Nina In The Wilderness [Paperback]

Sarah Aldridge (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1997

Nina, age 17 is the sole survivor of a plane crash in the Amazon that kills both her parents. Annie, a successful businesswoman and daughter of two famous people in the arts world struggles with her own response to what Nina has come to mean to her as she tries to resolve a situation that threatens her father’s reputation.

Editorial Reviews

Review

When in 1972 Anyda Marchant was forced to retire from practicing law due to health reasons, no one could have predicted that the then-61-year-old would co-found not one, but two independent lesbian presses and publish 14 of her own lesbian novels. But she did. Well, as Sarah Aldridge she did, and she has become one of the most beloved of lesbian authors. [...]

Nina is a young woman who, several years before the story begins, is the sole survivor of a plane crash in which her parents are killed. She is found by natives in the Costa Rican jungle and is finally brought to safety then returned to the United States where she receives in-depth psychiatric care. The story revolves around Nina, her long-deceased aunt Albertine's poetry, and Annie Trewarden and her father, Gerald Trewarden, the renown Nobel peace prize-wining poet and mentor to Albertine. Nina and Annie meet when Nina seeks out Gerald Trewarden in an attempt to locate her mother (whose death Nina cannot accept).

Trewarden is about to be nominated for another Nobel Prize and the authorship of "Last Words for My Lover," the poem for which he is nominated, is in question. Did Trewarden write it? Or was it written years earlier by his student Albertine? Can claims that it is Albertine's be proven? Can Trewarden's son protect his father and his father's reputation? [...]

Unlike Aldridge's other novels, there is a bit more mystery to Nina in the Wilderness and, it seems, a larger cast of indispensable characters. But, once again, this is a most enjoyable story told as only Aldridge could tell it. And, while there are areas that would not suffer from a bit of tightening up, Aldridge's painstaking attention to detail is not for naught.

One of the first lesbians to write to shatter the myth that "the guy always gets the girl in the end" or the girl must be punished or die if she is a lesbian, Aldridge has just successfully completed her 14th happy-ending lesbian novel. Nina in the Wilderness is thoroughly enjoyable and extremely easy to recommend, whether during that rainy day curled up inside or for that day at the beach. -- Lambda Book Report, August 1997

From the Publisher

Following the recent death of writer/publisher Anyda Marchant (pen name, Sarah Aldridge), at age 95, A&M Books of Rehoboth Beach is making available all 14 of the classic and groundbreaking Sarah Aldridge novels. Written between 1974 and 2003, the novels represent a melding of history, feminism and lesbian romance. The first novel was published by the fledgling Naiad Press, which went on to become the largest and most successful lesbian/feminist publisher in the country. Marchant was Naiad president from its founding until 1995.

In 1995, Marchant and Muriel Crawford, (her partner of more than half a century) withdrew from Naiad and founded A&M Books of Rehoboth Beach, DE. The last Sarah Aldridge book, O, Mistress Mine, was written and published when the author was 92 years young. A&M Books, continuing under the leadership of writer Fay Jacobs (Author of As I Lay Frying – A Rehoboth Beach Memoir) is set to carry out the legacy begun by Marchant and Crawford - making all of the Sarah Aldridge titles available once again and continuing to give women writers a voice.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: A & M Books (January 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0964664836
• ISBN-13: 978-0964664838
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,788,305 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great read!, January 24, 2010

By 

Robin (Mesa, Az USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nina In The Wilderness (Paperback)

Nina in the Wilderness by Sarah Aldridge
'Nina, aged 17, the sole survivor of a plane crash in a remote region of the Amazon jungle, suffers not only from the trauma of the wreck and abandonment in the wilderness but also from the shattering of her life by the loss of her parents. Annie, daughter of two famous people who were once principals in a flamboyant love affair, has made a success as an independent business woman but is uncertain about the meaning and direction of her life. She finds herself caught between two exacting problems: her own response to what Nina has come to mean to her; and the resolution of a situation that threatens her father's reputation as the premier American poet of his generation. Passionate love between Nina and Annie is at the heart of this novel, but it also portrays the love that inspires the devotion of true friendship.' (Summary from the back cover.)
I've stated in other Aldridge reviews that I so enjoy her writing style and it is true for this novel as well. She a great ability to get deeply into the insecurities and frailties of the human mind and does so again here.
Once you start reading her novels you won't be able to stop. Definitely a keeper.

On the hot meter this was 3; on the love meter it was a 9.

**Remember - if you want your favorite authors to keep writing for us they have to be able to earn a living doing it. If at all possible try to buy the book NEW. I know it sucks but if you're not going to keep it in your collection put it in the recycle bin to make another book.**