Two in the Wild

Two in the Wild is a thoroughly engaging anthology of 17 women's adventures in the great outdoors. These are not solo journeys, but rather trips taken with female companions in tow and all that that entails--trust, jealousy, competitiveness, friendship. The collection kicks off with Sara Corbett's hilarious account of her raucous romp through the Australian outback with a childhood buddy named Sugar, and goes on to shine with Lea Aschkenas's essay on the uneasy alliance forged with the casual acquaintance with whom she sets out to climb Costa Rica's highest peak. Other notables include 54-year-old Jean Gould's piece on trekking through the Himalayas with a 70-year-old German woman she's only just met, and Hannah Nyala's story about backpacking with her 6-year-old daughter in the California desert. While each writer has a different reason for leaving home and immersing herself in the unknown, they all discover that the bonds formed with other women on the road are some of the most powerful and potent of their lives. --Jill Fergus