"It's pretty rare to read a manuscript and find yourself thinking—this is a classic, a book that people will read for many years to come. It's not just that Guy Waterman was a fascinating figure, or that he and his wife were among the most interesting homesteaders of our time. Quite beyond all that, Laura Waterman has written a universal story about marriage, depression, tenderness, silence. You don't need to care a fig for mountains or New England woods to be utterly caught up in this quiet, stunning saga." — Bill McKibben, author of Wandering Home"Laura Waterman's book is a love letter to the natural world and to the redemptive act of writing, as well as a love letter to her husband. Like the exacting process of sugaring the maple trees she so beautifully recounts, this memoir is a careful, lineamental excavation in the aftermath of a suicide, and her distillations are pure gold." — Karen Green, author of Bough Down and Frail Sister"Losing the Garden tells the story of two remarkable lives and one remarkable death. But what makes this memoir so unusual—and so valuable—in the literature of suicide is that in trying to understand why her beloved husband of twenty-seven years chose to freeze to death on a mountaintop, and why she supported that choice, the author comes to understand her own life better as well. In the process, we learn as much about life and love—and love's limitations—as we do about despair and self-destruction. Written with astonishing candor, uncommon grace, and, I think, real courage, Losing the Garden is a book I will not soon forget." — George Howe Colt, author of November of the Soul: The Enigma of Suicide"Losing the Garden is a beautiful book, full of detail that I am amazed the author amassed, and wise, ruminative insight. The book was painful to read, yet wondrous in its lyricism and truth." — Alison Osius, senior editor, Outside"Losing the Garden is much more than a story of a marriage. It is a story of a complicated man who found solace in mountains. Guy Waterman, a much adored, charismatic leader in protecting wilderness lands, needed wild places. I have read this book perhaps ten times. Each time I find a deeper layer of art, truth, and courage. Many of us are obsessed with wilderness. I suspect we go there for more than just beauty and fun—and dare not explore why. Losing the Garden shows that we can explore the unexplored in ourselves. That we must know our own demons. Waterman shows that there is nothing 'bad' in mental illness when it joins with joy, intelligence, and caring to make a fascinating and complicated person." — Christine Woodside, author of Going Over the Mountain"I've written three books on the memoir as a genre, but I have never read a more powerful one than Laura Waterman's Losing the Garden. Waterman has traveled far out of her comfort zone here, and the honesty and insights of her writing are astonishing. I have many favorite passages, but my favorite is this one: 'Shortly before his suicide, Guy told me that he had accomplished all he wanted. In a way, he was saying that he had come to the end of learning—that is, all he was interested in learning. There is always more to learn.' I will remember this passage, and the entire memoir, for a long time." — Jeffrey Berman, author of Dying to Teach: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Learning"Losing the Garden is a beautifully written, detailed chronicle of thirty years of a marriage that included mountain climbing, wilderness living, and collaborative writing. Guy and Laura Waterman shared a seemingly idyllic life, but there was a tragic dimension, revealed here with thoughtful compassion and remarkable honesty. This is a complex, courageous, and quietly stunning book." — Reeve Lindbergh, author of Two Lives"Laura and Guy Waterman set the wilderness ethics' bar high, not just for themselves, but for the rest of us who spend time in wild places. Learning that Guy was besieged by his own demons does not diminish the power of their message to live lightly on the land, but rather it gives it depth and humanity." — Mary Margaret Sloan, former president, American Hiking Society"A compelling memoir demands a precarious dance between the universal and the unusual … The result is a very slow waltz during which the dancers hardly touch." — Boston Globe, Editor's Pick"Like the treasured books the Watermans read aloud every evening for solace, instruction, and delight, through times of enchantment and times of great pain, here is a book that proves again that whatever life's catastrophes, the garden surrounds us." — Northern Woodlands
