When biologist Caroline Van Hemert began to lose her passion for science, she turned to the wild to find it again. Trading her lab for the open air, she and her husband embarked on a 4,000-mile journey from the Pacific rainforest to the Alaskan Arctic—traveling by rowboat, ski, foot, and canoe through some of the most remote landscapes on earth.
Facing storms, wildlife, and exhaustion, they discovered something far greater: the quiet resilience of the human spirit and the beauty of being alive in the wild.
Part memoir, part expedition, The Sun Is a Compass is a lyrical journey through nature and self-discovery. Winner of the 2019 Banff Mountain Book Competition, it’s a breathtaking reminder of why we wander.
