The Source of All Things
Read The Source of All Things Online
Authors: Tracy Ross
Tracy Ross never knew her biological father, who died
after a brain aneurysm when she was still an infant. So when her mother married Donnie, a gregarious new man with a love of hiking, fishing, and camping, four-year-old Tracy was ecstatic to have a father figure in her life. Donnie was everything Tracy dreamed a dad would beâprotective, brave, and kind. But when his dependence on her companionship went too far, everything changed.
Tracy's childhood transformed overnight once the abuse began, becoming a confusing blend of normal little-girl moments and the sickening, secret invasion of her safety. At sixteen, realizing that she must take control of her own future, Tracy left home and began the long, slow process of recovery. Over the next twenty years, the mountains and rivers of North America provided Tracy with strength, confidence, comfort, and inspiration. From trekking through the glaciers of Alaska to guiding teenagers through the deserts of Utah, Tracy pushed herself to the physical limit on her way to becoming whole again.
The Source of All Things
is a stunning, unforgettable story about a wounded daughter, her stepfather, and a mistake that has taken thirty years and thousands of miles of raw wilderness to reconcile. Only Tracy can know if Donnie is forgivable. But one thing is for certain. In no other story of abuse does a survivor have so much strength, compassion, bravery, and spirit as Tracy displays in
The Source of All Things.
“Tracy Ross is unflinchingly honest as she portrays a life scarred by dark secrets and deeply concealed wounds. But it is in her beloved wilderness that we exult in her hard-won triumphs of self-discovery and the serenity of forgiveness.
The Source of All Things
is a mesmerizing memoir that lingers in your mind long after you close the book.”
âMary Alice Monroe,
New York Times
bestselling author of
The Butterfly's Daughter
Â
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Tracy Ross
is an award-winning journalist and contributing editor at
Backpacker
magazine, an ASME award-winning outdoor publication with 1.2 million readers. Her work has been published in the United States, England, South Africa, and Australia. Her essay “The Source of All Things” won the National Magazine Award in 2009 and was selected for
Best American Sports Writing
and
Best American Magazine Writing.
Her assignments have taken her to the wilds of Alaska, the ski slopes of Iran, and into remote reaches of Ecuador. She writes about exotic places and intriguing people, but mostly about the wilderness and how it intersects with the most important issues of our time.
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THE SOURCE FOR READING GROUPS
COVER PHOTOGRAPH © RIVER NORTH PHOTOGRAPHY/VETTA/GETTY
Acclaim for
The Source of All Things
by Tracy Ross
“I loved this book. Part survivor memoir and part love letter to nature, I found
The Source of All Things
compulsively readable and intensely enthralling.”
âJulia Scheeres,
New York Times
bestselling author of
Jesus Land: A Memoir
“Tracy Ross is unflinchingly honest as she portrays a life scarred by dark secrets and deeply concealed wounds. But it is in her beloved wilderness that we exalt in her hard-won triumphs of self-discovery and the serenity of forgiveness.
The Source of All Things
is a mesmerizing memoir that lingers in your mind long after you close the book.”
âMary Alice Monroe,
New York Times
bestselling author of
The Butterfly's Daughter
“
The Source of All Things
is a brave book. Sustained by her love of nature, Tracy Ross's search for truth, clarity, and vindication involving her childhood abuse is told in an easygoing voice that allows us to readily digest her horrors. In a kind of ironic silver lining, the man who abused Tracy also cultivated her love of the wild, introducing her to its exhilarating applications and healing powers where she always found solace. Perhaps it was his unconscious attempt at salvation?”
âNorman Ollestad, author of
Crazy for the Storm
“In this brave memoir Tracy Ross embodies the detachment necessary to function while the wound of childhood sexual trauma festers unseen, erupting in self-destructive, dangerous behaviors until Ross can finally learn the truth, and thus begin to heal. In speaking her truth, in making herself vulnerable, she will help heal others.”
âJanine Latus, author of
If I Am Missing or Dead: A Sister's Story of Love, Murder, and Liberation
“This is a lovely book filled with great sadness and small triumphs. If there is a hero anywhere other than Tracy, it is the Natural World whose curative powers and facilitation offer insight and tolerance against seemingly impossible odds.”
âJohn C. Read, President and CEO of Outward Bound USA
“Tracy Ross is fearless. She has faced the black stuff of her childhood and turned it into a memoir that will grip you, break your heart, and finally sing to you. Most of all, you will be glad she survived to write this funny, inspiring, beautiful book.”
âClaire Dederer, author of
Poser: My Life in Twenty-Three Yoga Poses
“If Annie Oakley had married a saint, their firstborn would surely have been Tracy Ross. She can mush dogs, scale mountains, save herself from horrific abuse, and forgive those who have hurt her, all while building a beautiful life for herself and her family. Her courage is radical, the story of her redemption heart-stopping.”
âLisa Jones, author of
Broken: A Love Story
“Disturbing but beautifully written⦠[We've] heard stories like these before, but rarely in such clear, unsentimental prose.”
â
O, The Oprah Magazine
“Brave and heartbreaking⦠her courageous story will bring solace and inspiration to others drowning in fear and lacking a voice of their own.”
â
Elle
magazine
“Gripping.”
â
Whole Living
“Raw, heartbreaking.”
â
More
magazine
“Powerful⦠a compelling story.”
â
Publishers Weekly
“Ross continually explores the boundaries of father-daughter intimacy, never demonizing her stepfather, but instead, humanizing himâa far more difficult task.”
â
Kirkus Reviews
“The literal and figurative steps she took to confront her stepfather about their past, in the wilderness setting where he first began his abuse of her, reveal steely self-reliance and a rare capacity for forgiveness⦠This is not always easy reading, but Ross's steady writing supports you 'til the very end.”
â
Library Journal
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