The Way Home

$16.95

by Bibi Wein

Provocative from the opening lines, this is a treasure trove of love, loss, humor, and self-discovery amidst the trees and cabins of the Adirondack Mountains:

Somewhere around the age of 40, when I should have been deciding if I wanted to take my last chance at having a second child, should have been looking for a good job… I began instead to learn everything I could about staying out all night in the woods. Since I live in Manhattan, this pursuit could hardly be construed as even marginally relevant to my real life.

Think Gretal Ehrlich and Annie Dillard. But this work is both more personal and more universal. Think Barbara Kingsolver’s Prodigal Summer for sensitivity to the natural world and narrative sweep.

This book stands out from other tales of the land: it is about the romance and primitive majesty of the wilderness, how it shelters and awes us, terrifies us, and ultimately provides us with a sense of place. Here is exquisitely detailed narration balanced with sharp insights into modern life in the wilderness.

by Bibi Wein

Provocative from the opening lines, this is a treasure trove of love, loss, humor, and self-discovery amidst the trees and cabins of the Adirondack Mountains:

Somewhere around the age of 40, when I should have been deciding if I wanted to take my last chance at having a second child, should have been looking for a good job… I began instead to learn everything I could about staying out all night in the woods. Since I live in Manhattan, this pursuit could hardly be construed as even marginally relevant to my real life.

Think Gretal Ehrlich and Annie Dillard. But this work is both more personal and more universal. Think Barbara Kingsolver’s Prodigal Summer for sensitivity to the natural world and narrative sweep.

This book stands out from other tales of the land: it is about the romance and primitive majesty of the wilderness, how it shelters and awes us, terrifies us, and ultimately provides us with a sense of place. Here is exquisitely detailed narration balanced with sharp insights into modern life in the wilderness.

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About the Author

Born in New Jersey and raised in West Virginia, Angela Shaw earned a B.A. in English Literature from Swarthmore College and an M.F.A. from Cornell University. She presently lives in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, with her husband and their two children.

Advanced Praise

“Bibi Wein offers a lovely and penetrating look into the thickets of the Adirondack woods and of the human heart.” —Bill McKibben, author of The End of Nature

“The Way Home is a beautifully written, deeply spiritual and disarmingly honest meditation on nature—that found in the glorious out-of-doors as well as that of the infinitely less elegant (and far more exasperating) human being. Think of it as modern-day Walden—a way to sit in an armchair and experience the soul-stirring revelations that are offered when one learns to keep quiet and let the land speak.” —Elizabeth Berg, author of The Art of Mending

“While reading Bibi Wein’s memoir, The Way Home: A Wilderness Journey, I stopped mid-sentence, tucked my bookmark—(a Chinese fortune)—between the pages and rushed to my computer to write because good books always inspire me to write.” –Carol Hoenig, author of Without Grace.

“If we’re fortunate, each of us will experience several incidents throughout life that jar us from the complacency and routine of everyday existence–some of these events will be tragic, some transcendent, some potentially deadly. Yet, in the moments following, we’ll begin to re-appreciate the nuances of friendship, the simplicity of joy, the ease of love.” –Jen Henderson

“The Way Home engages us in the coming to nature of a woman accustomed to living in the suburbs and the city. She tells her story with candor and takes is along with her as she grows to a deeper understanding of her life and the nature of the Adirondacks…” –Anthony Tyler, 2005 issue of Blueline, A Literary Magazine Dedicated to The Spirit of the Adirondacks

Bibi Wein and The Way Home were featured in an interview with Todd Moe of North Country Public Radio. Excerpts of the interview can be heard at the NCPR website.

“…in the American literary tradition of escaping into the woods to not only discover more about the world which we inhabit, but also to discover how the world allows us to explore and come to a better understanding of ourselves.” The online journal Three Candles, a wonderful poetry resource, is now branching into non-fiction and fiction.” –threecandles.org

Format: Paperback
ISBN: 978-1-932195-13-2