Vendor
	Mohrbooks Literary Agency Sebastian Ritscher
Original language
English
Categories
Memoirs

THE SUN IS A COMPASS

Caroline Van Hemert

Combining nature story, science, and riveting adventure narrative, THE SUN IS A COMPASS tells the story of ornithologist Caroline Van Hemert, who spent nearly twenty years studying birds in the far north and is a research wildlife biologist at the USGS Alaska Science Center.

After years working towards her doctorate and spending untold hours looking at chickadee beaks under the microscope, she began to feel stifled in the isolated, sterile environment of the lab, and worried that she was losing her passion for the natural science she once loved. Restless, like a bird in spring, she felt called to reacquaint herself with the natural world, to experience wildness again, to be guided by the sounds of birds and to follow the trails of animals.

In 2012 she and her husband set off alone on a 4,000-mile journey from Washington State to the Arctic Circle traveling solely by human power without the help of any motor or machine. They explored land so remote there were no maps or guidebooks to mark it. With only each other to rely on, they survived harrowing dangers while also experiencing incredible moments of joy and grace in the wild that brought them closer together than ever before.

This is for readers who loved Lab Girl, H is for Hawk, and Wild. Ultimately, The Sun Is a Compass is a love letter to nature and a beautifully written testament to the resilience of the human spirit, exploring themes of movement, migration and survival.

Caroline Van Hemert is a biologist and adventurer whose journeys have taken her from the pack ice of the Arctic Ocean to the swamps of the Okavango Delta. She currently works at the US Geological Survey Alaska Science Center and regularly publishes articles in scientific journals about birds and other wildlife in the north. Her research and expeditions have been featured by the New York Times, MSNBC, National Geographic, and more. She lives in Alaska with her husband and two young sons.

Available products
Book Published 2019-03-19 by Little Brown
Book Published 2019-03-19 by Little Brown

Comments

Caroline Van Hemert has written a riveting book full of birds, danger, beauty and wonder. Her intrepid travels with her equally adventurous husband left me breathless with awe.

This inspirational memoir is riveting. Reading it will incite wanderlust.

Take a look at Caroline Van Hemert's blog, where you can see some spectacular photos of the Alaska landscape, which will appear in the finished book in a 16-page color insert. Read more...

Van Hemert's vibrant and elegant book transports, educates, and inspires. To read The Sun Is a Compass is to be masterfully guided through the wild by an expert not only on nature itself but on the deep and often hidden connections between the natural world and our human lives.

What a marvelous book. An enthralling blend of adventure story, insightful memoir, and keen-eyed nature observation. Van Hemert is a fearless spirit and a master storyteller, to be admired equally for her astonishing grit and her elegant, compelling prose.

The Sun Is a Compass is an adventure story, but also a love story. It is thrilling, uplifting, and hopeful, both as a journey across northern wilds and as a diary of a couple growing ever closer together. Caroline and Pat's epic journey will rekindle your faith in human endurance, and intimacy.

I was thoroughly charmed by Caroline Van Hemert's memoir of arctic travel. The astonishing length of the journey she and her husband chose to make - on foot, by rowboat, and on skis - leaves you shaking your head in wonder. Her honesty about her own anxieties, her informed thought about fearful and beautiful encounters along the way, and the gritty determination with which she and her husband faced each day offer us a rich and compelling story.

Van Hemert proves equally adept at exploring the inner dialogue that accompanied the harrowing physical feats, touching on love and loss, new parenthood, and the struggle to combine her passions for scientific inquiry and adventure. She leaves nature lovers with a story - of adventure, of environmental awareness, and of personal discovery - worth savoring.

A truly astounding journey, beautifully written. ... in the tradition of wilderness adventurers John Muir, Margaret Murie, Cheryl Strayed, and Robert Macfarlane, but she is not one to stick to well-trodden trails... An edge-of-your-seat thrilling read, but with a refreshing humility and grace. My favorite book of 2019, and one of the best Alaskan books I have ever read.

Imagine trekking four times farther than Cheryl Strayed did in Wild, without a trail, through swarms of mosquitoes thick enough to suck caribou dry. In this marvelous tale of grit and grace, ornithologist Caroline Van Hemert leaves behind a lab full of caged chickadees to embark on her own epic migration to the Arctic, reconnecting with the reverence for nature that drove her to science in the first place. For those of us less skilled at fashioning our own sea kayaks, dodging avalanches, and fending off hungry bears, this intimate book is a precious window into a remote wilderness of formidable beauty.

Outside Magazine rounds up the best new books of March, including THE SUN IS A COMPASS: "The story of their trip is worth telling on its own, but Van Hemert's eye for detail - she's a bird biologist at heart - pushes The Sun Is a Compass into something more interesting...relatable and honest."

Caroline Van Hemert has crafted a book as remarkable and dimensional as her epic journey. She is able to offer a scientist's insight into the natural world while writing of danger, beauty, and love without ego and with refreshing grace and honesty. Her book is a gift not just to those who like to venture on the wild side, but to anyone intrigued by the possibilities of strong partnership, imagination, and curiosity. This is unlikely to be a book you just read; it is one that will make you soar.

China: Citic ; Netherlands: Atlas Contact

In a time when stories of extreme outdoor adventures have become commonplace, Caroline Van Hemert's The Sun Is a Compass stands out because it is at heart a love story. A remarkably skilled and experienced wilderness traveler, the author writes in the clear language of a scientist who observes her world through the eyes of a poet, across 4,000 miles of risk and endurance, in concert with an extraordinary man. It's a hell of a read.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Sun Is a Compass. It is an exciting modern adventure story in the far north that will appeal to anyone with a yen for experiencing wild nature.

In The Sun Is a Compass, adventure and romance journey hand in hand, covering 4,000 tough miles, reminding all of us that the easy way may not be the best way.

Ornithologist and naturalist Caroline Van Hemert has written a thrilling account of an epic journey from the Pacific Coast to the Arctic Ocean. A triumph in wilderness travel, scientific curiosity, and adventure writing that exposes the sublime thrill and loving touch to be found in nature and our fellow human beings.

It is the author's candor regarding her doubts and her appealing vulnerability that make this memoir so resonant. One follows this engrossing adventure feeling as eager as the travelers to see what's around the next bend in the river, on the next island, across the next coastal passage, or over the next mountain pass.

In The Sun is a Compass, adventure and romance journey hand in hand, covering 4,000 tough miles, reminding all of us that the easy way may not be the best way.