Goodreads asked Melissa L. Sevigny:

Where did you get the idea for your most recent book?

Melissa L. Sevigny I was visiting an exhibit of Grand Canyon photographs at the special collections department of Northern Arizona University. There was a photo of Elzada Clover and Lois Jotter on the wall. I knew they were botanists who had rafted the Grand Canyon in 1938, but not much more than that. Somewhat on a whim, I mentioned to the curator of the exhibit that I was interested in writing something about them. He disappeared into the archives and returned with Lois Jotter's pith helmet, carefully preserved in bubble wrap and scribbled with the signatures of her companions from the 1938 river trip. In that moment, the history came alive for me, and I knew I had to tell their story.

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