Congratulations on the publication of HOMING by Alice Irene Whittaker publishing today with Freehand Books!
A memoir about abandoning an exhausting commuter lifestyle to move to a cabin in the woods, embracing imperfection while cultivating a life of care for self and nature.
Alice Irene Whittaker was addicted to productivity, perfectionism, and discipline. She was used to rushing between multiple jobs, her demanding ballet training, and volunteering for social justice causes, making sure that every single moment of her day was accounted for. But then she finds herself as a new mother, commuting four hours a day into the city and exhausted by the state of the world and paralyzed by climate guilt and anxiety. Something has got to give. Overnight, Alice Irene and her husband decide to retreat to a cabin in the woods, in search of a new kind of life.
Surrounded by creek, meadow, and forest, Alice Irene begins a new lifelong journey of repairing her fractured relationship with both herself and the natural world. Dismantling a history of anorexia, obsessiveness, and workaholism, she decides to stop taking and start caretaking. She asks herself, “How can I take care of the Earth if I don’t know how to take care of myself?”
Her quest takes her to meet a renowned economist-rancher in Colorado, to stand at the side of a runway at a sustainable fashion show in Portland, and to witness firsthand rewilding of wolves in Yellowstone. She interviews and learns from dozens of people who are building homes, growing food, making clothes, raising families, and living their lives in regenerative ways.
Braiding together her personal journey with the stories of others who are tending to the Earth, Alice Irene Whittaker has crafted a lyrical, relatable memoir about regeneration and moving from a life of despair to a life of care. Searching for the spaces between the sorrow of wildfires and the beauty of wildflowers, Homing is about returning home to our bodies, geographies, communities, and place, all as a part of nature.
Praise for HOMING:
“Homing reminds us of the small wonders underfoot and overhead: a delicate nest, a snapping turtle, and a soaring sunflower that connects heaven and earth. Alice Irene Whittaker lays down the burden of overachievement to find true nourishment in rooting, resting, and building home. Her wide-ranging memoir skillfully highlights the sheer pleasure and responsibility of being alive.” – Amanda Lewis author of Tracking Giants
Alice Irene Whittaker is an author, mother, and environmental communications leader. She is the creator and host of the Reseed podcast. She has been a finalist for all three CBC Literary Prizes, and her writing has been published in national and international publications. Alice Irene has spent over a decade in leadership and executive roles in nonprofit organizations. With her husband, three children, brood of chickens, trio of cats, and a dog, Alice Irene lives in a cabin in the woods on unceded Algonquin Anishinaabe land in Québec. Homing is her first book.
Alice Irene is represented by Marilyn Biderman.
Congratulations!