in Swansea with almost half a million pounds raised. He reflects beautifully on all that he’s learned and the family he’s found for himself along the way.

The Sunday Times Bestseller.Finding Hildasay is Christian Lewis’s brutal but beautiful true story of survival, walking the coast of Britain – his dog Jet in tow – and finding a different way to live. With a foreword from longtime supporter Ben Fogle.Ex-paratrooper Christian Lewis had hit rock bottom, suffering with depression so severe he would shut himself in his bedroom for weeks. Then while surfing – his sole respite – he cast his eyes along the coastline and realized it was the only place he really wanted to be.Then, Chris made an impulsive decision. He set himself a challenge: to walk the entire coastline of the UK. He gave himself a few days to rustle up a tent and walking boots, then left for good with just a tenner in his pocket and two days’ worth of food. Little did he know at the time just how long it would take to cross the finish line – and the encounters lying ahead would turn his life around.Five years later, Chris has navigated the West Coast, Northern Ireland, the hard-rock cliffs of Scotland and the perimeters of the Scottish Islands. He spent three months on an uninhabited island called Hildasay, with beloved dog Jet. It was there, the most barren his route had become, that he found within himself the pride and respect he needed – and his journey became all the more remarkable. Happiness and hope was just around the corner . . .

The number one Sunday Times bestseller'Bursting with positivity and hope' – Ben FogleWalking saved his life. Now it will help find him a family. In the follow-up to Finding Hildasay, with his dog by his side, former paratrooper Christian Lewis takes his next steps – along the coastline of Britain, and on the road of life.After spending lockdown on a deserted Scottish island called Hildasay, it was time for Chris Lewis to complete his mission to walk the UK coastline. Then, in November 2020, he had an unlikely (seemingly destined) encounter with fellow adventurer Kate. The two turned out to be kindred spirits and – even more astonishingly – Kate made the bold decision to join Chris on the walk of a lifetime. Day in, day out, as they trekked the coastline down from Scotland together, their relationship grew, and soon the couple were thrown in at the deep end when their first child – baby Magnus – arrived.But, away from Scotland, Chris’s struggles with mental health returned. The solitude of Hildasay seemed far away and he unravelled once again.Through injuries and setbacks, with Jet the dog ageing and baby Magnus growing by the day, the adventurous family of four had to find their feet and come together to complete this epic challenge. They’ve navigated the eastern coastline of Scotland, through Yorkshire and East Anglia, and struggled on to the Jurassic Coast, where Chris slowly came back into himself.In Hildasay to Home, Chris finally crosses the finish line back in Swansea, with almost half a million pounds raised. He reflects beautifully on all that he’s learned – and the family he’s found for himself along the way.Praise for Finding Hildasay:'The real journey here is one of self-discovery' – The Mail on Sunday'I love how genuine it feels . . . Chris is a remarkable man' – Dorset Magazine

Narrative Side-Stepping offers a new feminist, queer, crip way of reading that embraces expansive narrative possibilities for disabled characters. Instead of treating disabled characters as plot devices, metaphors, stereotypes, or marginal figures enforcing able-bodiedness, Christian Lewis argues that authors utilize disabled characters to question both social and literary conventions. Disability is thus not a limiting formal feature, but a source of experimentation and critique.Focusing on the nineteenth century, which saw the rise of normalcy and the obsession over "normal" bodies, Narrative Side-Stepping centers female characters with mobility impairments in Victorian novels. These characters side-step by challenging the plots and roles available to them, offering narrative alternatives about how things "might have been." Examining the works of Charles Dickens, Anthony Trollope, Wilkie Collins, Harriet Martineau, and Charlotte Yonge, Lewis reconceptualizes the Victorian novel as a space where disabled characters can thrive. By theorizing disabled characters and what they can do in a more reparative and capacious manner, Narrative Side-Stepping allows us to think about the novel beyond the confines of normalcy, side-stepping into a more accessible and accommodating world for those with disabilities.