Another Mountain Another View

by Joy Davidson

An inspirational journey of fortitude and optimism in the face of the most abject adversity. This is the story of Jenna, a young woman who joins her husband, a mining engineer who has undertaken the daunting task of opening a tin mine in Namibia. She arrives there with a nine-month-old baby, and finds herself living in one of the most desolate places on earth – the Namib Desert. To survive the unrelenting cruelty of the Namib she must face the physical and emotional struggles of day-to-day life, fending for herself and her young baby in incredibly harsh conditions, coping with the silence, heat, dust and a miniscule quantity of precious water every day. She also experiences many strange and dangerous encounters in what is quintessentially, very much a man’s world. With only her thoughts for company and the gurgling of her endearing baby son, she discovers who she really is - a painful, and sometimes very funny, but difficult journey.
The story then moves from this stark desert landscape to another place – less harsh but not without some of life’s greatest challenges.
This memorable anecdote leaves the reader spell-bound as the journey continues through a life which is not only extraordinary but which explores the fortitude and fighting spirit of an intelligent and creative woman who is forced to make the most of the life she is thrown. Most people would not have survived, but she did!
Note from the author:
My heroine, Jenna, was my alter ego. She was the young woman who accepted a destiny shrouded in loneliness and hardship without asking why. When she started to ask questions, the survival mechanism withered and died. The butterfly nibbled its way out of the chrysalis and flew away.
My narrative emerged after the death of my husband, from the very core of my being - an outpouring of the soul.

290 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 15, 2013

Reviews

[Avary Doubleday]

Not much of a story. The protagonist was supposed to be strong, but was fairly flighty and naive. But I did learn some things about Namibia, which was my hope.