You’ll Never Walk Alone: A Hiker’s Memoir of Adventure, Tragedy, and Defying the Odds

5 Star Review

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Editorial Book Review:

By Christian Smith

Some memoirs tell you what happened. You’ll Never Walk Alone makes you feel every step of what it cost. Jo Giese’s story matters because it begins with motion, freedom, strength, and then abruptly confronts the unthinkable loss of all three. For anyone who has built an identity around passion or physical ability, this book lands with immediate force.

Reading it feels raw yet steady. There is grief here, but it is not self pitying. When the accident and failed surgery leave her unable to walk, the silence of that reality settles in. You feel the disbelief, the anger, the fragile hope that flickers anyway. As the pages unfold, frustration turns into resolve. The emotional arc is gradual and honest. You are not rushed toward inspiration. You earn it alongside her.

At its heart, this memoir explores resilience, identity, aging, and the stubborn human refusal to surrender meaning. Hiking becomes more than recreation. It represents autonomy, competence, connection to the natural world. When that is taken away, the deeper question emerges. Who are we when the thing that makes us who we are goes away? That question has a lot of meaning beyond trails and mountains. It speaks to people who have been sick, lost someone, or had a sudden change.

Giese’s background as a journalist shows in her clarity and pacing. The writing is clear and observant. She balances physical detail with emotional insight, letting the reader see both the hard work of rehabilitation and the changes it requires in the mind. The way the author talks about landscapes and waterfalls far away is full of quiet respect, which is a nice change from the sterile spaces of medical recovery. That difference makes the stakes higher without going too far.

What lingers most is not the triumph of walking again, though that is powerful. It is the reminder that perseverance is rarely loud. It is built in small, stubborn decisions made day after day. This memoir is worth reading because it gives you hope that you can keep going, that you can be part of a community, and that even when things change, you can still move forward.

About the Author 

Jo Giese

Jo Giese is an award-winning radio journalist, author, teacher, community activist, and former

TV reporter. As a special correspondent, she was part of the Peabody Award–winning team at

Marketplace, the most popular business program in America. At Marketplace she won an EMMA

for Exceptional Radio Story from the National Women’s Political Caucus and a GRACIE from the

Foundation of American Women in Radio. She has contributed to Ira Glass’s This American Life and is the author of A Woman’s Path (St. Martin’s Press) and The Good Food Compendium (Doubleday). She has written for many top publications, including The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Vogue, the LA Weekly, European Travel & Life, BARK, Montana Outdoors, and The Malibu Times.

An intrepid and enthusiastic world traveler, Jo has visited more than 50 plus countries, including India, China, Africa, Finland, Vietnam, Patagonia, Bhutan, New Zealand, Iceland, Brazil, Argentina, and Norway. She lives in Southern California and Bozeman, Montana, with her husband, Ed Warren.