Memoir more than story of woman and search dog

Susan Purvis’ debut memoir centers around a woman and her search dog as they train and deploy to search and rescue missions in the mountains of Colorado, but it’s also a story about self-discovery.

Purvis sums up her story saying it’s about the journey of finding a common bond with her dog Tasha, while struggling to maintain a bond with her husband.

“It was easier for me to jump out of the side of a helicopter at 13,000 feet with my search dog and look for a dead person, than it was for me to talk to my husband about our relationship,” she said. “It’s about my external adventures, but also my internal journey.”

Purvis’ book “Go Find: My Journey to Find the Lost — And Myself” releases on Oct. 2.

Purvis, a geologist, was hunting for gold in Latin America with her husband when her life shifts as she decides to follow her passion. At the age of 33, she finds herself in ski patrol school in Crested Butte, Colorado, training alongside 20-year-olds and one of two women in the group.

Then she has what she calls her defining moment. She hears the story of an avalanche that buried three small children, but despite bringing in the canine team the children were not found.

“I kept asking, ‘why not?’” she recalled. “And I didn’t get the right answer.”

Later that evening during an 8-foot snow storm, She finds herself walking along the road where the fatal avalanche had occurred six years earlier.

“I wonder if I could train a dog to save lives,” she recalls saying while looking at the slope. “I vowed then to never leave anyone behind.”

Purvis chooses a five-week-old Labrador retriever, Tasha, who constantly tests Purvis’ determination to transform her into an avalanche dog. The book chronicles their failures, but also their successes as they work as volunteers in dozens of missions to rescue the missing or recover the remains of victims.

While Purvis says the work took its toll as many searches are about recovering remains to bring closure to families, Tasha was “perfect — she found everything she went looking for.” The pair was recognized in 2003 in the Congressional Record for their work to help locate avalanche victims.

Purvis has been based in Whitefish for the last decade where she has made a career in outdoor education by teaching courses in wilderness medicine and outdoor survival. During that time she has also been writing her memoir.

Telling her story and digging into her personal feelings took hard work. Purvis relied on a group of writing friends she met through the Authors of the Flathead to provide guidance through draft after draft.

“They are a group of highly professional women who asked me to push and dig deeper,” she said. “They pushed me to say things I was ashamed to say and that I had cried about for two years.”

It was those same network of writers that eventually helped her make a connection with a literary agent from New York City. Now Blackstone Publishing is releasing her book along with a cover endorsement by the best-selling author Sebastian Junger, who calls it “a brave and profound book.”

Purvis says her story applies to every woman who, when pursing her passion, faces resistance and pressure from the outside world to be a better wife, daughter, and mother, while balancing a career.

“When you find your passion and purpose something has to give,” she said.

Purvis will have launch event party for her book on Tuesday, Oct. 2 from 6-9 p.m. at Casey’s downtown. She will sign books from 6-7:15 p.m. There will be music, a slideshow and giveaways. At 7:15 p.m., she’ll take the stage with Whitefish Review moderator Brian Schott and poet/journalist Keith Liggett for a discussion about love, life and partnership.

The event will be open to the public. Free drink with purchase of book.