Description

‘Deeply personal and poignant’ BBC Countryfile

An engaging blend of conservation stories and humorous, personal anecdotes from Philippa Forrester about women who, like her, choose to live and work in the wild.

In Wild Woman, Philippa Forrester considers the grit and determination required for women to maintain connections to wildlife and succeed in the traditionally male-dominated fields of conservation and environmental biology. She shares stories of female conservation heroes and other extraordinary wild women working in nature and investigates the ways in which the natural world is a vital ‘medicine’ for our mental health.

Talking to women from around the world, Philippa studies and celebrates what it means to be a wild woman. From the sixteenth-century botanist who was the first woman to circumnavigate the globe to modern-day women responding to bear attacks in Yellowstone, working to rewild reserves in South Africa, photographing Caribou in the Arctic and more, Philippa examines how these women benefit from a life spent in the wilderness and also considers what the natural world gains from them.

Relating some of her own experiences from three decades spent travelling around the world and working in some of the wildest places on Earth, Philippa asks: what does it take for a woman to live or work in the wild?

Publisher Review

Forrester’s research takes her around the world as she records anecdotes of daring, discovery and danger. * Sunday Express * Part memoir, part exploration of women’s relationship with nature and part studies of other women who, like [Philippa], have chosen to work in the male-dominated fields of conservation. * The Times * Deeply personal and poignant. * BBC Countryfile * How beautiful…I love the premise of the book. * Fearne Cotton, TV and radio presenter * After years of child-rearing and being wifely, Philippa Forrester emerges with a lot of pertinent questions. Wild Woman is a piercing, funny, self-deprecating answer to what it is to be wild. Locally, globally, diverse and female, it is full of a lifetime’s awe – and wise. This delightfully brilliant, sometimes rightfully angry book, puts women where they should be: at the heart of conservation, knowing what it is to be wild, to tune in, mend and support the natural world and our place in it. I am cheering her, and all these wonderful women on! * Nicola Chester, author of On Gallows Down * A powerful testament to why women must have a greater say when conserving our natural world. * Mike Dilger, naturalist and broadcaster * Wild Woman is a timely reminder of the feminine energy behind some groundbreaking successes in global wildlife conservation.Through deeply personal experiences, Philippa shows us with spirit and gusto that the natural world is a source of strength, wisdom, humour and comfort. * Sophie Pavelle, author of Forget Me Not *