Out of the woods : a memoir of wayfinding

by Lynn Darling    (Get the Book)
In a radiant, brave memoir, Darling, a journalist and memoirist (Necessary Sins), recalls a difficult time shortly after her daughter goes off to college and Darling moves from New York City to the remote woods of Woodstock, Vt. A widow in her mid-'50s, Darling finds the woods around her small, eclectic house at the end of the road inviting yet frightening, and soon learns how "directionally challenged" she is-thus vulnerable. Having fled her life in the city out of a sense of failure and shame, she admits that she no longer knows what map of her life . She turns to a point by point "metaphysical" to-do list, including "get sense of direction; find authentic way to live; figure out how to be old; deal with sex; learn Latin." With her companion a yellow Lab puppy she named Henry, and occasionally help from wilderness experts-or a compass and a map-Darling embarks on a clarifying journey of self-navigation. Despite being sidetracked by cancer and a year of grueling treatments, which she endured largely alone, she gradually finds her moorings, emerging from this dark spell with a profound and grateful understanding of what it means to take responsibility for yourself. --Publishers Weekly