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Field Guide
In an attempt to cope with her brother's suspicious death, Annabel Mendelssohn travels to Australia to do her graduate work on spectacled fruit bats, where she meets professor John Goode who suddenly disappears leaving Annabel on a quest to uncover the mystery. Reader's Guide included. Reprint. 20,000 first printing.
- GenresFictionContemporary
288 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
2 people are currently reading
88 people want to read
About the author
Gwendolen Gross
6 books59 followersDubbed the reigning queen of women's adventure fiction by Joanna Smith Rakoff in Book Magazine, Gwendolen Gross grew up in Newton, Massachusetts. She graduated from Oberlin College, where she studied science writing and voice performance. She spent a semester in Australia with a field studies program, studying spectacled fruit bats in the rainforest remnants of Northern Queensland.
After college she moved to San Francisco, then San Diego, and worked in publishing, as well as performing with the San Diego Opera Chorus. Through the San Diego Writing Center, she was selected for the PEN West Emerging Writers Program.
Gwendolen received an M.F.A. in fiction and poetry from Sarah Lawrence College. Her poems have been published in dozens of literary magazines, including Salt Hill Journal, Global City Review, The Laurel Review, and Hubbub, where her poem was selected for the 1999 Adrienne Lee Award.
Her first novel, Field Guide, was issued by Henry Holt in April 2001 (Harvest paperback 2002), and her second, Getting Out, in spring 2002. These two women's adventure fiction novels received critical acclaim. She then shifted her focus to the dramas of motherhood. with her third novel, The Other Mother (Random House, 2007). Gwendolen's most recent novel, The Orphan Sister, was released in July 2011 (Simon and Schuster).
Gwendolen Gross is also an award-winning writing instructor and has led workshops at Sarah Lawrence College and the UCLA Extension online. Her guest lectures include appearances at the Fashion Institute of Technology, at Barnes and Noble's Educator's Night, and The World's Largest Writing Workshop. Gwendolen has worked as a snake and kinkajou demonstrator, naturalist, opera singer, editor, and mom. She lives in northern New Jersey with her family.
After college she moved to San Francisco, then San Diego, and worked in publishing, as well as performing with the San Diego Opera Chorus. Through the San Diego Writing Center, she was selected for the PEN West Emerging Writers Program.
Gwendolen received an M.F.A. in fiction and poetry from Sarah Lawrence College. Her poems have been published in dozens of literary magazines, including Salt Hill Journal, Global City Review, The Laurel Review, and Hubbub, where her poem was selected for the 1999 Adrienne Lee Award.
Her first novel, Field Guide, was issued by Henry Holt in April 2001 (Harvest paperback 2002), and her second, Getting Out, in spring 2002. These two women's adventure fiction novels received critical acclaim. She then shifted her focus to the dramas of motherhood. with her third novel, The Other Mother (Random House, 2007). Gwendolen's most recent novel, The Orphan Sister, was released in July 2011 (Simon and Schuster).
Gwendolen Gross is also an award-winning writing instructor and has led workshops at Sarah Lawrence College and the UCLA Extension online. Her guest lectures include appearances at the Fashion Institute of Technology, at Barnes and Noble's Educator's Night, and The World's Largest Writing Workshop. Gwendolen has worked as a snake and kinkajou demonstrator, naturalist, opera singer, editor, and mom. She lives in northern New Jersey with her family.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
February 27, 2023
Slow burn. A search for another, leads your two main characters on a search for themselves, when what they really needed was each other. Overall, good.
April 2, 2013
I'm not sure how much longer I'm going to be posting stuff here, what with the sale to Amazon, but until I decide where I'm going I might as well continue.
In brief: US postgrad Annabel Mendelssohn, still in grief over the drowning death (possibly suicide, possibly just accident) of her marine-biologist elder brother Robert, goes to Australia to study spectacled fruit bats for her doctoral thesis, and, in a more-or-less platonic fashion, becomes fond of the man supervising the group of students, the scatterbrained Professor John Goode. When he goes missing, at first no one thinks too much of it; he's done this sort of thing often enough before, always turning up after a few days safe and sound. Annabel goes off into the forest to study her colony of bats; when, however, anti-environmentalist loggers try to destroy the colony, Annabel returns to civilization to discover Goode is still missing. The main thread of the story becomes Annabel's hunt alongside the professor's son, Leon, for the lost man, the two of them falling in love as they search.
It's been at least a year or two since I last enjoyed a novel as much as I did this one: beautifully written and paced, it drew me in from the start and thereafter let me go only with great reluctance when things like work and sleep demanded. The wilderness descriptions were wonderfully evocative, and even more so the depictions of bat behaviour; but it was the characters -- including Annabel's elder, somewhat motherly married sibling Alice, fretting from suburban Connecticut over the fate of her little sister in distant Oz -- that really pulled me along. The tale itself has many of the characteristics of a scientific investigation; Annabel and Leon set off in search of one thing but, perfectly satisfyingly, discover another instead, just as so often happens in research. It evokes, too, the feel of science and scientific communities. Coupling these traits with the ecological/ethological setting, what we have is a book that could be fitted into that very small subcategory of science fiction that concerns itself with working scientists; it doesn't have the wacky skiffy ideas of something like Gregory Benford's Timescape, but it shares with that core sf novel the realistic portrayal of scientists as real, ordinary, often flawed people engaged simultaneously in science and everyday life.
In brief: US postgrad Annabel Mendelssohn, still in grief over the drowning death (possibly suicide, possibly just accident) of her marine-biologist elder brother Robert, goes to Australia to study spectacled fruit bats for her doctoral thesis, and, in a more-or-less platonic fashion, becomes fond of the man supervising the group of students, the scatterbrained Professor John Goode. When he goes missing, at first no one thinks too much of it; he's done this sort of thing often enough before, always turning up after a few days safe and sound. Annabel goes off into the forest to study her colony of bats; when, however, anti-environmentalist loggers try to destroy the colony, Annabel returns to civilization to discover Goode is still missing. The main thread of the story becomes Annabel's hunt alongside the professor's son, Leon, for the lost man, the two of them falling in love as they search.
It's been at least a year or two since I last enjoyed a novel as much as I did this one: beautifully written and paced, it drew me in from the start and thereafter let me go only with great reluctance when things like work and sleep demanded. The wilderness descriptions were wonderfully evocative, and even more so the depictions of bat behaviour; but it was the characters -- including Annabel's elder, somewhat motherly married sibling Alice, fretting from suburban Connecticut over the fate of her little sister in distant Oz -- that really pulled me along. The tale itself has many of the characteristics of a scientific investigation; Annabel and Leon set off in search of one thing but, perfectly satisfyingly, discover another instead, just as so often happens in research. It evokes, too, the feel of science and scientific communities. Coupling these traits with the ecological/ethological setting, what we have is a book that could be fitted into that very small subcategory of science fiction that concerns itself with working scientists; it doesn't have the wacky skiffy ideas of something like Gregory Benford's Timescape, but it shares with that core sf novel the realistic portrayal of scientists as real, ordinary, often flawed people engaged simultaneously in science and everyday life.
May 30, 2013
This novel is about families, mourning, and love--family love, romantic love, and love of a calling. When Annabel goes to Australia to do field work with bats, she is still reeling from her brother's death. Her family of scientists are all trying to make rational sense out of an irrational event. But her passion for her work helps her through this difficult time, as well as the mystery of a professor gone missing. This book rang true in capturing the temporary disorientation of going back to everyday life after an extraordinary experience. It also captured the feeling of a new clique of people thrown together in an exotic location. It also felt with mourning very well, exploring how different family members mourn the loss of a loved one and how they move forward. It has the happy sadness that many first novels embody, but this novel has depth and more importantly, freshness and hope.
April 7, 2014
Loved this book. I loved reading about the bat behavior and research that Annabel was conducting. The descriptions of Australia and the field research were great. I wanted to be there. OK, maybe not sleeping in a tent, in the middle of the woods with only bats to keep me company. Professor John Goode disappears. No one thinks much about his disappearance until many days later, this plot adds even more to the book. I liked how Annabel came from a family of scientists, all working in a different field. I enjoy Gwendolen Gross's writing style.
August 28, 2013
This book meanders a bit, but I really liked it. Young post grad does field work in Australia, falls for professor who then disappears, and the ending is rather open ended. What I loved the most were the descriptions of nature in an exotic environment seen thru the eyes of someone who could have been me.
The author was recently a post grad wildlife researcher herself, and gives an interesting and fairly personal look into what that world is like, in an engrossing and entertaining way.
Thumbs up!
The author was recently a post grad wildlife researcher herself, and gives an interesting and fairly personal look into what that world is like, in an engrossing and entertaining way.
Thumbs up!
October 29, 2013
I picked up this book because it is written by an alumna of the field study program in Australia that my granddaughter is participating in and I wanted to get a sense of what students in the Australian rainforest experience. The book succeeded in that. Humidity and leeches!
In addition its a satisfying story of how one person struggles to interpret the traumas of the past so she can move into the future without obsessing. A satisfying read.
In addition its a satisfying story of how one person struggles to interpret the traumas of the past so she can move into the future without obsessing. A satisfying read.
January 29, 2010
A young post-grad student, who is coming to terms with her brother's death (accident or suicide?), goes to Australia to do a field study on the habits of fruit bats. Her professor mysteriously disappears. She and the professor's son meet and go to search for the missing man. It's a much better story than my brief description implies.
April 14, 2010
I was moderately impressed by this book, but my friend Greg really liked it, and wrote:
"A young American woman doing biology field work in the tropical part of Australia has complex interactions--with Australian men, with her sister back home (via email), and with the natural environment. I thought this was a really artistic novel."
"A young American woman doing biology field work in the tropical part of Australia has complex interactions--with Australian men, with her sister back home (via email), and with the natural environment. I thought this was a really artistic novel."
June 11, 2010
So...the descriptions of Australia and field research are great. The simultaneous trying-to-be-a-character-study-yet-full-of-action-and-sex failed. Utterly. I guess I just don't like how some of the writing felt so...gratuitous. The author spent time in Australia studying bats, and frankly, I wish she had just written a memoir. It would have been more interesting and less..forced.
March 10, 2012
I had another book by this author on my "to read" list, and when I found this in the library, I decided to get it. This book combines wildlife biology, Australia, a missing persons mystery, and a little romance. The writing deserves just about exactly 3 stars. I'm glad I read the book as it held my interest.
July 10, 2012
The author's writing style is terrific. If you are looking for a carefully written story about people searching for something or someone with a dash of science, read this book! However, if you are looking for an action packed adventure story this book will be a disappointment. I have a new appreciation of bats!
March 26, 2013
An interesting, well-written, and possibly autobiographical story of Annabel, a graduate student, doing research on spectacled fruit bats in the rain forest of Australia. When her professor goes missing, Annabel takes a break from her research and joins forces with the professor's son, Leon, in the search. Includes beautiful descriptions of flora and fauna.
June 19, 2014
- I'm sorry to say, this book was terribly DULL. It did not live up to the interesting description on the inside flap. Which is a pity because the book sounded so interesting when I first picked it up.
- The writing style is half decent; in fact, there are some lovely passages in there.
- However, this does not excuse it from being utterly slow and the characters were not richly drawn. Sorry!
- The writing style is half decent; in fact, there are some lovely passages in there.
- However, this does not excuse it from being utterly slow and the characters were not richly drawn. Sorry!
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July 26, 2007Terrible book! The story was too slow moving. The only reason why I decided to even finish the book was to see if ANYTHING at all would become exciting. Perhaps if more focus was put on the adventure of finding the professor, it may have had some merit. Boring read.
December 23, 2013
i liked parts of this book a lot, but others seemed lacking development, or something. or maybe i was distracted by a few superficial details that irritated me.
November 9, 2009
Quick read - don't read the inside flap before you start it or you'll be waiting for something to happen for most of the book. I liked the style and characters, though!
March 16, 2014
I was so confused about the ending... What happened with her?
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews