Very few people know about, or understand the workings of, the big maple sugar camps in the remote Maine woods along the Canadian border. Few women undertake extended solo wilderness adventures. Yet here in Maine, two women who do just that have turned their life experiences into successful books. Claire Ackroyd's mystery "Murder in the Maple Woods" and Laurie Chandler's "Through Woods and Waters.”

Both authors made connections through their authorship, finding they shared a life-long fascination with words, language, and heartfelt love for the northern Maine woods. Both felt inspired to create books from experiences that would have seemed wildly unlikely for women when they were young and contemplating their futures. The paths that brought these two women - Mainers by choice rather than birth - to Maine, the woods, and authorships, are varied and illustrative of the dramatic changes that have occurred in women's lives.

For many years, Ackroyd’s has worked as an independent inspector for the organic certification of maple syrup. She found the language and access barriers to her work in the big maple camps to be rewarding challenges, and her story grew out of a desire to present an authentic picture of the life in these distant operations. This became "Murder in the Maple Woods," her debut novel. A mystery which is solved through understanding the production and organic certification of maple syrup.

Chandler's latest book chronicles a summer 2018 adventure, focused on Maine's Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument. After hiking the monuments panoramic peaks on the International Appalachian Trail, she traded her hiking boots for a solo canoe. Taking the long way 'round, Chandler paddled for 17 days into the upper watershed of the East Branch of the Penobscot and down through the heart of the monument. Hers is a journey of shared discovery, which highlights geology, history, and natural wonders of the region.