Trapped in a job he hated and up to his neck in debt, Guy Grieve's life was going nowhere. But with a stroke of luck, his dream of escaping it all to live in the remote Alaskan tundra suddenly came true. Miles from the nearest human being and armed with only the most basic equipment, Guy built a log cabin from scratch and began carving a life for himself through fishing, hunting, and diligently avoiding bears. Packed with adventure, humor, and insight, this is the gripping story of an ordinary man learning the ways of the wild.

382 pages

Prologue

Part 1
1. Undercover Dreamer
2. Oddball Meets Editor
3. The Dream Becomes a Plan
4. The Numb Days

Part 2
5. Alaska Arrival
6. Up the Yukon Without a Paddle
7. Little Village on the River
8. Old Man Yukon
9. The Time Is Coming
10. Into the Great Silence
11. First Camp
12. A Fool in the Forest
13. The Green Coal-Face
14. Huckleberry Days
15. A Gentleman of the Old School
16. The Floor Then Nothing
17. The Sorrowful Business of Felling Trees
18. When Black Bears Look Like Men
19. Saddle Notch Sore
20. The Athabascan Charles Bronson

Part 3
21. The Tenderfoot’s Cabin Is His Castle
22. The Winter’s Tale
23. Tracks, Trees and Animal Tanks
24. Doyon
25. The Great Alaskan Potato Famine

Part 4
26. Poetry and Film
27. Going Bushy
28. Mr. Kurtz, We Presume?
29. Going to the Dogs
30. Lifting the Snow Anchor
31. An Arctic Kneecapping
32. The Solo Mush
33. Christmas at the Golden Cabin
34. Overflow
35. Athabascan Temptation
36. Bradley Scotton and His Magnificent Flying Machine
37. Bringing Them Pant-Sniffers Home
38. Wolf Mantra and Legend
39. Settling In
40. Carry On Up the Yukon

Part 5
41. First Catch Your Beaver
42. Pity the Little Things
43. My Winter Kingdom Melts
44. Thin Ice and the Death of a She-Wolf
45. Bear Boards
46. Well Hello – To the Man in the Dress
47. I Shall Be Telling This with a Sigh

Epilogue

Author’s Notes

Acknowledgements