Field Guide: A Novel

The story woven by Gwendolen Gross in Field Guide is extremely satisfying. Please, read other reviews and the book's summary to learn more about the story itself. It is the satisfaction of reading a book about a woman in science that most attracts me. Annabel, the main character, is a woman of honor in the scientific field. Gross gives Annabel great field skills, courage, energy and dedication. I thoroughly enjoyed enduring the Australian forests, feeling the mistaken hand on a snake, smelling the bat guano... Gross gives credibility to women in science, yet does not make them single-minded creatures of study. Annabel deals with the death of a family member that haunts her studies, attractions to others, and even some romance, yet she maintains herself as a reliable and steadfast scientist, too. Brava!

My mother and I both loved Field Guide. She liked the human elements and the ending best. I enjoyed the beginning and appreciated most the author's description of nature and especially bats! That was the best surprise for me.

Perhaps Annabel Mendelssohn was escaping the death of her older brother in a diving accident or suicide two years ago. Whatever the real reason is the Connecticut Yankee travels to James Cook University in Australia to do graduate fieldwork. Her subject is the behavioral patterns of spectacle fruit bats. Her only link home is e-mail with her sister.Though mostly alone in the Rain Forest with her bats, Annabel finds herself attracted to the fiftyish professor John Goode even with hunks her own age nearby. When John suddenly vanishes, Annabel becomes concerned for him. John's son Leon arrives from Boston in search of his missing father. When Leon and Annabel meet, negative electrons fly as each irritates the other. However, those negative electrons soon attract one another as they join forces in seeking John.FIELD GUIDE is a warm relationship drama that centers on science and family without losing a step in either forum. The story line is understated, which adds to the feel of being in the rain forest with Annabel who reflects on her own family woes. The ending is obvious, but no one will care because the plot is so well written and Annabel is quite the complete character who insures that the tale works. Gwendolen Gross guides her audience with this first rate story.Harriet Klausner

A fluid, beautiful book. The reader is instantly mesmerized by the author's sharp perception into humanity. Gross easily takes on large conflicts such as independence vs. dependence, freedom vs. obligation, and love vs. loss, and treats them with subtle insight and grace. The details are stunning and the characters have an unpredictable depth that twists and turns deliciously as the reader travels deeper into the rain forest. Readers will find themselves in Annabel Mendelssohn even if they've never been to the Australian rain forest to study bats! A wonderful combination of poetic prose and page-turning urgency. I couldn't stop thinking about it long after I finished. I'm so excited that I've discovered a new favorite author. An absorbing, rich read.

Field Guide draws the reader into a lush Australian rainforest setting to join the search for a professor who has "gone missing." The prose is radiant, exploring the themes of disappearance, loss and love, with sensitivity and intensity. An amazing book! I am eagerly awaiting Gross's next novel.