Geri Halliwell-Horner on Why She At all times Visits a Bookstore Whereas Touring

Geri Halliwell-Horner might finest be often called the Spice Ladies’ Ginger Spice, however her true lady energy trait is her fearless curiosity with which she explores the world—and it is a high quality that turns out to be useful throughout her international travels. 

“I am Miss Curious,” the singer, creator, actress, and mom of two stated to Journey + Leisure on a name final month. “I do not care what it’s. I feel all the things’s fascinating.”

She actually leaned into her intrepid spirit with Rainbow Girl, a present that launched on YouTube in 2020. Within the collection, she went on a “lady energy journey of discovery” and experimented with all the things from beekeeping to tenting. Some issues she, admittedly, favored greater than others.

“I really assume tenting is kind of suffocating whenever you’ve obtained that canvassing over your head,” she stated. “I discovered it a bit claustrophobic.”

As a substitute, she prefers a easy different: making camp within the open, like she as soon as did within the Arabian Desert outdoors of Dubai. “I sat on the high of this hill of sand and seemed up on the night time sky, and it was flooded with diamonds,” she stated. “The celebs appeared so near me. It was essentially the most enchanting factor.”

Halliwell-Horner by no means shies away from an journey, and he or she’s completely at dwelling with a low-key getaway, like sipping tea by the ocean, in addition to extra intense undertakings, resembling mountaineering. A few of her favourite journey reminiscences embody a hike on Cape City’s Desk Mountain, in addition to an ascent up an Austrian peak the place she bumped into an surprising snowstorm.

“It was a brilliant sunny day, so I went up in my shorts, however by the point I obtained to the highest, there was a snowstorm!” she stated. “There was a bit of hut, and the person there gave us some good sizzling meals, however we obtained caught within the blizzard.” 

However, as Halliwell-Horner put it, all the difficulty was value it ultimately. “I wrote a superb tune afterward,” she stated.

The British icon is finest recognized for her time as a pop star, however she’s a profitable creator as nicely. Her younger grownup fantasy novel, “Rosie Frost & the Falcon Queen,” landed on the New York Occasions Greatest Sellers record in 2023. She says she usually makes use of her journeys as a supply of inspiration.

“I’ve been writing for therefore lengthy, so an concept may be for a tune, which is sort of like a espresso espresso shot,” Halliwell-Horner stated. “For a e book, it is a feast to make you’re feeling the ability of phrases.”

For instance, she has a fascination with Tresco, an island situated 28 miles off the Cornish coast in southwest England. The island has a novel subtropical microclimate, which helped spark the concept of Bloodstone Island, a Jurassic Park-like place full of endangered species. In the meantime, a go to to Mount Fuji fueled the plot of the second e book of her collection, “Rosie Frost: Ice on Fireplace,” out there on the market as of April 8.

In the course of the writing course of, concepts popped up throughout all factors of her travels, even mid-flight. “For this e book, I wrote down concepts on the evacuation directions behind the seat pocket and a sick bag as a result of I simply didn’t need to neglect it,” she stated. “I’m all the time taking notes and writing issues down. I don’t even understand I’m doing it.”

Nonetheless, this is not Halliwell-Horner’s first go-round with being a profitable creator. Whereas selling her first e book collection, Ugenia Lavender, she toured all throughout the U.S. and all the time made certain to make a cease at her favourite form of retailer in each metropolis: a bookshop.

“It is nearly like I want an grownup to seize me by the scruff of the neck to drag me away since I begin all the opposite books considering, ‘Oh, that appears fascinating,’” she stated. Halliwell-Horner provides that she nearly all the time has a e book on her, and he or she’s often in the midst of 4 totally different books of assorted genres at any time.

She loves visiting bookstores when she’s dwelling within the U.Okay., too. One among her favorites is Daunt Books in Marylebone, which she stated is a must-visit for all e book lovers. She particularly loves second-hand bookshops as nicely. “Dusty outdated books have a humorous scent about them that I discover fairly comforting,” she stated.

To Halliwell-Horner, journey and studying are inherently linked—they’re each transformational in nature. “Should you’ve traveled the world, you have all the time obtained a e book on you,” she stated. “Typically, our minds grow to be like a muddy pond of stagnant, muddied water, however for those who really clear it out, you understand precisely what’s best for you.”

That form of change fuels the plot of “Ice on Fireplace,” which is about throughout a volcanic eruption—a metaphor for private progress and the ability of issues past our management.

“Typically we’re that exploding volcano that is going to erupt, after which generally it is the peaceable, stunning ocean,” she stated. “What I like about journey is that it’s a battle between science and nature, man versus Mom Nature. Who’s in cost? After I journey, I get my reply proper in entrance of me. The roar of the ocean, the tumbling huge rocks thundering down the aspect of a mountain—that is who’s in cost!”