From the renowned painter Julie Heffernan, a completely original and visually striking work of self-fiction about a young mother who, losing direction on an outing with her infant son, experiences an extraordinary journey of memory, regret, and rebirth that offers her a new way to see the world. On a summer day, a young artist with a newborn, exhausted from lack of sleep and desperate to escape from her hot, cramped apartment and indifferent husband, sets out on an excursion to the countryside with her son Sam strapped to her front. Along the way, Julie reflects on her childhood, her parents, her marriage, and her path as a painter. Her memories merge with the imaginary visual worlds she invents in her work, creating a wonderful and perturbing narrative.

When Julie realizes they are lost, with few supplies and darkness approaching, she must accept the gravity of the situation and invent tools to adapt. She discovers her ability to survive: eating wild garlic from the forest and repairing a torn shoe, squeezing into a cave with her son for the night, climbing a tall tree for a better vantage point. Each step in this unfamiliar forest location leads her deeper into a negotiation with survival and unresolved issues of the past. She records the struggles of painters like Artemisia Gentileschi and the power of women in Rubens' work, "The Rape of the Daughters of Leucippus," illuminating how great art can be a vehicle for perspective, teaching us how to see, think, and overcome obstacles. Julie Heffernan's "Babe in the Woods" is an exceptional journey of memory and rebirth and a powerful lesson in trusting ourselves, offering a new way of perception for anyone who feels lost in the world.