Brave the Wild River

Combine vivid descriptions of the Grand Canyon and the Colorado River with the enthralling story of two under-recognized women botanists who went there in the 1930s—how can you go wrong?

People back then thought women would be unable to survive the rapids of the Colorado, much less do groundbreaking science in the canyon. Sevigny’s protagonists, however, did both, with historic results.

Brave the Wild River is adventure, biography, and natural history in a compelling mix.

I’ve had Grand Canyon under my skin since 2022, when I took a twenty-one-day raft trip from Lee’s Ferry to Pearce Ferry.

I felt an instant kinship with female botanists Elzada Clover and Lois Jotter, whose real-life adventures unfold in Brave the Wild River. Like them, I’m a scientist. Like them, I’ve had to deal with sexism in my profession as well as on the river. Like them, I was utterly captivated by the surreal beauty of the region.

This book is top-notch science writing and rip-roaring storytelling. Sevigny delights with vivid descriptions of whitewater, natural history, and geology. She… show more.

I have always had an interest in the Earth sciences and happily studied anthropology and archaeology in college. But especially as a writer and lover of stories about women in the wild, I was totally in awe of the skilled narration and intensive historical research that Sevigny brought to the table and wove skillfully into each paragraph of this brilliant nonfiction account of two female botanists blazing a water trail down the deadly Colorado River in 1938.

It is absorbing, educational, and an important contribution to women’s history and nature writing in general. Ken Burns, take note!