Heart So Hungry: A Woman's Extraordinary Journey into the Labrador Wilderness

by Randall Silvis

A gripping cold weather, true-life adventure, Heart So Hungry tells the story of a race across Labrador and one woman’s determination — inspired by grief and fed by outrage — to set the record straight.

A remarkable adventure, a love story and a thrilling race are all front and centre in this account of how one woman’s devotion to her late husband’s memory transformed Mina Hubbard from a rural Ontario nurse into the most celebrated female explorer of her time.

In 1903, following an ambitious expedition to map the interior of Labrador, Mina’s husband, Leonidas, dies of starvation in a cold, boggy, wind-scoured landscape. Allegations surface that the expedition failed because of Hubbard’s incompetence, so Dillon Wallace, Leonidas’ partner on the failed expedition, decides to honour a promise that he made to Hubbard to complete the route that they had been supposed to take. When Mina Hubbard discovers what Wallace has planned, she doubts his motives and decides to mount her own Labrador expedition and to beat Wallace to the finish line. Driven by her devotion, Mina wins the race, beating Wallace by a month and a half, and becomes in the process the first white woman to make contact with the elusive Naskapis Indians.

Using original, unpublished source material, as well as books written by the main actors in the drama, novelist Randall Silvis pieces together a narrative of the race between Wallace and Mina Hubbard, as well as the fateful first expedition of Wallace and Leonidas Hubbard.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

Kindle Edition

First published October 12, 2004

About the author

Randall Silvis is the internationally acclaimed author of over a dozen novels, one story
collection, and one book of narrative nonfiction. Also a prize-winning playwright, a
produced screenwriter, and a prolific essayist, he has been published and produced in
virtually every field and genre of creative writing. His numerous essays, articles, poems and short stories have appeared in the Discovery Channel magazines, The Writer, Prism International, Short Story International, Manoa, and numerous other online and print magazines. His work has been translated into 10 languages.

Silvis’s many literary awards include two writing fellowships from the National
Endowment for the Arts, the prestigious Drue Heinz Literature Prize, a Fulbright Senior Scholar Research Award, six fellowships for his fiction, drama, and screenwriting from the Pennsylvania Council On the Arts, and an honorary Doctor of Letters degree awarded for “distinguished literary achievement.”

Reviews

[Becky Skillin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lovely account of a woman explorer forgotten by history. Labrador way up north is still barely populated, but this account of the first encounters between First Nations and whites in that area was dramatized sufficiently to build intrigue and real, believable characters.

[Merrian Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the telling of this extraordinary historical account of a woman's quest to vindicate her husband's reputation, Mr Silvis was able to draw me into a vivid and emotional count of the story. His narrative resonated with me on a profound level.

[Beverly Soloway · Rating 5 out of 5]

This true-life historical look at Mina Hubbard as she followed her husband's footsteps into the Labrador wilderness during a period when women supported their husband's ventures but did not take on remote wilderness exploring themselves. This is a well-written and and enjoyable read. Issues surrounding gender and ethnicity are present in the book, acknowledging the challenges faced by a woman travelling with 4 Indigenous men into the Canadian wilderness in the early 20th century. This book relies upon Hubbard's own journal to outline her experiences. In addition to reading this version of Hubbard's story, I would now like to read her journal in its entirety.

[Marv · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book concerns the exploration of the Labrador interior by a woman accompanied by 4 Indian guides in 1905. Her journey was the result of her devotion to her late husband's memory. His exploration into the wilderness failed & he starved in the woods as a result in 1903. One of her guides had also accompanied her husband & had successfully hiked out to get help.

This book is about her adventures. She was the first white to photograph the Naskapi & Montagnais (Innu)women & children on the Labrador.She succeeded in large part because of the extensive experience of her guides.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s 1905 and one courageous, determined Canadian woman sets out with four companions to complete the expedition her husband started two years previous and died in his attempt. In the process of charting the interior wilderness of Labrador, Mina Hubbard is transformed into a highly celebrated female explorer of her time. What an incredible and challenging true journey.

[Caer Glas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesyting account of this woman's 600 mile trip through the wilderness of largely unexplored Labrador. She should be better known than she is.

[Kathleen McRae · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this story of a woman who managed to perform a feat reserved for men.It is no surprise that her story is obscure.