There鈥檚 a moment in Wild, , when she realizes that a hunter she recently passed on the Pacific Crest Trail has circled back and is watching her through the trees as she changes clothes and pitches camp. That tension鈥攏avigating the wilderness while steering her way through the men she encounters there鈥攚asn鈥檛 always present in first-person 颅adventure tales written by women. In 1934鈥檚 , author Freya Stark rarely mentions her gender; the same is true of Beryl Markham in , about her life as an African bush pilot in the 1930s. Recent writers have become more personal: Gretel Ehrlich, Sara Wheeler, Pam Houston, Kira Salak. But it wasn鈥檛 until Wild that publishers got excited about signing 颅authors whose books would include an account of their 颅experience as women in the wilderness.听
This summer, readers have their pick of female narrators traversing both internal and external terrain (see 鈥淢iss 国产吃瓜黑料s,鈥 below). But few stand out as much as Blair Braverman鈥檚 Arctic memoir, ($26, Ecco).
It鈥檚 a story as much about a love affair with a strange, untamed place as it is about a young woman finding a way to be at home in the 颅frozen tundra. A California kid fascinated by the Arctic, Braverman heads off to Norway on a high school exchange in 2004 and returns to the country again and again. Much of the narrative focuses on her attempts to learn to drive a dog team, first at a school in the far north, and later on a remote Alaskan glacier. 鈥淭he dogs flowed, a perfect thrilling engine,鈥 she writes of her first time on a sled. 鈥淭heir legs stretched out like pistons; their ears and tongues bounced in unison. Their running had nothing to do with me. They wouldn鈥檛 have stopped if I鈥檇 asked them to. They were beautiful. They were so beautiful.鈥澛
Along the way, Braverman builds an unlikely bond with Arild, the man who runs the village shop, and learns to deal with a very odd cast of male characters: truckers with mail-order brides waiting at home; an 颅erratic, hard-luck sailor named Helge Jensen; a slaughterhouse baron called He the Rich One.听
Braverman鈥檚 awareness of her vulnerability in wild places is a current running below the surface of every page, whether she鈥檚 risking death in an Arctic snowstorm or fending off a horny drunk at a bush party. Much of the book鈥檚 suspense comes from Braverman鈥檚 own fears. During an unsettling fall 颅semester with her exchange family, she becomes hyper颅aware of her host father鈥檚 ever present gaze. 鈥淚 occasionally practiced climbing out of聽my bedroom window,鈥 she writes, 鈥渁nd left the window cracked open even as the nights grew colder.鈥 The physical challenges of learning to be a musher eventually offer a way through the emotional ones. It鈥檚 a powerful combination.
Miss 国产吃瓜黑料s
Three more recent reads from stellar new female voices
Running:聽A Love Story聽($17, Seal Press)
For years, Jen聽Miller fell for the wrong men. Then she .听
This Road聽I Ride聽($27, W.W. Norton and Co.)
Juliana Buhring lost her soulmate when he was killed by a crocodile during聽a kayaking expedition. She .听
Everything聽Is Teeth聽($25, Pantheon)
Evie Wyld鈥檚 explores her fear of and fascination with sharks, born of childhood summers on the Australian coast.