Instead: The Sometimes Complicated Choice of an Adventurous, Childfree Life

(Paperback)

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A compelling memoir about opting for adventure instead of motherhood, and the lifelong outcomes of that choice.

Instead captures Maria Coffeys adventurous life through her biggest decisions along the way, including the decision not to have children. Its a vivid travelogue, a love story, and a personal commentary on the risks and rewards of choosing unconventional paths.

After two traumatic experiences during her twenties a near-drowning in Morocco and her boyfriends death on Mount Everest Maria determines to seize every day and explore the world. Mixed with her desire for freedom is a new fear of loss, which convinces her against parenthood. She falls in love with Dag, who shares her dreams, and they begin creating a life of adventure. There is one snag: he wants children and thinks they could include them in their wild exploits.

Instead follows Marias trajectory as she shares her guilt-ridden relationship with her Irish Catholic mother; her baby debates with Dag in unlikely situations, like kayaking through a storm; the doubts that rear up in remote cultures where her childfree choice is unfathomable; and how children eventually and surprisingly come into her life.

An adventure story with a unique twist, Instead tackles the universal themes of choice and consequence, agency versus fate. It is a must read for anyone curious about stepping off the beaten track, and a testament to the power of being open to the unexpected.

Author Bio

Maria Coffey is an internationally published and award-winning author of twelve previous books. Fragile Edge: Loss on Everest won two awards in Italy, including the 2002 ITAS Prize for Mountain Literature; Where the Mountain Casts its Shadow won the Banff Mountain Film Festival Literature Prize in 2003 and a National Book Award in 2004. For these titles, along with Explorers of the Infinite (2008), Maria was awarded the 2009 American Alpine Club H. Adams Carter Literary Award. She has also written extensively about her worldwide travels and expeditions with her husband, Dag Goering, who is a veterinarian and photographer. Together they founded Hidden Places (hiddenplaces.net), a boutique adventure travel company, and its conservation branch, Adventures for a Cause. Maria and Dag are based in British Columbia, Canada, and in Catalonia, Spain.