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Rating: 
Summary: Nature Classic Back in Print
Review: "Driftwood Valley" recounts a magnificent story ofadventure and survival in the wilds of northern British Columbia. Foralmost three years, naturalist Theodora Stanwell-Fletcher, together with her husband John, a trapper and explorer, lived and worked in the remote Driftwood River country. Marked "unexplored" and "unsurveyed" on the few incomplete maps of the area, it was a region that had seen few white people. From their wilderness cabin, the Stanwell-Fletchers studied the area's rich wildlife. "We wanted to make detailed and accurate observations on the life of the Driftwood region; to understand the lives and problems of the wild things about us as they passed through all four seasons of the year," wrote Theodora. Her account reveals the daily pleasures and insights sparked by living close to the wild. It also documents the isolation, hardships, and struggles, including the severe sub-arctic winters that brought deep snow and temperatures of forty-below. A popular success upon its publication in 1946, "Driftwood Valley" won the John Burroughs Medal for excellence in nature writing, its author the first woman to receive the award. In his introduction, Wendell Berry describes how as a teenager he discovered "Driftwood Valley" and recalls that it was "the only book I read for a year or two, the end serving only to permit a new return to the beginning." In a new afterword, Rhoda Love provides a fascinating biographical profile of the author. "One of the most distinguished and consistently absorbing books of the outdoors ever written." -Boston Globe About the Author Theodora Stanwell-Fletcher earned a Ph.D. in Animal Ecology from Cornell University in 1936. Prior to and after her years in Driftwood Valley, she spent various periods of her life studying natural history in locations ranging from the South Pacific to the Canadian sub-arctic. Now in her nineties, she lives in rural Pennsylvania.
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Summary: Move Over Annie and Tell Henry David the News
Review: Do not buy one copy of this book! When you finish you will press it on a friend, who in turn will press it on another. In a month it will be out of the county; in two out of the state. You will not see the book again and you will sorely miss it. So buy two copies: one for re-reading, one for evangelism. Driftwood Valley is easily the best book written on an outdoor theme by a woman. Why it remains buried in obscurity is a wonder. The best contemporary writing in the genre connot match it. Pilgrim at Tinker Creek comes close; but to read the two books successively is to realize the limitations of Annie Dillard. Stanwell-Fletcher stands in better company with Thoreau. In her depictions of winter life in particular she approaches the master. One is reminded constantly of "The Pond in Winter", "Brute Neighbors", and "Winter Animals". There is some of the grandeur of Thoreau's contemporary, Francis Parkman, in her prose, too, when she lifts her eye to sweep the horizens of the immense British Columbian landscape. Ultimately, this is a big, confident, heroic book. No trembler in the world's genetically reductionist sphere is Theodora Stanwell-Fletcher. She sees Heaven's glory shine, and revels in it. So will you when you read this most neglected of American masterpieces! A last note: Ms Stanwell-Fletcher is a graduate of Mount Holyoke College. I learned this from the bookjacket of the original edition I picked up for a dime at a yard sale. Having spent a year at Mount Holyoke as an exchange student, I took special heed of this and called their library seeking information. Was she still alive, etc. But no one there had heard of her! Later, a friend in South Hadley went to the alumni office, learned that she is indeed still with us, and was able to forward a fan letter to which she received a gracious thank you. I would suggest that any Holyoke grad reading this get the book, read it, contact your alma mater, and demand that they honor this lady. Ms Stanwell-Fletcher deserves it!
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Summary: Driftwood Valley ? Worth Re-Reading
Review: I am pleased to see this book has recently been reissued. I have an old, but treasured paperback copy. The author is observant of, informative about, and acutely responsive to the environment she describes. Having experienced winters in that region I would say she is especially adept at rendering the harsh, but radiant winters.
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Summary: A Field Naturalist's Classic
Review: I am pleased to see this book has recently been reissued. I have an old, but treasured paperback copy. The author is observant of, informative about, and acutely responsive to the environment she describes. Having experienced winters in that region I would say she is especially adept at rendering the harsh, but radiant winters.
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Summary: Driftwood Valley ¿ Worth Re-Reading
Review: I have an autographeed copy the ©1946 edition of Driftwood Valley. I had the privilege of growing up in the same rural Pennsylvania town as Ms. Fletcher. When I was a teenager, I was employed by Ms. Fletcher to clean house for her one summer while she was away. She is a very nice woman with a remarkable background. She has set aside a nature conservatory in Northeast Pennsylvania which is open to the public. She has always been active in protecting the environment and wildlife. I re-read Driftwood Valley every couple of years and just love the adventure and challenges of this true-life story. What made it even more exiting for me is that the author was from my hometown.
Rating:
Summary: Driftwood Valley ¿ Worth Re-Reading
Review: I have an autographeed copy the ©1946 edition of Driftwood Valley. I had the privilege of growing up in the same rural Pennsylvania town as Ms. Fletcher. When I was a teenager, I was employed by Ms. Fletcher to clean house for her one summer while she was away. She is a very nice woman with a remarkable background. She has set aside a nature conservatory in Northeast Pennsylvania which is open to the public. She has always been active in protecting the environment and wildlife. I re-read Driftwood Valley every couple of years and just love the adventure and challenges of this true-life story. What made it even more exiting for me is that the author was from my hometown.
Rating:
Summary: awesome
Review: This book is an amazing journey into the frontiers of nature, exploration and science in the 1930's.
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