The Solace of Open Spaces

,The Solace of Open Spaces’ is a collection of essays following Gretel Ehrlich’s move to Wyoming after the death of a loved one. Her essays describe her everyday adventures and struggles with the weather and harsh conditions, as she didn’t go to Wyoming merely to observe, but to work on the ranches. With poetic prose, she reveals how she found solace in nature and in the community she met along the way. This collection is inspiring and offers great insight into the lives of complex people enduring extreme weather and personal challenges far removed from most readers’ experiences (such as being struck by lightning or delivering calves while losing a wedding ring in the process). Ehrlich’s vivid descriptions of the vast landscape and the connection to nature and animals, make me long to experience it for myself.