CD Audiobook
Cathedral of the wild [sound recording] : an African journey home / Boyd Varty.
Varty's memoir of his life in the exquisite and vast refuge of the Londolozi Game Reserve in South Africa.
Record details
- ISBN: 9780804165556 :
- Physical Description: 7 sound discs (ca. 9 hr.) : digital ; 4 3/4 in.
- Edition: Unabridged ed.
- Publisher: New York : Random House Audio : p2014.
Content descriptions
| General Note: | Compact discs. Subtitle from container. |
| Participant or Performer Note: | Read by the author. |
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- Baker & Taylor
A dramatic tale of personal evolution set against the famous game reserve where Nelson Mandela recuperated after his release from prison describes how the author's visionary father transformed the region from a hunting safari into a model of present-day conservation. Read by the author. Simultaneous. - Random House, Inc.
Boyd Varty had an unconventional upbringing. He grew up on Londolozi Game Reserve in South Africa, a place where man and nature strive for balance, where perils exist alongside wonders. Founded more than eighty years ago as a hunting ground, Londolozi was transformed into a nature reserve beginning in 1973 by Vartyâs father and uncle, visionaries of the restoration movement. But it wasnât just a sanctuary for the animals; it was also a place for ravaged land to flourish again and for the human spirit to be restored. When Nelson Mandela was released after twenty-seven years of imprisonment, he came to the reserve to recover.
Cathedral of the Wild is Vartyâs memoir of his life in this exquisite and vast refuge. At Londolozi, Varty gained the confidence that emerges from living in Africa. âWe came out strong and largely unafraid of life,â he writes, âwith the full knowledge of its dangers.â It was there that young Boyd and his equally adventurous sister learned to track animals, raised leopard and lion cubs, followed their larger-than-life uncle on his many adventures filming wildlife, and became one with the land. Varty survived a harrowing black mamba encounter, a debilitating bout with malaria, even a vicious crocodile attack, but his biggest challenge was a personal crisis of purpose. An intense spiritual quest takes him across the globe and back againâto reconnect with nature and ârediscover the track.â
Cathedral of the Wild is a story of transformation that inspires a great appreciation for the beauty and order of the natural world. With conviction, hope, and humor, Varty makes a passionate claim for the power of the wild to restore the human spirit.
Praise for Cathedral of the Wild
âExtremely touching . . . a book about growth and hope.ââThe New York Times
âIt made me cry with its hard-won truths about human and animal nature. . . . Both funny and deeply moving, this book belongs on the shelf of everyone who seeks healing in wilderness.ââBookPage
âThis is a gorgeous, lyrical, hilarious, important book. Boyd Varty is as brilliant a storyteller and as kind a companion as youâll ever meet. He describes a life that has been spent forging a new way of thinking and being, in harmony with both Nature writ large and the human nature that is you. Read this and you may find yourself instinctively beginning to heal old wounds: in yourself, in others, and just maybe in the cathedral of the wild that is our true home.ââMartha Beck, author of Finding Your Own North Star
âCathedral of the Wild is the captivating story of the joyful, occasionally terrifying, but always interesting life of Boyd Varty. It is also a tale of healing, and of one familyâs passion to restore our broken connection to nature. Be prepared to fall in love with Varty, his sister, his parents, his uncle, the ideals they fiercely hold to protect the African bush, and the wild animals and people that surround them. With his campfire wit and poetâs ear, Varty is a wonderful new voice in adventure writing.ââSusan Casey, author of The Wave: In Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks, and Giants of the Ocean
âFrom the first chapter of Cathedral of the Wild, Boyd Vartyâs South Africa grabs your heart, rather like the giant mamba he encountered as a boy. The deadly snake moved on, but Vartyâs stories stick.ââRichard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods and The Nature Principle
From the Hardcover edition.
