Aspen Matis Books

Girl in the Woods is Aspen Matis’s exhilarating true-life adventure of hiking from Mexico to Canada—a coming-of-age story, a survival story, and a triumphant story of overcoming emotional devastation. On her second night of college, Aspen was raped by a fellow student. Overprotected by her parents who discouraged her from speaking of the attack, Aspen was confused and ashamed. Dealing with a problem that has sadly become all too common on college campuses around the country, she stumbled through her first semester—a challenging time made even harder by the coldness of her college’s “conflict mediation” process. Her desperation growing, she made a bold decision: She would seek healing in the freedom of the wild, on the 2,650-mile Pacific Crest Trail leading from Mexico to Canada. In this inspiring memoir, Aspen chronicles her journey, a five-month trek that was ambitious, dangerous, and transformative. A nineteen-year-old girl alone and lost, she conquered desolate mountain passes and met rattlesnakes, bears, and fellow desert pilgrims. Exhausted after each thirty-mile day, at times on the verge of starvation, Aspen was forced to confront her numbness, coming to terms with the sexual assault and her parents’ disappointing reaction. On the trail she found her strength, and after a thousand miles of solitude, she found a man who helped her learn to love and trust again—and heal.

From Aspen Matis, author of the acclaimed true story Girl in the Woods, comes a bold and atmospheric memoir of a woman who--in searching for her vanished husband--discovers deeper purpose. Aspen's and Justin's paths serendipitously aligned on the Pacific Crest Trail when both were walking from Mexico to Canada, separately and alone--both using thru-hiking in hopes of escaping their pasts. Both sought to redefine themselves beneath the stars. By the time they made it to the snowy Cascade Range of British Columbia--the trail's end--Aspen and Justin were in love. Embarking on a new pilgrimage the next summer, they returned to those same mossy mountains where they'd met, and they married. They built a world together, three years of a happy marriage. Until a cold November morning, when, after kissing Aspen goodbye, Justin left to attend the funeral of a close friend. He never came back. As days became weeks, her husband's inexplicable absence left Aspen unmoored. Shock, grief, fear, and anger battled for control--but nothing prepared her for the disarming truth. A revelation that would lead Aspen to reassess not only her own life but that of the disappeared as well. The result is a brave and inspiring memoir of secrets kept and unearthed, of a vanishing that became a gift: a woman's empowering reclamation of unmitigated purpose in the surreal wake of mystifying loss.

It's 1942 and the Second World War's Pacific Theatre has started. John Knight and his soldier colleagues have escaped being prisoners-of-war of the Japanese. They established a Coastwatcher network who report on the Japanese from the islands of New Guinea. Since the war started, John's group of part-time soldiers have transformed into an effective group of killers. The group operates from a stolen Japanese gunboat and engage the Japanese on both land and sea while they continue to rescue people from the clutches of the advancing Japanese army. The group's unlikely successes have been recognised and they now also work with the army's special forces directly engaging the Japanese in high-risk missions behind enemy lines. John knows that capture by the Japanese means certain death. On the battlefield, the Japanese receive no quarter and John's group expect none from the Japanese. It is a desperate time and no one is playing by the gentleman's rules of war. John and his group have survived through stealth, innovation and ruthless efficiency but is that enough to survive the imminent invasion of New Guinea's capital? John's group need the luck of the Irish if they are to survive the war. This book is a sequel to the highly successful book, Expendable Soldiers: Invasion.

Lt John Knight returns to the New Guinea frontline. He now leads small teams of special forces soldiers, who operate behind the lines, in the fight against the Japanese. The war has turned for the Japanese with Allied forces slowly pushing them back. But they are hanging on and are not a spent force. Nothing has changed. It is still a fight to the death. But now the allies, including John's team, know how to fight the Japanese in the jungles of the Pacific. The Allies are no longer the pushover that they were at the beginning of the war. John and his team are always on their own, and a long way from help, when they take on the Japanese. John continues to rely on cunning battle tactics and ferocious gunfights to ensure his team is punching above their weight. But will this be enough to overcome superior Japanese forces? This is the third and final book in the highly popular Expendable Soldiers series.