The Wild Truth: The secrets that drove Chris McCandless into the wild

The Wild Truth: The secrets that drove Chris McCandless into the wild
Carine McCandless

The key missing piece of Jon Krakauer’s multi million, multi territory bestseller and widely acclaimed Sean Penn film Into the Wild is finally revealed by his best friend and sister, Carine.The story of Chris McCandless, who gave away his savings, hitchhiked to Alaska, walked into the wilderness alone, and starved to death in 1992, fascinated not just New York Times bestselling author Jon Krakauer, but the rest of the nation too. Krakauer’s book and a Sean Penn film skyrocketed Chris McCandless to worldwide fame, but the real story of his life and his journey has not yet been told – until now.Carine McCandless, Chris’s sister, featured in both the book and film, was the person with whom he had the closest bond, and who witnessed firsthand the dysfunctional and violent family dynamic that made Chris willing to embrace the harsh wilderness of Alaska. Growing up in the same troubled and volatile household that sent Chris on his fatal journey into the wild, Carine finally reveals the broader and deeper reality about life in the McCandless family.For decades, Carine and Chris’s parents, a successful aerospace engineer and his beautiful wife, raised their children in the tony suburbs of Northern Virginia. But behind closed doors, her father beat and choked her mother. He whipped Carine and Chris with his belt. He cursed them, belittled their accomplishments, and told them they were nothing without him. Carine and Chris hid under the stairs, hoping to avoid his wrath. They were teenagers before they learned they were conceived while their father was still married and having babies with his first wife, who finally summoned the courage to leave him after he broke her back in a fight.In the 20-plus years since the tragedy of Chris’s death, she has searched for some kind of redemption. But in this touching and deeply personal memoir, she reveals how she has learned that real redemption can only come from speaking the truth. Finally, she has found the truth not just in her brother’s story, but also her own.

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First published in the US by HarperOne 2014

This UK edition published by HarperElement 2014

© Carine McCandless 2014

A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library

All photos are from the author’s collection, with the exception of insert image 18, image 19, image 20, image 37 and image 38 © Dominic Peters; image 22 © Jon Krakauer.

Material quoted on p. vii from All Said and Done © Simone de Beauvoir; p. 15, “I Go Back to May 1937” © Sharon Olds; p. ix, “Dying in the Wild” © The New York Times; p. 107, Growing Wings © Kristen Jongen; p. 187, Doctor Zhivago © Boris Pasternak.

While every effort has beenv made to trace the owners of copyright material reproduced herein and secure permissions, the publishers would like to apologise for any omissions and will be pleased to incorporate missing acknowledgements in any future edition of this book.

Carine McCandless asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

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Source ISBN: 9780007585137

Ebook Edition © November 2014 ISBN: 9780007585144

Version: 2014-10-28

CONTENTS

Cover (#u3dec4ee8-541f-575b-a75c-813463afb4c3)

Title Page (#u48c4301a-5e11-5e9e-8c59-9525afb5c685)

Copyright

Dedication (#ufede1324-bd3f-593c-8bc7-f9ba44c05fce)

Epigraph

Foreword

Prologue

Part One: Worth

Chapter 1 (#ue2d51b44-434f-525d-b2e2-f2e38c004b31)

Chapter 2 (#u0613dd5a-534f-595b-8a20-dbd5c7a4bfe5)

Chapter 3 (#u1e6d399c-a1a9-5b65-bb0b-34ddffb618c8)

Chapter 4 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 5 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 6 (#litres_trial_promo)

Part Two: Strength

Chapter 7 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 8 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 9 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 10 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 11 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 12 (#litres_trial_promo)

Part Three: Unconditional Love

Chapter 13 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 14 (#litres_trial_promo)

Part Four: Truth

Chapter 15 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 16 (#litres_trial_promo)

Picture Section