Reviewed by Tony Orman
Just take a small step outdoors and feel the air beneath your wings. Remember you were made to move, to explore, to breathe freely, to fly. –Miriam Lancewood
A third book about adventure and the outdoors
Author Miriam Lancewood is a remarkable person addicted to adventure, imbued with a positive attitude. Her first book Woman in the Wilderness told of seven years she and her husband Peter spent in the New Zealand wilderness mainly around south Marlborough. It was a best-seller internationally.
She and Peter embraced a nomadic lifestyle, living totally free of chronological time, i.e. no watch, sleeping in a tent and cooking over camp fires. Miriam taught herself to hunt with a bow and arrow.
Miriam’s second book Wild at Heart told of the couples adventures in Europe and then down to Australia where Peter became ill with kidney failure. It was a difficult period marked by illness, residence and love.As Peter rested and recuperated, Miriam embarked on her own venturing with friends and sometimes solo, overcoming her fears about Peter’s well-being by gaining through freedom, a greater measure of independence.
Those adventures have now transformed into her third book Alone in the World which encapsulates — after a solo venture “living off the land” into New Zealand’s Kahurangi National Park (north-west Nelson) — in expeditions through Bulgaria, the Himalayas, India, Turkey, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.
She dares to hitchhikes but with caution, camps in the wilderness, climbs mountains, and survives by often eating of the land.
An exciting read on the air beneath your wings
The 298-page book is philosophical, inspirational and riveting.
Indeed the author expresses hope that the book will inspire people to step into the unknown, explore and find a sense of freedom. Yet one doesn’t need to go to the Himalayas, Turkey or Bulgaria as she did.
A bonus to entering Miriam Lancewood’s world via the book is a section dealing with expedition gear and expedition food and fuel. A colour photograph section further enhances the book
Highly recommended.
Alone in the World by Miriam Lancewood is published by Allen and Unwin, RRP $37.99