Floundering in her second career, the one she’s always wanted, forty-eight year old Cheryl Suchors resolves that, despite a fear of heights, her mid-life success depends on hiking the highest of the grueling White Mountains in New Hampshire. All forty-eight of them. She endures injuries, novice mistakes, and the heartbreaking loss of a best friend. When breast cancer threatens her own life, she seeks solace and recovery in the wild. Her quest takes ten years. Regardless of the need since childhood to feel successful and in control, climbing teaches her mastery isn’t enough and control is often an illusion.

Connecting with friends and with nature, Suchors redefines success: she discovers a source of spiritual nourishment, spaces powerful enough to absorb her grief, and joy in the persistence of love and beauty. 48 PEAKS inspires us to believe that, no matter what obstacles we face, we too can attain our summits.

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Cheryl Suchors began writing at age six, when she wrote a play starring her sister and herself. She continued to write poetry until she took a detour through the business world for twenty years. She holds degrees from Harvard Business School and Smith College. 

She’s the author of 48 PEAKS, Hiking and Healing in the White Mountains, winner of a Silver Medal from Independent Publishers Book Awards. Kirkus Reviews called the book: “An inspiring yet relatable true story with exciting scenes and plenty of heart.” BookBub listed 48 PEAKS as one of “10 Life-Changing Memoirs to Pick Up This Fall.” The Culturalist selected it as one of the “Top Ten Travel and Adventure Memoirs That Will Leave You Inspired” and Pop Sugar included it as one of “7 New Nonfiction Books for People Who Don’t Really Like Nonfiction,” in company with Michelle Obama’s memoir.

Cheryl’s fiction, poetry, and essays have appeared in Writer’s Digest, City Book Review, Limestone, The Distillery, RE:AL, Prime Women, Story Circle Network and
HerSports, as well as in the anthology My Other Ex: Women’s True Stories of Losing and Leaving Friends. In her business career she coauthored the book Own Your Own Cable System. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts with her husband and a plethora of plants and wishes their grown daughter lived nearby. Cheryl continues to hike every chance she gets, most recently in Poland and Canada.