Gilean Douglas: Writing Nature, Finding Home

by Andrea Pinto Lebowitz

Gilean Douglas is a Canadian cultural icon: nature writer, journalist, farmer, feminist, politician, adventurer, poet. Born in 1900 into a wealthy family and orphaned at 16, she rejected the expectations of the class and society into which she was born and made her own way in the world as an independent woman. Gilean Douglas's writings span more than 80 years, from her childhood in the early 1900s through four marriages, 10 years in the wilds of the Cascade Mountains, and 40 years on Cortes Island, BC, where she died in 1993. At the end of her long life, she said that all she had ever wanted to do was write, and that nature provided the subject and haven that allowed her to achieve her dream. Both a collection of some of the best writings of Gilean Douglas and a fascinating biography, Gilean Douglas: Writing Nature, Finding Home will reacquaint friends and followers of Douglas to her life and work, and will introduce new readers to a fascinating and compelling voice.

Genres: History

227 pages, Paperback

First published November 30, 1999

Reviews

[Nicola Pierce · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am so glad that this book exists. I had never heard of Gilean Douglas until May Sarton wrote, in one of her published journals, about reading Douglas's memoir, 'Silence in my Homeland'. I ordered it immediately and enjoyed it but missed out on the personal touch. The writer had done a Thoreau and moved into a cabin in the wilderness, describing it as a sort of heavenly but challenging existence, growing her own food and keeping the forest paths clear of debris. Only I wasn't sure it was a she as there was zero biographical detail in this 'memoir'. Afterwards, I discovered that her publisher did not think the book was believable for the average reader, that a woman could actually living alone on a mountain, and so her gender was camouflaged. I googled for photographs but only found one or two. Then, I discovered this wonderful biography, written by two friends of hers, that included her writings, her fascinating life story (orphaned at sixteen years and married four times etc) and absolutely crammed with photographs. What a wonder she was. She lived until the age of 93 years old and never stopped writing or caring about the planet and all of its occupants. I don't know how she managed to get over that catastrophic loss of her mountain cabin - but she did - and, found love again, ie love of an area, in her final home on Cortes Island.

[Joanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish I could give this book more than five stars. I wish I'd known Gilean Douglas. I wish I had a cabin in the wilderness.

[Clivemichael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well put together showcase of her life and work. Many photographs.
"Writing is all I have ever wanted to do. It is all I have dreamed of, thought about cared for. It embraces everything: solitude, silence, the satisfaction of constructing something which I can always be improving. Sometimes I think that it is like going into the office at form of this human world where there seems to be so little of anything but noise and laughter—which is, too often, not laughter at all but a cry for help."