Paperback: Wild by Cheryl Strayed (Atlantic, £8.99)

Cheryl Strayed felt lost. Then she hiked up the West Coast of America and the experience transformed her — into a powerful writer, for one thing. This reminds me of Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love but it’s more extreme.

When Strayed’s mother was 45 she was diagnosed with late-stage cancer of the lungs. The prognosis was poor — she was given a year to live. Strayed describes her pain.

“My mom was dead. My mom was dead. Everything I ever imagined about myself had disappeared into the crack of her last breath.” So she set about piecing herself together. By hiking. And thinking.