For readers of Rachel Cusk, Lisa Taddeo and the essays of Zadie Smith, Bear Woman is a beautifully wrought memoir from one of Sweden's bestselling authors, in which she examines motherhood and the female experience. 'The deeply personal journey of a writer, surprising and illuminating, and for me, familiar in the most reassuring way as she loses herself in this compelling story' - Esther Freud, author of Hideous KinkyMarguerite de la Rocque didn't exist before her guardian abandoned her on a remote island. Abandoned, pregnant to a man she'd met on board one of the first ships sailing to settle what became Canada, Marguerite was forced to fight for her life against the treacherous wilderness of Nova Scotia, giving birth alone.