Acclaimed painter Julie Heffernan’s debut graphic memoir, Babe in the Woods: Or the Art of Getting Lost, transforms a weekend hike in the woods into an evocative survey of her life and career and an all-too-real survival story. Stressed and bickering with her husband, Heffernan takes her infant son Sam and heads for upstate New York for relief, hiking into the forest with a backpack and Sam strapped to her chest. As Heffernan travels far into the woods, her imagination is captured by the immensity of the natural world, and her thoughts transition into deeply meaningful recollections of family, relationships, and her pursuit of an art career, all rendered in lush, richly detailed drawings, including examples of her fantasy-inspired paintings. Heffernan’s reverie is interrupted when she realizes that it’s nearly sunset and she’s completely lost, alone deep in a dense forest with an infant child. In this 11-page excerpt, Heffernan marvels at the wonders of the forest, oblivious to where she and Sam may be heading. Babe in the Woods: Or the Art of Getting Lost by Julie Heffernan is out now from Alqonguin Books.