Moose Jaw’s own Angie Abdou, who now resides in Fernie, B.C., has released a new book This One Wild Life: A Mother-Daughter Wilderness Memoir. 

The book is a follow-up from her last piece Home Ice: Reflections of a Reluctant Hockey Mom that focused on her relationship with her son, Ollie, and youth sports. 

This One Wild Life: A Mother-Daughter Wilderness Memoir shifts the focus to her relationship with her daughter, Katie, and outdoor non-competitive family activities. 

The memoir is about Abdou finding herself spending a lot more time with her son for hockey and less time with her daughter. She found that Katie was becoming more shy and timid, and it was starting to affect her friendships and schooling. 

Abdou started to spend more time with Katie and when she was 9 years old, they made a mother-daughter challenge to climb a mountain peak every week with the goal of spending more time together, bonding with nature, and developing confidence. 

With a similar structure to Home Ice, the book is a memoir that is woven with research about girls and confidence, kids and nature, and the effects of screens on childhood. 

“We've been talking about it as our book, that we did together because really, she knew the whole time I was writing a book and we did those hikes together every week and I talked to her about the research,” Abdou said.  

“So, in a way, she was with me doing the research, talking it through. I think of it as our book together and she can read it whenever she wants and I think she will like it.” 

Abdou will be taking part in this year’s Saskatchewan Festival of Words from July 15-18 to present her book. It is still unknown if the festival will go virtual like it did last year. 

“I do not want it to be virtual. I have all my fingers crossed,” Abdou said.  

“I'm told that I'm going to be vaccinated by July so that hopefully is true of all the provinces. And yeah, it would be great to have some kind of festival in person. It's a highlight for me whenever I can get home for the Festival of Words.” 

More information about Abdou and her books can be found on her website.