According to an old Native American legend, if you are attacked by a bear and survive, you will gain its wisdom and power. Patricia Van Tighem should know, she and her husband, Trevor, were attacked by a grizzly bear and lived to tell the tale. Patricia Van Tighem may have survived, but as this haunting memoir so beautifully illustrates, life will never be the same for her again.

In 1983, Patricia and Trevor went on a hiking trip in the Canadian Rockies. On their way back from a 2000-foot climb, their lives were changed forever. It has taken Patricia almost 20 years to build up enough courage to tell her tale. She recalls the attack and her arduous recovery with such clarity, it feels like you are actually with her through those terrible years of rehabilitation.

Patricia was a beautiful blonde-haired, blue-eyed, 24 year-old nurse at the time of the attack. Her husband, a third-year medical student, was a devout adventurer. It was not uncommon for them to be on dangerous hiking trips, but she never thought this would happen.

As they were walking back to the ferryboat, she saw the bear attack Trevor. Within a split second, it was coming after her. She tried to climb a tree, but didn't make it. Trevor was not injured nearly as badly as Patricia. He suffered a crushed nose and jaw. Patricia, on the other hand, lost the whole side of her face and most of her scalp.

What follows is not what you would expect. She writes only briefly about the actual attack, her numerous surgeries and infections, and Trevor's ability to overcome his injuries. Mostly she writes about the psychological aspects of the attack, and how it changed her. The most interesting descriptions in the memoir are about her bouts with depression, her frequent trips to mental institutions, and how she perseveres to have a domestic, normal life with her husband and four subsequent children.

Ultimately, her story is simply her story. Writing this memoir was therapy for her. This is not a self-help book, and does not give advice for overcoming a terrible event. It is, however, quite interesting. The fact that she can go on living through the numerous horrendous things she endures is quite inspirational.

She says, "People can tell me to stop dwelling on it, to get on with my life, but I am getting on with my life. They can tell me the attack is in the past, but it isn't. I will deal with it every day for the rest of my life."

Patricia is a survivor. As Thomas Curwen of the Los Angeles Times says, 'The Bear's Embrace' is less important for the wisdom she seems to have gained than for the mirror it throws up to our reactions to life's unpredictability and to its victims. Van Tighem has written an important and bracing reminder of what it means to be vulnerable in a world that has little patience for vulnerability."