Trapper Lake: A Woman Alone in the Minnesota Wilderness

by D. Dale Thompson

A beautiful and determined woman is driven by grief and guilt, and perhaps by what little hope she has left, to isolate herself for the rest of her days at a remote lake in the Minnesota wilderness. Year after year, in the sharply changing seasons of the boreal forest, she lives alone at the lake--believing that suffering in solitude is the penance she must endure if she is ever to regain her self-esteem; knowing also, that only there at Trapper Lake might a mystery in her past be revealed. Separated from civilization by miles of wilderness, Darcy Madison lives alone in the present day, refusing to integrate yesterday into the present, and giving no thought to tomorrow. And in the way of those who live alone, with daily repetition of duties and exposure to one's own thoughts, the anguish of her self-banishment is slowly replaced by comfort, and her commitment to her solitary lifestyle grows. But the world does not permit beauty to isolate itself, nor is beauty tolerant of eternal self-sacrifice; and unexpectedly, after she has learned the art of living in dreamless resignation, her life becomes intertwined with another. Ultimately, fate and the human spirit intercede in an unusual way.

299 pages, Paperback

First published October 30, 2003