Wilderness Mother (30th Anniversary Edition)
A MEMOIR OF 13 YEARS OFF THE GRID
Memoir, Nature
- Price
- $24.95
Revised and updated 30th anniversary edition of the wilderness classic of raising a young family in the remote wilds of northern Canada.
In 1978 Deanna met her hermit husband in Northern B.C. while she was working as a forestry lookout attendant. For the next thirteen years she led the life of a pioneering mother in the wilderness. Over a hundred miles from the nearest paved road and cut off from most contact with the outside world, Deanna and her husband Jay built a life and raised their children in the stunning beauty and staggering isolation of the Ningunsaw Valley.
She describes the family's remarkable self-sufficiency in constructing their home, growing and harvesting their own food and eventually building a small dam to generate electricity. But the unrelenting work of a pioneer life is balanced with her deep love and connection to the natural world that surrounds them. Deanna has been a naturalist her whole life and nature breathes as a character in each of her books.
This new edition includes chapters that expand on her relationship with Jay, his mental health challenges and the break-up of their marriage. Thirty years ago, these subjects were less discussed but in this new edition Deanna candidly addresses the personal challenges they faced in their marriage.
Reviews
“Kawatski tells her absorbing tale in eloquent prose.” —Publishers Weekly
“To read Wilderness Mother is to step back into a time when courage and honesty and integrity were not yet verging on extinction. Deanna Kawatski’s hope-filled, generous and joyous voice deserves its resurgence.”
— Wayne Johnston, author of Jennie’s Boy and The Colony of Unrequited Dreams
“What makes this book a classic? It’s the way three decades of readers have seen themselves in these stories from a faraway valley—and surely will for decades to come.” — J.B. MacKinnon, author of The 100-Mile Diet and The Once and Future World
“Required reading for those who dream of stepping away from technology to live life and raise kids by the rhythm of nature.” — Grant Lawrence, CBC broadcaster and author of Adventures in Solitude
“What a pleasure to have this classic re-issued for a new age, and to remind readers everywhere that there’s a big world out there waiting to be found!” — Bill McKibben, author of Here Comes the Sun
“Wilderness Mother is nothing less than Canada’s Walden.” — Alex Forbes, retired professor, poet, author of after the moon a blue ocean
Book Details
Pub Date: October 2025
Trade Paperback
230 Pages
Print ISBN 9781553807308
E-book ISBN 9781553807315
6” x 9”
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