In a wise and artful work in autobiographical form "Hide and Seek", Jessamyn West explores not only her life but also herself as a woman who relishes solitude—an uncharted seeking…. By way of echoes and the mirroring of images, with a style that suggests the athlete's easy power, she has produced a surprising, mysterious, haunting book. Also a very funny one.

[She] writes of spending three months alone in a travel trailer beside the Colorado River…. (p. 10)

What happens—echoing the byword for acts against nature as well as long-ego screams from the washtub—is precipitated by the author's solitude into a scene at once entranced and objective. It seems fantastic only because, when the solitary is a woman, reality naturally presents its opposite profile. (p. 12)

Nancy Hale, "Solitude Always Excited Her," in The New York Times Book Review (© 1973 by The New York Times Company; reprinted by...