The Spirit of Lost Things

Rebecca was scarcely acquainted with the world outside their forest home. For over twenty years, Jan and Rebecca sustained their jungle homestead almost entirely on their own as Jan’s husband, Harry—a self-proclaimed cardiac invalid—barked orders from his hammock.

Alongside her mother, Rebecca worked the ground tirelessly, growing herbs, fruits and vegetables in often inhospitable soils. She was strong and dependable, and with her mother’s incredible knack for growing all manner of crops from seeds and cuttings collected from horticulturists and botanists the world over, the two women were a formidable pair.

Rebecca lent her eyes and ears to her mother. Her poetic description of their wild, mysterious jungle home became Jan’s inner religious text during the months alone in the remote, primeval forest where her daughter died.

REBECCA AND JAN - AROUND 1958

REBECCA AND JAN - SAN CRISTOBAL - AROUND 1970

“Rebecca belonged to the forest…but the forest was doomed.”

GERTRUDE “TRUDI” BLOM

ANTHROPOLOGIST, PHOTOGRAPHER, ACTIVIST AND FRIEND TO JAN

03 - THE BOOK

Her life, in her own words.

The Spirit of Lost Things is Jan’s completed memoir: a raw and moving account only she could tell.

It spans Jan’s complicated childhood and traumatic teenage years; her adulthood; more than twenty years of wilderness homesteading from the Mexican highlands to the rainforests of the Amazon; and the horrifying events surrounding her survival in the remote jungle.

Sharp, independent and endlessly curious, Jan’s formidable inner life and uncommon capacity for observation plunge the reader deep into her complicated psyche. The warmth, wit and intelligence that sustained her are present on every page.

The complete manuscript is held by Jan’s literary estate, alongside a substantial archive of her homestead writing, correspondence, documents and photographs.

Enquiries from publishers and literary agents are welcome.

LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS FROM JAN’S ARCHIVE

04 - THE FILM

A life made for the screen.

The Spirit of Lost Things is in early development as a film adaptation. Jan’s incredible life story offers a visually distinctive setting, carrying with it the emotional complexities of its characters.

The story follows in the tradition of Into the Wild, Jungle and The Revenant—true stories of people who chose the wilderness on their own terms, and what the wilderness asked of them in return.

Yet Jan’s story stands alone. As a deaf-blind protagonist, her world is textured, dangerous and mysterious - none of which she can see or hear. A treatment is available.

Enquiries from producers and screenwriters are welcome.

05 - CONTACT

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