Author who chronicled murder of Maine hiker to speak online at Finding Our Voices Book Club

Wed, 02/07/2024 - 12:00pm

The author of a chronicle of the murder of a Unity College student and her girlfriend hiking the Appalachian Trail is joining the online discussion of the book with the Finding Our Voices book club.

Kathryn Miles will discuss “Trailed: One Woman’s Quest to Solve the Shenandoah Murders” on Tuesday Feb. 27, at 6 p.m. The public is welcome to attend the free discussion and can request an invitation by clicking onto the link https://bookclubs.com/clubs/23834/join/0c701b/, or by emailing Finding Our Voices at hello@findingourvoices.net

Trailed was named a Best Book of 2022 by the New York Times and was a finalist for the prestigious Edgar Allen Poe Award. It is the fifth book by award-winning journalist Kathryn Miles who is a contributing editor at Down East Magazine and scholar-in-residence at the Maine Humanities Council. The book has been described as about “two remarkable women who were murdered doing what they most loved” and an exploration of misogyny, as well as “the root of sexism and bigotry in the outdoor world.”

The online Finding Our Voices book club is hosted by Patrisha McLean, CEO and founder of the Maine-based grassroots nonprofit breaking the silence of domestic abuse. It is open to those who do and also do not identify as survivors of domestic abuse.

“Once you open your eyes to domestic abuse, you see it everywhere,” said McLean, in a news release. “In our book club we look at life through the lens of domestic abuse, often reading books that are not obviously about this subject including a series we did on cults.

“I am so excited and feel so honored that a journalist of the caliber of Kathryn Miles is joining our discussion,” said McLean. “Reading Trailed brought to my mind so many provocative and important domestic abuse-related issues including hate crimes against women, abusive parents, the intergenerational cycle of abuse, the cavalier attitude of authorities regarding the safety of women, the broken justice system, how women’s freedom is curtailed in so many ways, and also added constrictions for those in the LBGTQ-plus community."

In a statement provided to Finding Our Voices about why she is joining its book discussion, Miles said: “Bureaucracy, attrition, under-funding and confirmation bias have stymied an already broken judicial system at nearly every level. It’s more important than ever that abuse victims and survivors have the opportunity to shape, articulate, and preserve their own narratives. It's their voices that have the power to effect real – and much needed – change.”

“Trailed: One Woman’s Quest to Solve the Shenandoah Murders” is currently in development as a limited streaming series. Miles’s serial work has appeared in dozens of publications including Best American Essays, National Geographic, the New York Times, Outside, Politico, and Time. Her current memoir project, “108 Pots: Finding Center in an Unbalanced World,” is available at www.kathrynmiles.substack.com.

Finding Our Voices is the grassroots, survivor-led and survivor-powered nonprofit breaking the silence of domestic abuse one conversation and community at a time. In addition to its bold public awareness campaigns it provides a host of sister-support programs including financial assistance, pro bono dental care, online support groups, and healing experiences and retreats. For more information visit https://findingourvoices.net.