North of Hope: A Daughter's Arctic Journey

by Shannon Huffman Polson

After author Shannon Huffman Polson's parents are killed by a wild grizzly bear in Alaska's Arctic, her quest for healing is recounted with heartbreaking candor in North of Hope. 

Undergirded by her faith, Polson's expedition takes her through her through the wilds of her own grief as well as God's beautiful, yet wild and untamed creation--ultimately arriving at a place of unshaken hope. She travels from the suburbs of Seattle to the concert hall, performing Mozart's Requiem with the Seattle Symphony, to the wilderness of Alaska--where she retraces their final days along an Arctic river. 

This beautifully written book is for anyone who has experienced grief and is looking for new ways to understand overwhelming loss. Readers will find empathy and understanding through Polson's journey. North of Hope is also for those who love the outdoors and find solace and healing in nature, as they experience Alaska's wild Arctic through the author's travels. 

Genres: Memoir, Nonfiction, Music, Adventure, Womens, Biography Memoir, Family

256 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 19, 2013

About the author

Shannon Huffman Polson is the author of The Grit Factor: Courage, Resilience and Leadership in the Most Male Dominated Organization in the World (Harvard Business Review Press 2020) and North of Hope: A Daughter's Arctic Journey. (Zondervan/Harper Collins, 2013). She writes in all genres exploring the ideas of borders.

Polson's book, The Grit Factor, a synthesis of lessons and stories from three years of interviews of women general officers, fighter pilots, submariners and others was published by Harvard Business Review Press in September 2020, and has been awarded an Axiom Book Award.

Her first book, North of Hope, was released in 2013 by Zondervan/Harper Collins. In 2015 Polson released The Way the Wild Gets Inside: Field Notes from Alaska, a slim volume of essays. Her first fiction is included in the anthology The Road Ahead, published in early 2017. Polson's essays and articles appear in a number of literary magazines and periodicals, including honorable mention in the 2022 Words and Music Contest at Peaudunque Review (including publication), finalist in the Veteran's Writing Award for Iowa Review, and honorable mention in the 2015 VanderMey Nonfiction Contest (an essay later republished in the Utne Reader) and an excerpt from her working manuscript, Some/One in River Teeth Journal. Her work is anthologized in several publications.

Polson was born in Anchorage, Alaska, and grew up loving the outdoors. After studying English Literature at Duke, she headed from the ivory tower to the tarmac of Ft. Rucker, AL, where she flew Apaches in the first crop of women attack helicopter pilots. An MBA at the Tuck School at Dartmouth transitioned her to five years in marketing at two companies. Now she's back in the books, and back in love. Polson has scuba dived on three continents, sky dived on two, and climbed the highest mountain in North America and Africa.

When she's not writing, she speaks to corporate and social audiences around the country on leadership, GRIT, and purpose as well as running The Grit Institute, an online training development platform dedicated to developing courageous leaders for a better world.

Other times she can be found in the mountains of Washington and Alaska with her husband and sons, working to build a new library in her small community (winthroplibraryfriends.org), and lay leading an Episcopal church start-up. In 2009 Polson was awarded the Trailblazer Woman of Valor award by Senator Maria Cantwell. Polson earned her MFA in Creative Non-fiction from Seattle Pacific University in August of 2012.

Find Polson at www.linkedin.com/in/shannonhpolson, IG at instagram.com/shannonhpolson, www.twitter.com/aborderlife and on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ShannonHPolson

Reviews

[Joy D · Rating 4 out of 5]

Memoir of the author’s life after the death of her father and stepmother by a grizzly bear attack while traveling in the Arctic wilderness. She braids together three strands: the process of grieving, her journey by raft down the Hulahula River, and the love of music she shared with her father. The primary narrative is her trip down the same river her father was traveling when he died.

The author grew up in Alaska and her descriptions of landscape, weather, and wildlife are vivid and beautiful. The story flows well, moving backward in time to cover her family’s past and the author’s fond memories of her father. It includes aspects of Shannon’s religious faith, which was important to her as she processed her grief.

Shannon is a skilled musician, athlete, and adventurer. She includes elements these important parts of her life in reflecting back and coming to terms with the senseless deaths of her loved ones. This is a nicely written heartfelt tribute to Shannon's dad and stepmother.

[Hannah Notess · Rating 5 out of 5]

In "The Year of Magical Thinking," Joan Didion makes the comment that, considering that grief is something we all experience, the literature of grief is relatively small. (I forget how she phrases it exactly). I think we can add North of Hope to the timeless literature of grief, alongside works by Didion, C.S. Lewis and others.

The story a woman leaving home and traveling to one of the most remote places in the U.S., through a harsh and wild landscape, to come to the place where her dad and stepmom were killed by a bear — this narrative has so many mythic and timeless resonances, and yet it remains fully grounded in the ordinary world. It is a powerful pilgrimage in a strange and beautiful place, masterfully told.

Also before reading this book, I had little to no knowledge of or interest in the Arctic. Now, I feel like I have been there, at least a little bit, through this story.

As a reader, I also found myself thinking of my own grief and mourning of a family member who died recently. So reading this book was not only meaningful in a literary sense, but also personally meaningful to me.

[Lynette Hoy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I met Shannon in person last winter at a book signing event for Seattle7Writers, and had the pleasure of listening to her speak about her book and read from it.

Her candor and heart is felt while she reads from the book, and you can also feel it beating when you read. A memoir that reads exceptionally like this is hard to find. Her intellect, depth and understanding of the beauty of the human language show. She is a smart person, and in writing this book as been able to move on.

The book is a journey of grief--a side of grief that is deeper and is harder to put into words. The way she goes about it-retracing her father's steps in Alaska I find incredibly powerful. It was a lesson anyone can learn from, in how to field sadness and happiness. Her use of the English language in describing what she saw and felt, brought all the emotions together like poetry. I loved how thoughtful her reading was. No sugary coating, just thoughtful on the deepest level. Shannon inspires me to keep pushing for my own memoir.

Finally, her ability to move from present to past, then somewhere in the middle and back again kept me moving to the next page. I learned a lot about people, the wild terrain in Alaska, and smiled when the smallest of things would annoy her during journey with grief. I get it.

[Nancy Kennedy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Shannon Huffman Polson writes of the horrific death of her father and stepmother, who were mauled by a grizzly bear in the Alaska wilderness. She writes to come to grips with the tragedy, to try to understand what cannot be understood. This book might make a good read for someone who is going down the same road of grief and looks to nature for healing.

For me, too many negatives impeded my enjoyment of the book. The author's MFA degree is painfully evident, as her writing is weighted down with overly poetic imagery and elaborate phrasing. The narrative is confusing, jumping as it does between the event, the author's trip through Alaska retracing her father's steps, and long asides on rehearsals for a performance of Mozart's Requiem in D Minor. She never really gives a coherent account of the tragedy, instead breaking it up into vague mentions here and there.

And, I must say I didn't find the author very good company. In many cringe-inducing scenes, she unwittingly reveals her arrogance and lack of compassion. For example, on the Alaska trip, she and her two companions are literally up the creek without a paddle and she acknowledges they might be in serious trouble. Yet when someone suggests asking another party for a paddle, Shannon is scornful of anyone who would ask for help. "Okay, well, I'm not interested in being the one that does the asking," she says. It's no wonder she has a volatile relationship with her adoptive brother, a dynamic whose cause Shannon doesn't fully own up to. "I felt shame for the girl I was, the cruelty I was told I had inflicted on Ned as a child," she says. That's quite a cagey statement, "I was told."

If you enjoy reading about the wilderness of Alaska, this could be the book for you. I just didn't find it a satisfying account of a redemptive journey through grief.

[Lesa Brackbill · Rating 5 out of 5]

North of Hope is an incredible, beautifully written journey of grief and healing. The author, Shannon Huffman Polson, retells the tragic story of her father and stepmother’s death in the Arctic, as well as her own personal journey into the Arctic a year later to complete the adventure they never got to finish.

Interwoven between these two tales are stories from her childhood that help bring context to the situation and help draw the reader in with every chapter. She writes so fluidly, so melodically, and each word is carefully chosen to convey the intended meaning.

I connected with the author almost immediately–as a musician, as a Christian, and as a daughter, especially, but also as a traveler myself. I loved the vivid descriptions she gave of her surroundings while in the Arctic and I truly felt like I was there with her. And I felt the depth of her pain in losing her parents, though I’ve never experienced this myself.

This book is powerful, beautiful, and somber. It will cause you to reflect and ponder your own life as you read how the author navigated this tragedy.

Here’s a “trailer” for the book: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeaHKJ...

I received a copy of this book from Zondervan in exchange for my honest review.

[David Clark · Rating 5 out of 5]

North of Hope tells Shannon Huffman Polson's eloquent story of her parent's horrific death and the year of her mourning. Memoirs of grief endured are necessarily personal and particular and this book is no different. However, well written memoirs of suffering, tragedy, and endurance provide tangible hand-holds for the reader's own journey. Much as the author uses Mozart's Requiem, the Jewish practice of Kaddish, and the Book of Common Prayer as a form or habit to orient the soul when grief has striped bare the imagination, the reader can use this author's emotional and spiritual self-interrogation as a marker. Another human has passed through this barren place; I may not have to abandon all hope in order to endure.

In the dark wildness created by loss and suffering we humans become travelers without direction. In our preoccupation with personal pain, on a journey so denominated by good and evil, joy and sorrow, life and death exists the necessary pilgrimage shared by all humans. North of Hope is a reminder that "In the midst of life we are in death" and, despite our inability to see hope, real hope exists.

This modern memoir is unusual because the author talks of love. Risking, as few modern authors do, the ultimate literary faux-pax of sentimentality, Polson speaks of her love for her father and to a lesser extent her step-mother. Neither this love nor the objects are perfect, nor does the author idealize them. Yet, Polson's unabashed admiration for her father as a role-model and her desire to please him thicken the author and her parent's characters and make the grief at their loss more poignant and palpable.

For me, this memoir provided a marker that resembled my own, a grief that wore mourning clothes nearly identical to those still in my closet, and cast a life-line of hope that once grasped, I recognized.

[Greg Conner · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautiful compelling book that I could not put down until I finished. The book begins with the author's loss and her attempt to finish the Arctic trip her parent's did not. The literary prose used to tell this story and the style she uses to take you through different times while moving the story forward is breathtaking. This journey through grief will grab you and pull you into memories of personal loss. However, most importantly it will remind you of the light that does one day return.

Shannon Polson's connection with the outdoors and her description of it is a piece of art she has released into the world. In this book about grief she leads us on the long sojourn of healing and how we all one day recover. She succeeds in doing this through an appreciation of the physical beauty in the world around us that exists in nature and within music that we can all create. Although, this path clearly was the correct one for the author you are left with the feeling that we are all free to find our own way through grief but are reminded that hope exists.

I highly recommend this book and have to share one passage that transported me. In this passage Shannon Polson is describing the never ending sunset of the Arctic summer.

"Have you ever watched something so beautiful for so long that for just a minute you became a a part of it? I watched until I was a part of that light, part of the land. A part of creation and creator. What shocked me was not my dissolution but the relief it brought. It was like a quiet rising of water. It was not erasure; it was inclusion, a connection so complete it mingled molecules. I was here, and I was part of the Arctic, and it was part of me."

[Orbs n Rings · Rating 4 out of 5]

A journey of passionate grief and healing.

When I first came across North of Hope, I had mixed feeling about reading it. One part of me was very interested in learning the story of Polson and her parents, another part of me was not sure how much I would appreciate it. I will now have to say that North of Hope is completely not what I was expecting. I have been left with lingering memories of Polson's emotional and spiritual voyage, in her commemoration of her father and step-mother. Polson exhibits powerful and compelling strength during her journey to experience what her father and step-mother encountered during their rafting trip in Alaska before their death. It is as if she is being driven by a powerful force, unknown to her, in reclaiming those feelings and emotions her father and step-mother experienced during their excursion.

North of Hope is much more than just a story of death and tragedy. Instead Polson shares the memories of her childhood, her life before the divorce of her parents, her relationships with her family and her passion of nature and singing. The reader gets a personal glimpse into her close relationship with her father, the gripping pain, confusion and her struggles to understand her feelings of grief after her loss. North of Hope is a beautiful passionate journey in Polson's quest for spiritual awakening during her grief, loss and depression.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Recommending a good read

The author shares who and what she is. Shannon Polson describes a long walk recalling her "looking for tracks during my schoolgirl days, before I knew what I was looking to find."

Well-written with frank descriptions in a kaleidoscope of people, places, and things.

[L.C. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is exactly my kind of novel: adventure blended with memoir blended with historical and geographical research. A little heavy in religion for me, but it’s understandable given the situation. I loved this book. One issue i have with the book is the author continually pointing out that Sally is a larger woman—it didn’t matter or make any difference in those scenes. I thought it was petty.

[Jaime Boler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shannon Huffman Polson’s sobering yet sentimental memoir North of Hope is an extraordinary voyage of self-discovery for the author. On June 25, 2005, the writer’s father and stepmother were declared dead after a bear attacked them in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. A wave of grief and anger enveloped Polson.

Each day, she “came home from work and stretched out on the couch, flattened like roadkill.” Polson eloquently illustrates the deep sorrow she felt; her misery is palpable.

The memoirist envied “cultures that have mourning traditions,” those who wear black or who tear their clothing. “Why had our culture done away with all that?” she asked. “To spare the majority the discomfort that each of us must one day face? And by doing so robbing every one of us of the space to grieve and neutering society’s ability to mourn with the bereaved, our chance to appreciate life more for knowing death?” Polson felt cheated. It occurred to her “that grief is something imposed, but that grieving is something that must be learned and, like anything of consequence, would reveal its realities slowly, over a lifetime.”

But Polson does not have a lifetime; she must grapple with her anguish somehow so she can “make it through the shadowed valley and someday come out the other side.”

One year after the horrible tragedy, Polson and two companions, one of whom is her adopted brother, set off on a daring expedition to trace their father and stepmother’s route. The Arctic was a place her dad loved, a magical place that “worked its way under his skin” and “became a part of him.” Polson embarked on the expedition to “find” her father, “to know him,” and to “glimpse some of the magic” he and his wife had experienced on their trip.

Polson writes, “Throughout humankind’s long history, the idea of journey has carried with it expectations of adventure, of wildlife, of challenge, of conquest.” As the writer and those who accompany her undertake this arduous and dangerous Arctic journey, we go along with them. Polson ably navigates her narrative with flashbacks and incredible descriptions of Alaska’s wildlife. Their adventure is both beautiful and perilous, especially when the group spots a pair of grizzlies. The bears fill Polson with wonder, but they also repulse her as she thinks what one did to her family.

By turns sobering and inspirational, North of Hope is a meditation on grief and family and a daughter’s love letter to her deceased father. Polson’s memoir is also a quiet yet powerful treatise on environmental changes and the effects of global warming and development in the Arctic. If you enjoyed Cheryl Strayed’s Wild, then you will love North of Hope. Polson does for Alaska’s Arctic what Strayed did for the Pacific Crest Trail. Although Polson structures her account around the Requiem Mass, North of Hope is rousing, as these funeral hymns lead her to a river and help her find her way forward.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

North of Hope by Shannon Huffman Polson
Seattle, June 23, 2005, Shannon Huffman received the devastating phone call that her father and step-mother had been killed by a rogue bear in Alaska's National Wildlife Refuge Area. Her memoir North of Hope: A Daughter's Arctic Journey chronicles a somber, but affirming trip to retrace and complete her parents' Hulahula River trip, a process that will be both an expression of her grief and a needed healing.

In recent years, I've read several memoirs that documented the grieving process after the loss of loved ones. Some deaths were expected after long illnesses and some, like the Huffmans, were totally unexpected. Some memoirs focused on treasured memories and others delved into the darkest corners of human emotion as the survivors are completely swallowed by their pain. Huffman shares her pain, but at the same time shows both strength and insight that will help others. She shares her faith in God, at a time she says would be easier to not believe, in a place that should be too far north for prayer, too far north for hope. But it is prayer that she seeks when she finally makes it to the campsite when the mauling occurred. She begins to find peace and loves her dad and stepmom even more as she learns the wilderness landscape, its flowers and birds, that they loved so much. Although her raft mates are a stranger and an estranged adopted brother, Huffman finds the trip to be a sacred journey, a pilgrimage to understanding. In the end, she knows we are never alone in our pain, and we must face that life is about living in the midst of what can't be understood.

Woven throughout the details of the trip are various asides, often about her participation in a classical chorus group who sang Mozart's Requiem. Through these, she reveals much about the power of music in our relationship with God, especially in times of grief. Another powerful passage was her description of emptying the family home in preparation for its sale. Another was her compulsion in the months after the death to learn as much as she could about bears until she could reconcile her horror of the attack with a developing awe for their legacy in the Arctic.

Like her father, Polson has shown a great respect and love for the wilderness throughout her life.
She shares more of those feelings on her website and blog. Those who are moved by her wilderness trip may want to check out her other postings. The book itself I would recommend to grief counselors, pastors, and those who are dealing with loss themselves. As Polson quietly points out, that is all of us. I received a copy of North of Hope from Handlebar Publishing for review purposes. All opinions of my own

[Alison.arians · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed North of Hope! The book chronicles Shannon's journey through grief, and part of her healing journey is a trip down the Arctic Hulahula River.

Having spent many months myself on rivers in the Arctic, I really appreciated the descriptions of landscape, the villages, the weather, the wildlife, and even the quality of the light. The writing brought back many memories of my time spent on northern rivers. Shannon's clear style will bring images to life for people who haven't been to the Arctic.

While Shannon tells her story through the lens of her religious faith, the book is not evangelical or preachy. As a respectful agnostic myself, I found the book appealingly spiritual, but not so religious that it would not appeal to a wide range of readers, religious or not.

The story travels back and forth in time, always coming back to the river trip as Shannon paddles the river. I love how the story flows forward along the trip down the river, but flashes back to her memories and experiences in the past: of Shannon's own life experiences, about her memories and thoughts about her dad and stepmother, and about the natural history of the area.

Shannon is clearly an accomplished athlete, scholar, and adventurer. She mentions completing Ironman Triathlons, climbing Mt. McKinley, piloting a helicopter in the army, skydiving, finishing an MBA, and being a serious musician (piano and voice). Rather than derailing the story by spending too much time on each of these things, she picks the appropriate details of these facets and times of her life that pull the story forward. She focuses on parts of her life that taught her important lessons; for example, learning to surrender control while learning to connect in formations while skydiving. Looking back on her experiences through the lens of learning to live with pain of her father's death, Shannon fits the pieces of her life back together in a way that makes sense to her, and that as a reader, I applauded as I read.

I love how Shannon's initial flailing around to try and get through her grief makes sense to her in retrospect. Her imagery of the braided Hulahula River as her tangled path through grief is a beautiful one. Each of us grieves in a different way when we lose important people in our lives, but her story is an inspiring and brave one.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read North of Hope: A Daughter's Arctic Journey thanks to Zondervan's review program. It's the story of Shannon Polson, whose father and stepmother were killed in a grizzly bear attack while camping in northern Alaska. A year after this, Polson travels to Alaska herself to retrace their journey and attempt to come to terms with their deaths.


The book is really beautifully written, and I feel like Shannon and I would be quite similar -- of an intellectual bent, introverts, and music lovers (she weaves a performance of Mozart's Requiem -- one of my favorite musical pieces -- throughout the book). It is heavy, deep reading -- you won't want to bring this one to the beach. You'll feel like you're actually in the wilds of Alaska while reading it. The book moved me to tears several times, even as parts of it confused me. Polson hardly mentions her mom, who divorced her dad when she was around 12, I think. Sure, the book is focused on her dad, but it seems almost as if she has no remaining parent. She also throws her brother (who took the trip with her) under the bus -- and according to what she describes in the book, perhaps that's for a reason. Still, this seemed a little odd and I wondered how he and their other traveling companion (who doesn't come off well, either) reacted to this book.

Finally, this seemed like a strange offering coming from Zondervan, a Christian publisher. While focusing heavily on death and grief, there's little to no mention of heaven. Just things like "Grief washed over me, but our faith teaches that ..." The faith aspect was touched on only lightly, and that portion of the book felt a bit forced to me. Then, ending with an afterward urging the US to decrease its dependence on oil yanked my chain a bit, and seemed an ugly distraction from the beauty of Polson's earlier writing.

Recommended, overall.
Thanks to the publisher for a copy to review.

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've cruised and hiked in Alaska, but until reading this memoir I had only scratched the surface of this enormous and amazing state, my knowledge limited to encounters with Michener and paid guides on "shore visits." NORTH OF HOPE opened up to me Alaska's lore, and the ways people navigate its wild lands as well as the author's heart. Based on research and knowledge gained through being raised in Alaska, Polson poignantly, and with gorgeous turns of phrase, reveals much of the ferocity and ethos behind the beauty of this great land and otherness of its peoples. Alaska is not contiguous to fifty states--like its comparable partner and near opposite, Hawaii--and neither is its culture.

The memoir explores another geography as well: Polson's journey from angry mourning (at the loss of her parents to a grizzly bear attack) to a misty resolution. It's clearly and subtly articulated through jumps in time and location. This probing look into her relationship with her dad, other family members, Nature and God made sense of her proud independence and risk-taking ventures. Polson is an unusual and brave high-achiever. How many young woman want to become a helicopter pilot for the armed forces?!! I loved as well the way the author describes her involvement with music - both its great comfort but the limits of what it could do for her inner well-being as she mourned her great and shocking loss.

I marveled too at the way the portrayal of Polson's father navigating his relationship to his complex daughter before and after divorce and remarriage. It's rare that we are allowed under the surface in this way and I wondered how many of the surprises were due to the one-of-a-kind culture of Alaska and how much to the unique culture of this family--a question probably no one can answer.

Read this for a rare, in-depth look at a different land and a different, and precious, daughter-father relationship.

[Create With Joy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some people experience sorrow beyond anything most of us can even begin to imagine.

On the Sunday after a painful break-up, while her heart was still raw, 33-year old Shannon Huffman of Seattle received a message that would forever change her life.

The message came from a stranger - Officer Holschen of Kakctovik, Alaska.

"Are you related to Richard and Katherine Huffman?" the voice asked.

"I'm Rich's daughter."

"I'm sorry to tell you this," said the voice, "but a bear came into their campsite last night..."

"...and they both were killed."

So begins North Of Hope - A Daughter's Arctic Journey by Shannon Huffman Polson - a powerful story of one woman's journey "over the jagged edge of loss" and into the vast wilderness of grief.

In an attempt to come to terms with such an incomprehensible loss, Shannon finds herself - one year later - in Alaska, in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, on a quest.

Her hopes?

To re-create her father's last trip using entries from his journal...

To follow in his footsteps...

To talk to the people who last saw him...

To reconcile with her father, a man she loved but had grown distant from since his marriage to Kathy.

North Of Hope is a powerful memoir that chronicles Shannon's inner and outer journey through grief. The book is beautifully written - a slow read that invites reflection and introspection.

The book will interest readers who have suffered loss and are going through a grieving process of their own, as well as readers interested in Alaska, Inuit and Inupiat culture, and wilderness and adventure stories.

Disclosure: I received an Advanced Reading Copy of this book from the publisher to review. I was not compensated or required to write a positive review. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

[Angela Risner · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the story of Shannon Huffman Polson's trek into the same Alaskan wilderness where her father and stepmother were killed by a grizzly bear. Her quest is to connect with the last moments of their lives as well as deal with her grief. Throughout the book she explores her relationships with people, with music, and with her beloved wilderness.

I didn't love this book. I'm not saying that to be unkind. This is a very personal journey for the author, and while I have lost a parent myself, I found the story to drag on a bit in places. I do think that it could be a beneficial book for those who are grieving for a lost loved one. I think I'm just in a different place now and unable to relate.

I do feel that some of the scenes on the river could have been excluded from the book. To me they just didn't translate as well to the river. Maybe if you're more experienced in such things, they will speak to you.

I have no doubt that Ms. Polson wrote this book from her heart. The love she felt for her father and stepmom is evident. I enjoyed many of the stories about those relationships, as well as the nuggets of knowledge she passes along from her journey.

My favorite quote from the book:

*He understood the human delusion that believes that if we can answers questions, fill in the story, somehow we might turn back the clock. (I say this all of the time, that as humans we have a need for things to be explained and if there are no explanations, we make things up.)

I think if you're mourning a loved one, this book could really speak to you.

[Johanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shannon Polson’s life is forever changed when she receives news that her parents have been killed by a rogue bear on a camping trip. Unable to bear her grief, and seeking closure, she throws caution to the wind as she determines to re-trace her parents’ journey through the Alaskan wilderness.

Reading the vivid, near poetic, accounts of the terrain- the wind-swept grasses and the roar of the icy-cold rapids, I felt almost as though I had been there myself; while the pain, the confusion and struggles of loss that the author went through cut me to the bone. I have known the pain of loss several times in my life, though to lose a parent, to me, is beyond imagining. I found myself tearing up from time to time as I made my way through the book, in between smiles at the shreds of wisdom, and sheer awe at the descriptions of grandeur and the beauty in the land.

I really enjoyed this story, it is a fantastic example of the type of book that I like to read- it takes you on a journey, it makes you think, but most importantly it makes you feel. Heartfelt and sincere in a way that no writer could ever produce except by plumbing the depths of grief and experiencing, personally, the raw emotions of true loss, Polson produces a small gem of beauty to inspire… as she says in her book “suffering stretches the heart, so that after it heals, it can hold more love.” A truly beautiful book!

[Moira · Rating 4 out of 5]

While they were rafting down a remote river in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Polson's father and stepmother were killed by a barren-ground grizzly bear. This book is Polson's attempt to make sense of the events and deal with the grief - as well as reflect on her parents' lives, and her own. It's structured around her own trip down the same river, including a visit to the fatal campsite.

She weaves several different themes together. Some parts are her own memoirs; others reflect on Dad's and Kathy's lives, individually and jointly. (Polson's mother, who divorced Dad about twenty years previously, is nearly absent from the book.) Polson explores what we find important about wilderness, though the book is more about people than about nature.

Her poetic writing weaves together her painful internal landscape of grief with the exquisite yet harsh exterior landscape of the Arctic. Like her father, Shannon's deep appreciation for the untamed and remote wilderness of the Alaskan Arctic moves her story effortlessly between adventure, natural history, sacred pilgrimage, music, nature and faith.

Polson writes beautifully and honestly. This book will appeal to those dealing with grief, those who love Alaska and wilderness, and also people who enjoy poignant well-written memoirs.

I received an advance copy for review from Handlebar Marketing in exchange for an honest review.

[K. L. · Rating 5 out of 5]

How is it possible to write so beautifully about such a painful topic? Polson is a gifted writer whose words will bring comfort to those who have lost loved ones. I highly recommend this book for many reasons, not the least of which is the beautifully executed prose.

Polson's parents are killed by a grizzly bear during a rafting and camping trip through the Arctic wilderness. Polson eventually responds to this tragic event by retracing their steps, taking the same white water rafting trip herself. The book describes the trip, but also her own journey of grief and healing.
She writes: "This was not simply a trip into the wilderness, though that would be challenge and adventure enough. This was a journey over the jagged edge of loss."

While it's a heavy topic, the book is ultimately uplifting. Polson is honest about her faith, and her doubts, questions and anger at this senseless tragedy.

Interwoven with the travelogue are chapters about another interesting piece of Polson's grieving process: she signs up to sing the Mozart Requiem with the Seattle Symphony. Her descriptions of the rehearsals and the music itself are beautiful, and it creates an interesting counterpoint to the descriptions of her white-water rafting adventure.

This would be a great resource to recommend or give to anyone who has lost a loved one.

[Lynnda Ell · Rating 2 out of 5]

In North of Hope, Shannon Polson shares her recovery from the devastating killing of her dad and step-mother by a bear in the Alaskan wilderness. She wanted closure from her grief, but failed to find it in moving forward in her daily life. Instead, she searched for it and found the beginning of healing in participating in a chorale production of Mozart’s Requiem in D Minor. Without quite understanding how, participating in the production led her to take the same summer trip down the same Artic river that was the scene of her family’s final trip.

The memoir contains moments of insight and beauty. I especially liked her discovery about the wilderness: “The companionship of the wilderness girds the soul, but human companionship in the wilderness warms the heart.”

Ms. Polson came to the same point that we all must when we began to heal. She said, “No, what mattered was that they had lived. What mattered was that I still lived, even for a moment. What mattered was what I made of the moment.”

In spite of the beautiful descriptive passages and the transparency of Ms. Polson’s journey from grief to healing, the book did not capture my heart. It should have. All the pieces were there, yet that indefinable element that would have connected me emotionally with the story never appeared. Perhaps, when you read it, you can tell me what I missed.

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The plane fell from the clouds toward the dirt airstrip in the Inupait village of Kaktovik, Alaska. I braced myself against the seat in front of me. Windows aged and opague blurred the borders of ice and land, sea and sky." (19)

One year after her father and stepmother are killed by a grizzly bear in the remote wilderness of the Artic, Shannon Ploson retraces their unfinished river trip, looking to honor her father and stepmom and to find healing. It's a journey that's difficult on many levels--physically, emotionally, spiritually. It's a journey that teaches her--and this reader--to see, to believe, and celebrate beauty.

Her writing draws you into the little known wilderness of Alaska, her own personal journey through grief, all woven together with her love of music. She explores the wavering line between worlds--"* listened to the water. In it, I heard the sounds of rocks, low sounds of gurgles and streams and tricles. And I heard voices. Somewhere under the water, even in this shallow place, voices came out of and through the water. I could not understand them, but they talked back and forth with excitment and joy. I stopped still to listen; what I was hearing was impossible." (232).

I rarely rate books with five stars; but this book is an exception. Her writing is eloquent and honest. One that leaves you thinking once the final page is read.

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shannon Polson truly puts her heart and soul into this memoir. She cleverly weaves the story together while jumping between her journey on the river and the backstory of her childhood, father's death, and grief experience. However, far from being distracting, this technique captivated my attention as I continually wanted to get back to the river (!) and finish the journey. Polson's honest telling of her grief process would surely be a help to others struggling with loss. I remember once in ministry school, hearing that when tragedy strikes, what survivors want is a response. They do not want their loved ones to have died in vain. My impression of Polson was that the death of her father solicited in her an imperative to respond, and her journey on the river was that response. This connects deeply with our human need to act, to do something in order to continue on life's journey. I also loved the book "Wild," in which Cheryl Strayed felt that she MUST hike the PC trail to respond to her own painful life situation. Polson's has the heart of "Wild" but adds an important spiritual dimension. How wonderful for us readers to get to root for such an amazing heroine, all while reading about nature's beautiful wilderness.

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautifully written memoir, candid about the grief of losing one's parents, especially in such an unexpected and horrifying way, and candid about the family relationships that are exposed and experienced as a result of such an event.
There are a few things that stand out for me about this book. among them: 1) a malleability of time is conveyed, that poignantly suggests the immediacy and also the span of a lifetime that are both experienced when a family member dies. there is a plasticity to the narrative (meaning linear time and its expectations, certainties are stretched, compressed) that felt very appropriate to the subject. 2) the Alaskan wilderness is rendered in wonderful terms. I loved Shannon's willingness to take us on her river journey with her, to describe the watershed and the tundra, the technology and equipment, the views and the geography. It made me want to visit the Arctic. 3) the blunt honesty that animates this memoir can be brutal and unconventional. A terrible thing happened in a complicated family. I am glad the memoir wasn't sugar coated for easy digestion. very courageous and inspiring.
full disclosure: the author is a personal friend

[Jonathan Hiskes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Magnificent. Shannon (disclosure: she's a friend) lost her father and step-mother to a grizzly bear attack near Alaska's north coast. She retraces their river trip through the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, probing the terrain of grief and the geography of this stunning remote landscape. There is enormous woundedness and yet a sense of hope as she completes the river journey they were unable to finish.

One of many stunning passages comes as she sits with her grandmother on her deathbed:

Are we meant to be pilgrims of the depths? It struck me that there is no greater intimacy than sitting with someone traversing that tenuous boundary between worlds, sitting vigil with a spirit trembling on the border, reaching toward the new and releasing the old. It seemed to me that our fragile humanity experiences this intersection only rarely because we are not strong enough to bear it more often, because what we live in those moments will take us a lifetime to begin to understand.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was really excited about reading this book because of the adventure that Shannon has going to the Arctic! I also found the history and wildlife information fascinating. That being said, this book jumps back and forth between the present and past and the inter workings of the author's mind. I loved this book, but others might not enjoy reading because it can get a bit boring and confusing when going from one thing to the next. I know many readers enjoy fiction and this is not fiction. This is straight up real life, and it is not pretty to read the many details about her parents death, which she does include. The author did a ton of research prior to her trip and I would highly recommend this book!!

There is not really a book to compare to this one but it reminds me of Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer.

North of Hope hits stores April 9, 2013!!





"I received this book for free from Handlebar Direction for Publishing in exchange for an honest review".

[Arleen Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

In prose as crystalline as the Arctic wilderness itself, Shannon Huffman Polson's North of Hope took me on a journey to a physical place I do not know and an emotional landscape I know only too well. With grace and raw honesty, she shares her story of loss and longing, of eventual and inevitable acceptance, and of the healing spirituality of nature. I felt the warmth of my dying mother's hand as I read Polson's words: It struck me that there is no greater intimacy than sitting with someone traversing that tenuous boundary between worlds, sitting vigil with a spirit trembling on the border, reaching toward the new and releasing the old. It seemed to me that our fragile humanity experiences this intersection only rarely because we are not strong enough to bear it more often, because what we live in those moments will take us a lifetime to begin to understand. A lifetime indeed. North of Hope is a memoir worthy of a long, slow read, a read that allows time for reflection.

[Danielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This memoir was an inspiration to anyone who has loss someone or something special in their life. It shows the strength and the courage of the one who has to overcome the challenges of their own tragedy. To hold on to the memories but to move on from the pain of the loss; to come to the understanding life is out of our control. This story gives us the insight of one who travels back to the place where her parents died and her life lessons she learned by doing so. You feel the pain and the hurt from Polson in her words in the memoir and can understand the confusion she felt to the lost of her own parents. This book gave me hope and a spiritual awareness to life around me after reading this. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to read about hope, faith and the courage of one who lost someone or anything they loved.

[Star · Rating 5 out of 5]

First day of a writing class - we go round and say a bit about what we are working on, Shannon mentions she's working on a book length project about her father and stepmother being eaten by a grizzly in Alaska... Holy Sh*t! I think, followed by thank God I'm not her, followed by how is she going to pull this off without being all sappy and throwing a pity party for herself? Well,she does. I feel honored to have been a witness to her process and to know this kick ass woman (though she wouldn't swear like a trucker, as I do) who's also flown helicopters in the military and managed to birth two beautiful children whilst also birthing this book. Taking her Alaskan journey through grief with her will show you just what a capable woman can accomplish when she sets her mind to it.

[Db · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fabulous book that I found I could not put down. It was recommended by a friend who sent me the link to the author's website. I was initially a bit hesitant to read what seemed at first a chronicle of grief, having experienced loss quite recently, but Polson had posted the first chapter on her website and I was hooked! I think this is a book which will appeal to adventure/travel readers as well as those interested in how families and relationships play out in the most serious of times. Polson's explorations of her faith are compelling, but not the dominant theme. Her prose about the Arctic is breathtaking and evocative. I look forward to more from this gifted writer!