Wildflower: An Extraordinary Life and Untimely Death in Africa

by Mark Seal

Book Overview

With compassion and an unswerving regard for the truth, veteran journalist Mark Seal lays bare the deeply moving, inspirational story of Joan Root, a dedicated environmentalist and Oscar-nominated... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1400067367
• ISBN13: 9781400067367
• Release Date: May 2009
• Publisher: Random House (NY)
• Length: 232 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.6" x 9.4"

Customer Reviews

A truly unique and fascinating woman

A wonderfully written story of a most fascinating and wonderful woman who dovoted herself to the preservation of wildlife and land. Without knowing this person, I grew to admire and respect her as I read of her life. How ironic for her life to end as it did as she worked tirelessly against poaching and harming the wildlife she was so passionate about. The author succeeded in portraying to the reader the unique individual she truly was. She sought neither fame nor fortune, but simply the satisfaction she received in the causes she so passionately pursued. I highly recommended this book to any reader as it is simply too interesting to pass up.

Shooting Star

From the outset we know Joan Root, the shy, eccentric British conservationist and Oscar nominated film-maker will, by the end of the book, be murdered in cold blood in her home on the shores of Lake Naivasha in Kenya's Great Rift Valley. In between is a most remarkable story about a most remarkable woman. It is also the story of Africa's fast disappearing wilderness. At the Cannes Film Festival in 2006 it was announced that Julia Roberts would play Root in a movie telling the story of her extraordinary life and her brutal death, allegedly a murder carried out in retaliation for her conservation efforts. The producers said they got the idea for the film after reading a lengthy article in Vanity Fair magazine which writer Mark Seal has since expanded into the book Wildflower. Roberts apparently read the same article and was equally moved by the story of Root's efforts to try to preserve Africa's threatened wildlife. When the newly married Roots first settle in Lake Naivasha in the mid 1960s it is an unspoiled paradise. Home to masses of exotic animals from gazelles to crested cranes, giraffes to pythons, at night an army of 1,200 hippos rise from the waters to feed. The blue lake house is their headquarters where the adventurous couple come for research, post-production and rest between safaris as they carved out stellar careers pioneering nature documentaries for the BBC. After a painful divorce, the book tells how Joan Root's 36-hectare home, 88 kilometres west of the capital Nairobi, changes from Garden of Eden to hell on earth as she confronts severe environmental pressures after huge flower farms bought up much of the lakeshore, using the water to irrigate the blooms that are flown out in export to Europe. Slums followed the flowers and violence and poverty threaten to destroy one of the most magical places on earth. One suspects it is already too late.

A BEAUTIFUL, WELL WRITTEN BIOGRAPHY AND LOVE STORY

I ABSOLUTELY LOVED THE BOOK AND COULD HARDLY PUT IT DOWN. I FELT LIKE I PERSONALLY KNEW THE CHARACTERS AND THE WILD LIFE TOO. I COULD VISUALIZE THE BEAUTIFUL SCENERY AND THE WONDERFUL ADVENTURES JOAN AND ALAN SHARED. TOO BAD SUCH A WOMAN HAD TO BE MURDERED FOR TRYING TO SAVE THE ENVIRONMENT. HER LIFE STORY WILL LIVE ON. SHE WAS A VERY COURAGEOUS PERSON, AND A FIGHTER DETERMINED TO SAVE SOME BEAUTY FOR GENERATIONS TO COME. WHAT A WONDERFUL STORY WELL WRITTEN.

A compelling story written elegantly

To be honest, I'm normally more of a fiction guy but I picked up this book on a friend's recommendation and now I'm finding it hard to put down. It's an engrossing narrative, researched meticulously, written simply, yet layered with remarkable detail. Well done!

Fascinating and Compelling

What a remarkable woman and a remarkable book. It is amazing that the name Joan Root is not part of the lexicon of environmental activists and extraordinary women like Dian Fossey (who Joan introduced to her beloved gorillas) and Jane Goodall. At its core, the story of Joan Root is a love story. Author Mark Seal superbly recounts how Joan's love for Alan and heartbreak when he left transformed into a deep and consuming love of Lake Naivasha and her fierce defense of the land she called home. A compelling read.