To Crack the World Open

An adventure-driven Alaskan memoir with an extraordinary dog.

From a remote, abandoned cabin by the ocean where orcas breeched, beneath thirteen feet of rain, a remarkable yellow Labrador named Woody helped a runaway from the corridors of corporate America seek a fierce freedom in the Alaskan wilds.

Award-winning director Ward Serrill (The Heart of the Game) discovered his Shakri-La, sixteen miles from the nearest town, and accessible only by boat, in the remote Alaskan wilderness. This little hut near a waterfall and next to the ocean is where he and Woody took up their vigil. This years-long experiment in solitude and immersion in the natural world, with Woody as his only companion, took Serrill down some dark paths, forcing him to confront the reality and the emotional cost of running away all his life. By facing his darkness, he discovers an unexplored region of his heart opened by grief that offers the true possibility of belonging.