Two months into her three- month trip to Bolivia, Laura found her way to an animal sanctuary deep in the jungle to look after animals that were part of the worldwide illegal pet trade, this would change her life forever. It is a brave thing to do just to walk away from your job and head off to Bolivia but what happened next is simply breathtaking.

When Laura was in her twenties, she walked away from her job packed her backpack and headed off into the Amazon jungle. I read The Puma Years (Little A) by Laura Coleman in one sitting. There is a quote on the front cover by Jane Goodall and she says, “You will love this book” and indeed I really did. Set against a turbulent and poignant backdrop of deforestation, the illegal pet trade, and forest fires, The Puma Years explores what happens when two desperate creatures in need of rescue find one another. Most of all, there was the jungle-lyrical and alive-and there was Wayra, who would ultimately teach Laura so much about love, healing, and the person she was capable of becoming. There were animal whisperers, committed staff, wildly devoted volunteers, handsome heartbreakers, and a machete-wielding prom queen who carried Laura through. The humans too were cause for laughter and tears. They weren’t alone, not with over a hundred quirky animals to care for, each lost and hurt in their own way: a pair of suicidal, bra-stealing monkeys, a frustrated parrot desperate to fly, and a pig with a wicked sense of humor. And in Wayra, she made a friend for life. Wide-eyed, inexperienced, and comically terrified, Laura made the scrappy, make-do camp her home. Fate landed her at a wildlife sanctuary on the edge of the Amazon jungle where she was assigned to a beautiful and complex puma named Wayra. Laura was in her early twenties and directionless when she quit her job to backpack in Bolivia.

The puma years a memoir