Notes from the Bottom of the World

Chile—named the Lonely Planet 2017 destination of the year—has been Suzanne Adam’s home for over four decades. She knows the territory—its culture, its idiosyncrasies, and its exotic landscapes, from Patagonian glaciers to the northern Atacama Desert. In this heartfelt collection of sixty-three personal essays, she searches for universal truths and sparks of beauty revealed in small, daily moments both in her native land—the United States—and in Chile. She considers how her American past and move to Chile have shaped her life and enriched her worldview, and she explores with insight questions on aging, women’s roles, spiritual life, friendship, love, and writers who inspire.

In a return trip to Colombia fifty years after her two-year stay there as a Peace Corps Volunteer, Adam reflects on the mark left on her by that experience. Finally, she crosses America from east to west, immersing herself in regional cultures and discovering a common thread of reciprocity throughout.

A California native, Suzanne Adam served in the Peace Corps in Colombia before moving to Santiago, Chile in 1972 to marry her boyfriend, Santiago. She explores how this experience shaped her life in her 2015 memoir Marrying Santiago. Adam admits to being a tree-hugger, avid reader, nature writer, gardener, CNN news junkie, bird watcher, lover of storms and laughter, and doting granny. Before turning to writing, she worked as a teacher of learning-disabled children. Her essays have been published in The Christian Science Monitor, California Magazine, the Marin Independent Journal, Nature Writing, and Persimmon Tree. She blogs at www.tarweedspirit.blogspot.com.