Jan, it certainly sounds like things are picking up at your house!

Norah Lofts wrote a fiction book about the Donner party called Winter Harvest. Her books, of course, are out of print; but you can probably find it on abe.com or another such site.

My husband and I once did an Amtrak (train) trip across the country from Chicago to California and up through the Northwest. The powers that be on the train made the announcement when we went through the Donner Pass. It was quite beautiful in mid-summer with plenty of food in the dining car.

Jan, good to see you back.

A couple of books I picked up at a 'bring and buy' sale mention the Donner party. I think they had been part of an 'Open University/Women's Studies' course.
With Great Hope; Women of the California Gold Rush by JoAnn Chartier which has a chapter on Mary Graves (one of the Donner group) and Women's Diaries of the Westward Journey by Lillian Schlissel.
Some amazing photos, these tough women must have kept their Sunday Best in a tin trunk . . . just in case.

A non-fiction account of the Donner Party disaster that is very well done is "Ordeal by Hunger" by George Stewart. I first read it 30 years ago, after living in California.

I just checked Amazon and it is still in print. I was amaxed to see that it was written in the 1930s. It's well thought of and appears in all bibliographies that touch on the matter, but it reads like a suspense novel. Trust me, you won't be able to put it down.

It's not a book, but Ric Burns produced an excellent documentary for The American Experience public tv show in 1992 entitled, oddly enough, The Donner Party. The actual diaries and memories of the people involved are woven into the story with great effect. Really an amazing story - if it were fiction, no one would believe it! I believe it is readily available in the U.S., but I'm not sure about other places.

I've been through the Donner Pass, which today has a highway going through it. I don't think anyone can travel by there without thinking of the nightmare that occurred there, and the more you learn about it, the more fascinating it becomes.

Decendents of the Donner family live near here. And after the trajedy, they changed the spelling of their name to disassociate themselves with the horror and the rumors.

Just a bit of trivia.
PAM

Thanks so much for all the suggestions - I'll be searching amazon & abe and I will look for that documentary.
.

I find reading about wilderness and survival fascinating - dont mind if it is fictionalised -but prefer the factual accounts. My first encounter was with the 'Settlers in Canada' and I can still remember the fear of the wolf at the door And I love The Little House on the Prairie Series.

Any further suggestions on similar themes?

I've read the arctic and antarctic explorers

I have a suggestion, Jan. Not sure if it is what you would deem a "survival" book, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's called: Noah John Rondeau, Adirondack Hermit by Maitland DeSorno.

Noah John was a man who lived the life of a hermit in the Adirondack Mountains and was born in 1883. He was the self-proclaimed Mayor of Cold River City, population: 1. Noah John kept a journal of how he prepared for the winter and survived in his hermitage. Amazon carries it, as does Target.

PAM

Here is a link that might be useful: Noah John Rondeau - Adirondack Hermit

Many thanks also - Rondeau sounds just right - it is unfortunately only available (at a reasonable cost) in US
but I will look around the Net.

Jan, an excellent book on the very hard life experienced in the Ontario of the early 1800's is Sisters in the Wilderness by Charlotte Gray.
About the lives of two 'genteel' but impoverished English women who married rather useless British Army officers and went out to Canada hoping to make a new life.
Susanna Moodie and Catherine Parr Traill suffered severe privations due to lack of funds, freezing winters and huge families but both went on in their old age to become well-known writers/botanists.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sisters in the Wilderness

As I recall, there's a good account of the Donner Party in The Year of Decision--1846 by Bernard De Voto.

Great suggestions many thanks