Star adventurer National Geographicbestselling author with sales of over 300,000 copies of her stories, Sarah Marquis tells readers about her epic adventure in the great Australian wilderness in her new book, The spark of the desert. A story of adventure and resilience since, during this trip, she mourned the loss of her mother.
Sarah Marquis publishes her new book with Éditions Michel Lafon.
Photo provided by ÉDITIONS MICHEL LAFON
The tireless Sarah Marquis set out to cross the Great Victoria Desert and the Gibson Desert, hostile territories renowned for their extreme isolation. Even the “locals” thought it was crazy because of the lack of water and food.
Persevering, Sarah Marquis faced great physical challenges and great emotions. She went through her dark night of the soul and, confronted with the elements and the most extreme destitution, discovered a new path. She managed to sublimate her pain. It’s beautiful.
The death of his mother
The spark of the desert recounts her experience in Australia, but also the death and mourning of her mother, whom she adored, shortly before her departure. She also writes that it is the most difficult ordeal of her life.
“This book took me 10 months to write,” she said in an interview, from her tiny house in the Swiss Alps, at an altitude of 1,600 meters. “I had more difficulty writing it, because I had to revisit all that. I wanted to do it well, and above all to sublimate this pain. I wanted it to be positive and to explain the process which is liberating, which is growing, which is beautiful.
“In fact, the bottom line is that there is no separation between us and death. The physicality is no longer there, but the energy and magic is there.”
A taboo
Sarah Marquis says she knows his mental patterns. That she knows how to get out of terrifying things. “I know my mind, my body, but I didn’t expect this. It was a black hole for me. What was terrifying was that the echo of my life no longer came back to me. He passed by her. With her gentleness and wisdom, she touched many people.”
The adventurer chose to face this ordeal head-on and live her mourning openly. “I didn’t hide in my corner.” People started to confide in him, to talk to him about their own bereavements. “For people, it’s taboo: they don’t talk about it. It gave me the determination to write it. It’s an inevitable passage in someone’s life.”
Sarah Marquis opens up a lot in this book which shows her great humanity. “When I say that a bird is a little guide for me, people say that I write poetry. But no: my spirituality is part of nature. She expressed herself more because there was this extra layer that was added to all the problems experienced on the expedition.”
Silence and the stars
Alone in the desert, she had plenty of time to reflect and fully integrate this experience. “This very isolated region is known for its silence. There is nothing at all in terms of information: there is nothing precise. I wasn’t expecting much.”
“I was sublimated by two things: the silence which is real silence. There is not an insect purring, because there is no water. And the other thing is the stars: it’s been incredible.”
“At the end of the day, exhausted, I couldn’t stay in my tent. I had half my body leaning out so I could have the stars above me. It was so bright. It was like I was connected with the Universe, completely, every time.”
The spark of the desert
Sarah Marquis
Éditions Michel Lafon
-Environ 256 pages
- Sarah Marquis is an explorer for the prestigious National Geographic.
- She was named “Adventurer of the Year” in 2014.
- She traveled, alone and on foot, the equivalent of circumnavigating the earth.
- She dreams of presenting her conferences in Quebec and meeting her readers.
- She is nominated for the 2025 21st Century Adventurer Award.
“I have this strange feeling of being followed. I turn around:
the light beam of my headlamp sweeps through the night
without detecting anything. I leave with my cart that I push
with the energy of the morning, without getting rid of
of this impression. Which I decide to ignore. But my
instinct, like an incessant lapping, returns to the charge,
and I end up turning around again: at a hundred
meters, a huge dingo appears in the radius of
my lamp, frozen like a statue in Parc Monceau; he me
look at me, size me up, smell me… I do the same.”
– Sarah Marquis, The spark of the desertÉditions Michel Lafon
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