library book: When You Find My Body: The Disappearance of Geraldine Largay on the Appalachian Trail D. Dauphinee
Publisher: Down East Books
Published: 6/1/2019
Pages: 208
Genre: biography
Review: library book
When Geraldine “Gerry” Largay (AT trail name, Inchworm) first went missing on the Appalachian Trail in remote western Maine in 2013, the people of Maine were wrought with concern. When she was not found, the family, the wardens, and the Navy personnel who searched for her were devastated. The Maine Warden Service continued to follow leads for more than a year. They never completely gave up the search. Two years after her disappearance, her bones and scattered possessions were found by chance by two surveyors. She was on the U.S. Navy’s SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape) School land, about 2,100 feet from the Appalachian Trail.
This book tells the story of events preceding Geraldine Largay’s vanishing in July 2013, while hiking the Appalachian Trail in Maine, what caused her to go astray, and the massive search and rescue operation that followed. Her disappearance sparked the largest lost-person search in Maine history, which culminated in her being presumed dead. She was never again seen alive. The author was one of the hundreds of volunteers who searched for her. Gerry’s story is one of heartbreak, most assuredly, but is also one of perseverance, determination, and faith. For her family and the searchers, especially the Maine Warden Service, it is also a story of grave sorrow.
Marrying the joys and hardship of life in the outdoors, as well as exploring the search & rescue community, When You Find My Body examines dying with grace and dignity. There are lessons in the story, both large and small. Lessons that may well save lives in the future.
This book tells the story of events preceding Geraldine Largay’s vanishing in July 2013, while hiking the Appalachian Trail in Maine, what caused her to go astray, and the massive search and rescue operation that followed. Her disappearance sparked the largest lost-person search in Maine history, which culminated in her being presumed dead. She was never again seen alive. The author was one of the hundreds of volunteers who searched for her. Gerry’s story is one of heartbreak, most assuredly, but is also one of perseverance, determination, and faith. For her family and the searchers, especially the Maine Warden Service, it is also a story of grave sorrow.
Marrying the joys and hardship of life in the outdoors, as well as exploring the search & rescue community, When You Find My Body examines dying with grace and dignity. There are lessons in the story, both large and small. Lessons that may well save lives in the future.
I am going to be honest, when I saw the title of this book, I literally thought it was going to be about a woman missing by a serial killer in the Appalachian Mountains. I did not expect it to be about Geraldine hiking and going missing on her own accord. So, it was an eye-opener for me. I didn't realize how long the Trail was until I started reading this book and looking online at the pictures. It sounds like fun, but I can see and understand how easy it is to become lost. We learn about Geraldine and what she possibly went through while waiting for someone to find her. We know what those that searched for did and the steps they followed.
Reading this might open the eyes of hikers who hike by themselves to understand how easy it is to get turned around or hike off the trail and how important it is to learn how to use a compass and communicate with others. Know your surroundings. I just started hiking, and though I know I will never be on the Appalachian Trail, there are things I know how to make sure I stay aware of.
Dee was born with wanderlust in Bangor, Maine. After graduating from high school, he made his way to Wyoming. He spent the next decade splitting his time between Jackson Hole, WY, and Vancouver, British Columbia. Living in Jackson Hole in the 1980's was Heaven, he recalls...he was climbing mountains or fly fishing every second he could. Photography and climbing too Dee to many places including El Salvador, Peru, the Arctic, throughout Europe, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Iraq, Israel, Egypt, Ecuador, Jordan, the UK, Panama, Lebanon, Kenya, Algeria, Columbia, and many places in between where he did contract and spec work for several media outlets, including United Press International.
Dee has led or co-led mountaineering, desert, and jungle expeditions on 5 continents, and has climbed above 20,000 feet above sea level fourteen times; at one time, more than any Maine native. He has been involved in several state and international Search & Rescue teams.
Dee has contributed articles, photographs, and essays to many periodicals for thirty years, including National Geographic, The Canadian Geographic, Outside Magazine, Mariah, Backpacker, Climbing, and Ascent, magazines, to name only a few.
Dee has had two books published by North Country Press; Stoneflies & Turtleheads, a collection of fly-fishing essays from Maine and around the world, and The River Home, a novel. Highlanders Without Kilts, an award-winning historical fiction about a Canadian family’s ordeal during WWI and a Nova Scotia battalion’s odyssey in that war was released May 2015 by Kicking Pig Press. Dee’s new book, When You Find My Body, is about Appalachian Trail hiker Geraldine Largay who became lost in Maine in 2013. Despite the largest manhunt in Maine’s history, Gerry was not found, and she perished. It was released in June 2019 by Rowman & Littlefield (Globe Pequot Press). By the second week of June 2019, it was recorded on two Bestseller lists.
Dee lives in Middle Maine with his wife and two children, who all hike and fish.
Dee is represented by Janklow & Nesbit Literary Agency.
Comments
Post a Comment