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In Wilderness
For readers of Amanda Coplin and Chris Bohjalian, In Wilderness is a suspenseful and literary love story—a daring and original novel about our fierce need for companionship and our enduring will to survive.
In the winter of 1966, Katherine Reid receives a shattering diagnosis. Debilitated by a terminal and painful illness, Katherine moves to an isolated cabin deep in Georgia’s Appalachian Mountains. There, with little more than a sleeping bag, a tin plate, and a loaded gun, she plans to spend the few short months remaining to her in beautiful but desolate solitude. Her isolation brings her peace, until the day she realizes the woods are not as empty as she believed. A heartbeat in the darkness. Breathing in the night. Katherine is not alone. Someone else is near, observing her every move.
Twenty-year-old Vietnam veteran Danny lives in the once-grand mansion he has dubbed “Gatsby’s house.” Haunted by the scars of war and enclosed by walls of moldering books, he becomes fixated on Katherine. What starts as cautious observation grows to an obsession. When these two lost souls collide, the passion that ignites between them is all-consuming—and increasingly dangerous.
Suffused with a stunning sense of character and atmosphere, Diane Thomas’s intimate voice creates an unforgettable depiction of the transformative power of love, how we grieve and hope, and the perilous ways in which we heed and test our hearts.
In the winter of 1966, Katherine Reid receives a shattering diagnosis. Debilitated by a terminal and painful illness, Katherine moves to an isolated cabin deep in Georgia’s Appalachian Mountains. There, with little more than a sleeping bag, a tin plate, and a loaded gun, she plans to spend the few short months remaining to her in beautiful but desolate solitude. Her isolation brings her peace, until the day she realizes the woods are not as empty as she believed. A heartbeat in the darkness. Breathing in the night. Katherine is not alone. Someone else is near, observing her every move.
Twenty-year-old Vietnam veteran Danny lives in the once-grand mansion he has dubbed “Gatsby’s house.” Haunted by the scars of war and enclosed by walls of moldering books, he becomes fixated on Katherine. What starts as cautious observation grows to an obsession. When these two lost souls collide, the passion that ignites between them is all-consuming—and increasingly dangerous.
Suffused with a stunning sense of character and atmosphere, Diane Thomas’s intimate voice creates an unforgettable depiction of the transformative power of love, how we grieve and hope, and the perilous ways in which we heed and test our hearts.
320 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 3, 2015
46 people are currently reading
2238 people want to read
About the author
Diane Thomas
27 books85 followersMy second novel, In Wilderness, a literary thriller inspired in part by the haunting southern Appalachian folk ballads of violence and erotic obsession, was also my first. I wrote it in 1981 to distract myself from fears of dying, during an extended period of extreme ill health. I titled this early version The Clearing, gave my symptoms to its protagonist, and sent her into a Georgia mountain wilderness to either die or heal.
Before moving to New Mexico in 2009, I'd lived in Atlanta and north Georgia since age four, except for two years in New York earning an MFA in Theater and Film History and Criticism at Columbia University. I hold a BA in English from Georgia State University and have worked as a reporter for The Atlanta Constitution, now the AJC. In 1966, at 24, I became the nation’s youngest major-newspaper entertainment editor, reviewing local plays, interviewing national film and theatre celebrities (including directors Alfred Hitchcock, Robert Altman, and Elia Kazan, and actors Susan Hayward, Carol Channing, and Michael Caine), and reviewing such iconic films as “Bonnie and Clyde,” “Midnight Cowboy,” and “Blow Up.” I later joined Atlanta, then a controversial, pioneering city magazine. By the time I fell ill, I had become successful as a freelance writer.
Though nominated for the Pushcart Editors Prize, The Clearing was never published. My illness abated, I resumed my freelance career fulltime, studied in Georgia State’s Creative Writing program, and in 2002 completed The Year the Music Changed: The Letters of Achsa McEachern-Isaacs and Elvis Presley (The Toby Press, 2005). This coming-of-age novel enjoyed critical success and, for a small-press book, respectable sales.
In 2009, my husband and I moved to New Mexico. Homesick for the Georgia mountains, where we’d spent much of the previous seven years, I completely rewrote The Clearing, retitled it In Wilderness, and never dreamed anyone would publish it, since no one had before. A Santa Fe friend talked me into looking for an agent anyway and, miracle of miracles, I found one and she found a publisher for my book.
In Wilderness came out in March 2015 from Bantam Books, an imprint of Random House, seven weeks before my 73rd birthday. It was names an "Amazon Best Book" for March 2015, was recommended by Library Journal for "readers who also like the raw, honest writing of Amy Bloom and Amanda Coplin," and endorsed by Lee Child as "Altogether spectacular."
Before moving to New Mexico in 2009, I'd lived in Atlanta and north Georgia since age four, except for two years in New York earning an MFA in Theater and Film History and Criticism at Columbia University. I hold a BA in English from Georgia State University and have worked as a reporter for The Atlanta Constitution, now the AJC. In 1966, at 24, I became the nation’s youngest major-newspaper entertainment editor, reviewing local plays, interviewing national film and theatre celebrities (including directors Alfred Hitchcock, Robert Altman, and Elia Kazan, and actors Susan Hayward, Carol Channing, and Michael Caine), and reviewing such iconic films as “Bonnie and Clyde,” “Midnight Cowboy,” and “Blow Up.” I later joined Atlanta, then a controversial, pioneering city magazine. By the time I fell ill, I had become successful as a freelance writer.
Though nominated for the Pushcart Editors Prize, The Clearing was never published. My illness abated, I resumed my freelance career fulltime, studied in Georgia State’s Creative Writing program, and in 2002 completed The Year the Music Changed: The Letters of Achsa McEachern-Isaacs and Elvis Presley (The Toby Press, 2005). This coming-of-age novel enjoyed critical success and, for a small-press book, respectable sales.
In 2009, my husband and I moved to New Mexico. Homesick for the Georgia mountains, where we’d spent much of the previous seven years, I completely rewrote The Clearing, retitled it In Wilderness, and never dreamed anyone would publish it, since no one had before. A Santa Fe friend talked me into looking for an agent anyway and, miracle of miracles, I found one and she found a publisher for my book.
In Wilderness came out in March 2015 from Bantam Books, an imprint of Random House, seven weeks before my 73rd birthday. It was names an "Amazon Best Book" for March 2015, was recommended by Library Journal for "readers who also like the raw, honest writing of Amy Bloom and Amanda Coplin," and endorsed by Lee Child as "Altogether spectacular."
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May 24, 2015
In 1966 Katherine Reid is giving a death sentence. Her doctor tells her that she has less than six months to live. There is no name for the disease that is causing her body aches and continual vomiting. In a few short months her vital organs will begin to shut down.
Katherine does not want to die in a hospital. She wants to die on her own terms. So she buys a small cabin in the mountains of North Georgia.
She leaves her ad agency job and takes just what she can carry and moves into the cabin. Her days consist of inner soul searching and basic survival. Then she starts to feel better slowly.
Now this book may seem to be one of those new "stalkery" type romance novels that are super popular right now. It's not.
She does have a young man that is watching her. He has watched since "the Dead Lady" moved into the cabin that he was staying in.
He watches as she starts to recover her health.
He (Danny) has problems of his own. He arrived at the location of the cabin and a nearby burned house due to his Nam buddy Jimbo telling him of it's existence. He wants no contact with anyone, will not allow himself to be touched.
He has so many demons.
After watching Katherine for awhile he can't get over her. He does become obsessed with her. He ends up destroying her car so that she won't "leave him."
The second part of the book is more the coming together for the two of them and I didn't love it like I did the first half of the book but it was still an amazing read.
I love basic survival stories and this one was part survival and part coming to terms with a life.
The writing in this is flat out beautiful.
We crave attachments. When we can't make them among live things, we attach unnaturally to something else. And so she stands watch this night over a last burning nub of candle as if she were waiting by a sick friend's bedside for the end. The little flame wavers in the still air, winks out, and she cries inconsolably. Lately, it saddens her to see even wildflowers die; she no longer picks them for her table.
After reading this book I went to the authors page and she wrote this book back in 1981, giving Katherine symptoms that she herself suffered from, she finally released the book this year. I'm so very glad.
Back in the 1960's Danny PTSD and Katherine's chemical sensitivity would not have been diagnosed.
Crap, I was giving this book a four star. I'm changing my mind after writing the review and full out fiving it. GO read this book.
Katherine does not want to die in a hospital. She wants to die on her own terms. So she buys a small cabin in the mountains of North Georgia.
She leaves her ad agency job and takes just what she can carry and moves into the cabin. Her days consist of inner soul searching and basic survival. Then she starts to feel better slowly.
Now this book may seem to be one of those new "stalkery" type romance novels that are super popular right now. It's not.
She does have a young man that is watching her. He has watched since "the Dead Lady" moved into the cabin that he was staying in.
He watches as she starts to recover her health.
He (Danny) has problems of his own. He arrived at the location of the cabin and a nearby burned house due to his Nam buddy Jimbo telling him of it's existence. He wants no contact with anyone, will not allow himself to be touched.
He has so many demons.
After watching Katherine for awhile he can't get over her. He does become obsessed with her. He ends up destroying her car so that she won't "leave him."
The second part of the book is more the coming together for the two of them and I didn't love it like I did the first half of the book but it was still an amazing read.
I love basic survival stories and this one was part survival and part coming to terms with a life.
The writing in this is flat out beautiful.
We crave attachments. When we can't make them among live things, we attach unnaturally to something else. And so she stands watch this night over a last burning nub of candle as if she were waiting by a sick friend's bedside for the end. The little flame wavers in the still air, winks out, and she cries inconsolably. Lately, it saddens her to see even wildflowers die; she no longer picks them for her table.
After reading this book I went to the authors page and she wrote this book back in 1981, giving Katherine symptoms that she herself suffered from, she finally released the book this year. I'm so very glad.
Back in the 1960's Danny PTSD and Katherine's chemical sensitivity would not have been diagnosed.
Crap, I was giving this book a four star. I'm changing my mind after writing the review and full out fiving it. GO read this book.
January 27, 2019
3.5 Stars
"Thirty-eight seems young to die. But maybe if you're ninety-six so does ninety-seven."
Sad and discouraged by loss, tragedy and a death sentence, thirty-eight year old Katherine Reid (and her gun) move to a remote cabin in the Appalachian Mountains to spend her last days, but soon finds she is actually feeling better and is not really alone, and when twenty year old Danny Maclean appears on the scene, a lusty and "weird" relationship develops that soon progresses to darkness and danger. (no spoilers here)
For me, despite the descriptive writing and "super" enticing prologue and first chapter, IN WILDERNESS turned out to be rather slow-moving for a good part of the story, but an interesting and discussion-rich novel nonetheless.
Look forward to reading The Year the Music Changed.
January 5, 2016
'It's not a plan. A plan requires a future.'
Katherine Reid is 38 years old and she is dying. She can't eat, can't sleep, and her strength is slowly ebbing. Doctors are unable to pinpoint what is killing her, what they do know is that she has only a matter of months to live before her organs start shutting down. Unwilling to die in a hospital, Katherine decides to buy a cabin in the middle of nowhere, a place where she can make peace with herself and where she can make the determination of when to end her life.
In the middle of this wilderness, there is no one else around for miles and miles. Wrong! There is indeed someone else in the area, and he closely watches Katherine as she goes about the business of dying. He is mesmerized, becomes obsessed with her. Ironically, as the days and weeks tick by, Katherine's health seems to improve. She is now aware that she is being watched . . .
This was a Goodreads First-Reads giveaway. Thank you!
Katherine Reid is 38 years old and she is dying. She can't eat, can't sleep, and her strength is slowly ebbing. Doctors are unable to pinpoint what is killing her, what they do know is that she has only a matter of months to live before her organs start shutting down. Unwilling to die in a hospital, Katherine decides to buy a cabin in the middle of nowhere, a place where she can make peace with herself and where she can make the determination of when to end her life.
In the middle of this wilderness, there is no one else around for miles and miles. Wrong! There is indeed someone else in the area, and he closely watches Katherine as she goes about the business of dying. He is mesmerized, becomes obsessed with her. Ironically, as the days and weeks tick by, Katherine's health seems to improve. She is now aware that she is being watched . . .
This was a Goodreads First-Reads giveaway. Thank you!
June 23, 2016
4★
Two disparate and damaged souls seeking extreme solutions to their physical and mental disabilities collide in a remote Appalachian wilderness in the late 1960s. Initially it’s a cat and mouse game for one, Russian roulette for the other.
The reader is kept off balance with the author’s intent. Is this unfolding as a nail biting thriller, à la the movie Deliverance, or perhaps something else?
The spare, raw, and mesmerizing prose explores the twin sides of physical and psychological despair and obsession that accompany severely disrupted lives seeking release. It also comes attached with praise from writers such as Ron Rash, William Landay, and Lee Child.
If you’re ready for a suspenseful walk on the twisted, erotically wild side, this is a good one.
I recommend readers enter into this story as blind as possible by exercising caution with blurbs and reviews.
Two disparate and damaged souls seeking extreme solutions to their physical and mental disabilities collide in a remote Appalachian wilderness in the late 1960s. Initially it’s a cat and mouse game for one, Russian roulette for the other.
The reader is kept off balance with the author’s intent. Is this unfolding as a nail biting thriller, à la the movie Deliverance, or perhaps something else?
The spare, raw, and mesmerizing prose explores the twin sides of physical and psychological despair and obsession that accompany severely disrupted lives seeking release. It also comes attached with praise from writers such as Ron Rash, William Landay, and Lee Child.
If you’re ready for a suspenseful walk on the twisted, erotically wild side, this is a good one.
I recommend readers enter into this story as blind as possible by exercising caution with blurbs and reviews.
January 16, 2016
In Wilderness is a literary fiction novel written by author Diane Thomas. After finishing this book, my thoughts about it felt somewhat disorganized. I could not write a review right away. All I knew was that in some strange, deranged way, I loved it...every dysfunctional and haunting thing about it. I think I can put my thoughts down now. I won't say that I can do it justice, because I know I can't. But here it goes...
On Ms. Thomas's goodreads author page, she provides some insights regarding her book In Wilderness. I love it when authors share these intimate details with their readers. It makes all the difference!!
Ms. Thomas's writing is exquisite. I read a review that described it as dream-like and it is the perfect description! I want to read this book again and again, yet at the same time I am fearful to repeat this story. It is metaphoric, poetic, raw, damaged, yet somehow soul-saving. I can't explain it properly...you'll just have to read it. So read it. Let it thrill you, disturb you, and speak to you. You will taste the freshness of a garden, you will smell the scents of untainted earth, you will feel the wind moving through your hair. You will be transported to a wilderness that is both harmful and healing. Go!
My favorite quote:
"...a mountain, or a wilderness, is very like a child, your child, whom you must cherish throughout all your life. Not because it's right and good to do so, but because you are compelled to, in some unspoken partnership with life on earth."
04/30/2015:
Epilogue Review:
What a tragedy it is when this:
Turns in to this:
On Ms. Thomas's goodreads author page, she provides some insights regarding her book In Wilderness. I love it when authors share these intimate details with their readers. It makes all the difference!!
"My second novel, In Wilderness, a literary thriller inspired in part by the haunting southern Appalachian folk ballads of violence and erotic obsession, was also my first. I wrote it in 1981 to distract myself from fears of dying, during an extended period of extreme ill health. I titled this early version The Clearing, gave my symptoms to its protagonist, and sent her into a Georgia mountain wilderness to either die or heal."And so begins this story set in the years 1966-1968 about Katherine and Danny, two characters who both are struggling with very real illnesses that had yet to be recognized by their medical community. . They have each taken extreme measures to deal with their symptoms alone, finding solace in the isolation of the Georgia mountains while living off the land. I must admit, I found this story slow in the beginning, but it is important world-building...because as a reader, I definitely felt the time period and the unique environment. Eventually though, these two souls are drawn to one another during their time in the wilderness, and at first it is not clear for what purpose: co-existing as neighbors, companions, family, lovers... it is somewhat complex to follow but engaging nonetheless. The relationship ebbs and flows through a variety of dynamics and even at their most dysfunctional, I couldn't stop reading. There is very little verbal interaction between the two; most of everything is third-person internal dialogue and I was captivated by the characters' parallel thought processes and how it influenced their overall behavior.
Ms. Thomas's writing is exquisite. I read a review that described it as dream-like and it is the perfect description! I want to read this book again and again, yet at the same time I am fearful to repeat this story. It is metaphoric, poetic, raw, damaged, yet somehow soul-saving. I can't explain it properly...you'll just have to read it. So read it. Let it thrill you, disturb you, and speak to you. You will taste the freshness of a garden, you will smell the scents of untainted earth, you will feel the wind moving through your hair. You will be transported to a wilderness that is both harmful and healing. Go!
My favorite quote:
"...a mountain, or a wilderness, is very like a child, your child, whom you must cherish throughout all your life. Not because it's right and good to do so, but because you are compelled to, in some unspoken partnership with life on earth."
04/30/2015:
Epilogue Review:
What a tragedy it is when this:
Turns in to this:
March 28, 2015
3rd review,
Still in the ICU but
Waiting for a bed.
I finished this about a week ago and while there were many things I liked, there was some I didn't. In another thread a few friends and I were, discussing how we each need different things from a story, how we identify with characters or plots. Interesting conversations and now after my recent hospital experiences my review has been hijacked because I identified in a big way with Catherine. A young woman basically being poisoned with modernism, allergic to life's busy epicenters. See, this is what happened to me in a very basic way and I ended up here. Three separate incidents, things found and smelled in everyday settings. So my book focus changed and I could now identify.
A brilliantly descriptive writer, the mountains, the flowers, nature in all its glory left me spellbound with awe. And against the beauty, Catherine's environmental death penalty and a young man with PTSD and some serious scars from his past. Their coming together is violent, obsessive and in some way insidiously off putting. so, while this book has it's ups and downs, it is well written and brings together two injured souls just trying to survive.
Still in the ICU but
Waiting for a bed.
I finished this about a week ago and while there were many things I liked, there was some I didn't. In another thread a few friends and I were, discussing how we each need different things from a story, how we identify with characters or plots. Interesting conversations and now after my recent hospital experiences my review has been hijacked because I identified in a big way with Catherine. A young woman basically being poisoned with modernism, allergic to life's busy epicenters. See, this is what happened to me in a very basic way and I ended up here. Three separate incidents, things found and smelled in everyday settings. So my book focus changed and I could now identify.
A brilliantly descriptive writer, the mountains, the flowers, nature in all its glory left me spellbound with awe. And against the beauty, Catherine's environmental death penalty and a young man with PTSD and some serious scars from his past. Their coming together is violent, obsessive and in some way insidiously off putting. so, while this book has it's ups and downs, it is well written and brings together two injured souls just trying to survive.
July 13, 2016
I loved this disturbing story about two broken, both physically and mentally, souls living deep in the wilderness. The writing is just beautiful ~ almost dreamlike ~ evoking all the senses. It's unlike anything I have read.
After finishing the book and reading the acknowledgments, I discovered my mother's cousin married the author's sister.
After finishing the book and reading the acknowledgments, I discovered my mother's cousin married the author's sister.
January 28, 2015
3.8 Rating
"Into the Woods".....and off we go....
Haunting, haunted, and increasingly borders on insanity.....(as novels go) ....a little 'creepy'!
Yet, the writing is luminous! You HAVE to keep reading! It will drive you nuts 'not-to'.
As Katherine tries to face mortality with courage, having been overexposed to a pesticide, alone in a Cabin she purchased--
Danny, a younger man, living with post-traumatic stress disorder, is stalking her from the other side of the mountain.
The entire first half of the book --these two characters to not come together --
And then they do!
Danny leaves some ripe delicious peaches on Katherine's doorstep ...
Conversations begin
A love affair begins...
As for who lives ---and who doesn't --and everything in between, it would be a shame to say much more!
I 'did' at least ask myself....would I ever consider moving to the woods alone, with no plans of returning --if I was knew I was facing death?
"Into the Woods".....and off we go....
Haunting, haunted, and increasingly borders on insanity.....(as novels go) ....a little 'creepy'!
Yet, the writing is luminous! You HAVE to keep reading! It will drive you nuts 'not-to'.
As Katherine tries to face mortality with courage, having been overexposed to a pesticide, alone in a Cabin she purchased--
Danny, a younger man, living with post-traumatic stress disorder, is stalking her from the other side of the mountain.
The entire first half of the book --these two characters to not come together --
And then they do!
Danny leaves some ripe delicious peaches on Katherine's doorstep ...
Conversations begin
A love affair begins...
As for who lives ---and who doesn't --and everything in between, it would be a shame to say much more!
I 'did' at least ask myself....would I ever consider moving to the woods alone, with no plans of returning --if I was knew I was facing death?
November 14, 2016
The year is 1966 and Katherine Reid receives a heartbreaking diagnosis. She is dying from a terminal illness. The doctors can't even figure out what's wrong with her, only that she is dying. So, she sells everything's she owns and moves far away to a cabin in Georgia's Appalachian Mountains. Her plan is to spend her last months in solitude and she has brought with her a gun to end it if it gets too painful towards the end. But she doesn't know that she is not alone. In the forest, someone is watching her. The young Vietnam veteran Danny is watching her with a growing obsession. Danny is haunted by war memories and is living in an old once grand mansion alone.
On Goodreads, you can read that this is a suspenseful and literary love story. I agree with suspenseful, but let not describe the relationship in this book as a love story. It's a relationship between two people that needs each and for a brief moment in life find comfort in each other arms. But love story, no. I thought it would be a love story, but certain things in the book, Danny destroying her car so that she wouldn't be able to leave and his attitude towards her, when they are together, isn't something that I would describe as a love story. A very dark love story perhaps, but now, it's a relationship.
Anyway, I did enjoy reading the book, but I did not love it as much I had hoped I would. It was well written, but the story just didn't work all the way for me, I liked the beginning when the hadn't met yet and the ending best. But the part, when they got together, was just no to my liking that much. Thankfully the book ended on a high note.
Btw, in author's note, you can read about what it was ailing both Danny and Katherine.
I received this copy from the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest review!
On Goodreads, you can read that this is a suspenseful and literary love story. I agree with suspenseful, but let not describe the relationship in this book as a love story. It's a relationship between two people that needs each and for a brief moment in life find comfort in each other arms. But love story, no. I thought it would be a love story, but certain things in the book, Danny destroying her car so that she wouldn't be able to leave and his attitude towards her, when they are together, isn't something that I would describe as a love story. A very dark love story perhaps, but now, it's a relationship.
Anyway, I did enjoy reading the book, but I did not love it as much I had hoped I would. It was well written, but the story just didn't work all the way for me, I liked the beginning when the hadn't met yet and the ending best. But the part, when they got together, was just no to my liking that much. Thankfully the book ended on a high note.
Btw, in author's note, you can read about what it was ailing both Danny and Katherine.
I received this copy from the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest review!
June 11, 2016
Diane Thomas has written a tale of suspense and passion about two individuals who retreat to the wilderness, unable to survive in the modern world. Katherine, an advertising executive, is wasting away and her doctors told her she only has months to live. (She has an unknown illness in the 1960s, which we would describe today as multiple chemical sensitivities.) She buys a cabin deep in the mountains of Georgia to live out her final days.
Danny, a Vietnam vet, cannot function since witnessing the death of his best friend in the jungle. He's come to the quiet and solitude of the woods which offers a haven for the young man with PTSD. His military training has come in useful in silently tracking animals for food. He also stalks Katherine, watching her every move.
Loneliness envelopes each of them, and Danny finally reveals his presence when he needs companionship during a violent thunderstorm. Katherine gets swept into an obsessive passionate relationship with Danny that doesn't feel right, but which she is afraid to leave. Danny becomes more and more controlling, exhibits jealous possession, and seems to have a love/hate relationship with all women.
This book was a real page turner with two interesting main characters. Danny was creepy, but also had sympathetic qualities. Katherine's interactions with the natural world were written beautifully. The author herself had an experience with an environmental illness and had to retreat to an isolated place years ago, so Katherine's illness seems very believable. I enjoyed this psychological tale of obsession, and would love to read more works by Diane Thomas.
Thank you to Goodreads First Reads and Random House/Bantam Books for a copy of this book in return for an honest opinion.
Danny, a Vietnam vet, cannot function since witnessing the death of his best friend in the jungle. He's come to the quiet and solitude of the woods which offers a haven for the young man with PTSD. His military training has come in useful in silently tracking animals for food. He also stalks Katherine, watching her every move.
Loneliness envelopes each of them, and Danny finally reveals his presence when he needs companionship during a violent thunderstorm. Katherine gets swept into an obsessive passionate relationship with Danny that doesn't feel right, but which she is afraid to leave. Danny becomes more and more controlling, exhibits jealous possession, and seems to have a love/hate relationship with all women.
This book was a real page turner with two interesting main characters. Danny was creepy, but also had sympathetic qualities. Katherine's interactions with the natural world were written beautifully. The author herself had an experience with an environmental illness and had to retreat to an isolated place years ago, so Katherine's illness seems very believable. I enjoyed this psychological tale of obsession, and would love to read more works by Diane Thomas.
Thank you to Goodreads First Reads and Random House/Bantam Books for a copy of this book in return for an honest opinion.
December 11, 2015
Katherine sells off her share of an ad agency and leaves her big city life when she learns that she is dying, her body slowly slipping away. And where she goes is to a lonely cabin in a beautiful wilderness--to die peacefully of natural causes, or to speed things up a bit herself once she gets there. Things don't always work out as planned. By her taking over this cabin, a squatter named Danny uprooted and relocated himself, Katherine knowing nothing of him. But he knows all about her, even naming her Dead Lady. He stands out in the woods and he watches her. He lays outside her wall at night and they can hear each other breath. She senses his eyes on her whenever see is outside--planting vegetables which she may never see sprout, running off to the privy-- her every move.
Can you say creepy?
That was the first half of the book. The second half brings the two of them together in an unexpected turn of events. Both of them so needy, good for each other in some ways, but very bad too. Both of them not well. However, they have infested themselves , infected themselves with each other as if with some disease , and somehow they will have to pay. The wooded isolated area in which they live, the rooms that they occupy, everything is depicted by the author so beautifully and descriptively. With her words, she paints a canvas for us to visualize. Reading on, it becomes a story of how pure, pristine areas of nature have been sullied and raped by man for profit. Quite an unusual book to take on so many topics and to keep evolving into something else.
Can you say creepy?
That was the first half of the book. The second half brings the two of them together in an unexpected turn of events. Both of them so needy, good for each other in some ways, but very bad too. Both of them not well. However, they have infested themselves , infected themselves with each other as if with some disease , and somehow they will have to pay. The wooded isolated area in which they live, the rooms that they occupy, everything is depicted by the author so beautifully and descriptively. With her words, she paints a canvas for us to visualize. Reading on, it becomes a story of how pure, pristine areas of nature have been sullied and raped by man for profit. Quite an unusual book to take on so many topics and to keep evolving into something else.
January 28, 2015
Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Publishing-Bantam Dell for the advanced copy in exchange for this honest review.
There is no arguing the fact that Diane Thomas is a talented author. Her blunt and and at times poetic prose is firmly on display In Wilderness. The reason I gave this only three stars has nothing to do with quality of the writing. The three stars is because I despised both character which made it hard for me to see the light in this dark tale. I don't mind a dark story or going into the minds of characters who are broken or hurting but I felt so detached from these characters that I couldn't bring myself feel the emotion or desperation I know I was supposed to be feeling.
I literally felt a dark cloud me after I finished the book. It depressed me and didn't sit well. Maybe it was just the timing. Either way, I guess it made me feel something after all. Not all books can be uplifting I guess.
Give it try and tell me what you think.
There is no arguing the fact that Diane Thomas is a talented author. Her blunt and and at times poetic prose is firmly on display In Wilderness. The reason I gave this only three stars has nothing to do with quality of the writing. The three stars is because I despised both character which made it hard for me to see the light in this dark tale. I don't mind a dark story or going into the minds of characters who are broken or hurting but I felt so detached from these characters that I couldn't bring myself feel the emotion or desperation I know I was supposed to be feeling.
I literally felt a dark cloud me after I finished the book. It depressed me and didn't sit well. Maybe it was just the timing. Either way, I guess it made me feel something after all. Not all books can be uplifting I guess.
Give it try and tell me what you think.
April 29, 2019
FIVE STARS
As I read the final chapter and epilogue for the third time, like an addict hoping to extend the buzz, I experience the same soothing intoxication from the prose each time. The effects on my body are pleasantly the same. Not quite weightlessness but I feel less of gravity’s tug, as if an infinitesimally thin gap of nothing exists between me and the seat of the chair.
It’s the highly charged emotional energy of the story that causes this sensation. It ripples and pulsates from the pages to my fingertips, through my phalanges to my palms and wrists, forearms, elbows, humeri and shoulders, converging at the base of my neck. From there it branches up and down my spine, with equal intensity, to my heart and my head.
This book is alive and I feel it. It haunts me. It scares me. It makes me happy!
Two lost souls, one entering the prime years of her life, the other a boy just barely a man, broken by trauma and tragedy, find each other in the wilds of northern Georgia, their personal worlds of pain, anxiety and loneliness morphing and evolving into a single existential awareness.
The losses are insurmountable, far too much to bear. A child, a husband, a first love. Her health. The unknown, undiagnosable illness is terminal. No hope. Only in her thirties, Katherine Reid sells her highly successful Atlanta-based ad agency and buys a tract of land in the wilderness of northern Georgia … a rustic mountain cabin, outhouse, a small pond surrounded by acres of forest … located about two miles from the ribbon of dirt road that gained her access. She’s chosen to spend the last six months of her life in nature, to die alone.
Danny MacLean was a good soldier. Sixteen kills, successful each time he was sent out into the oppressive jungle. Just 20 years old, he could hit a squirrel since he was eight. He enlisted with Jimbo, his lone friend who suggested the Army would pay for their college education. When Jimbo’s blood and brains splashed across Danny’s face, he screamed for days on end. Finally discharged from the army and evacuated to San Francisco … what happened to the hippy girl? … he made his way back to Georgia, to Panther Mountain, to live alone in his head in the abandoned mansion. Until he discovers he is no longer alone.
Two broken souls, one physically, one emotionally, isolated on Panther Mountain until they aren't. Two spirits utterly smashed apart by circumstances and experiences, seeking answers, compassion, humanity.
The layers of psychology explored in this story are rich and thought provoking; terminal illness, sexuality, childhood experiences and losses, war, love ... Kate and Danny are from very different worlds, worlds that slowly orbit each other until their gravities force their collision in the solitude of the Georgian wilderness.
The more I read, the more I become emotionally enveloped by the lives of Katherine Reid and Danny MacLean. This is one of those very rare books that altered my DNA, recalibrated my genetic code and changed my perspective of the world.
In Wilderness, set in the mid-1960s, is a love story, an obsession, a curiosity, a tragedy … an addiction!
FIVE wistfully brilliant stars ... I highly recommend this book!
As I read the final chapter and epilogue for the third time, like an addict hoping to extend the buzz, I experience the same soothing intoxication from the prose each time. The effects on my body are pleasantly the same. Not quite weightlessness but I feel less of gravity’s tug, as if an infinitesimally thin gap of nothing exists between me and the seat of the chair.
It’s the highly charged emotional energy of the story that causes this sensation. It ripples and pulsates from the pages to my fingertips, through my phalanges to my palms and wrists, forearms, elbows, humeri and shoulders, converging at the base of my neck. From there it branches up and down my spine, with equal intensity, to my heart and my head.
This book is alive and I feel it. It haunts me. It scares me. It makes me happy!
Two lost souls, one entering the prime years of her life, the other a boy just barely a man, broken by trauma and tragedy, find each other in the wilds of northern Georgia, their personal worlds of pain, anxiety and loneliness morphing and evolving into a single existential awareness.
The losses are insurmountable, far too much to bear. A child, a husband, a first love. Her health. The unknown, undiagnosable illness is terminal. No hope. Only in her thirties, Katherine Reid sells her highly successful Atlanta-based ad agency and buys a tract of land in the wilderness of northern Georgia … a rustic mountain cabin, outhouse, a small pond surrounded by acres of forest … located about two miles from the ribbon of dirt road that gained her access. She’s chosen to spend the last six months of her life in nature, to die alone.
Danny MacLean was a good soldier. Sixteen kills, successful each time he was sent out into the oppressive jungle. Just 20 years old, he could hit a squirrel since he was eight. He enlisted with Jimbo, his lone friend who suggested the Army would pay for their college education. When Jimbo’s blood and brains splashed across Danny’s face, he screamed for days on end. Finally discharged from the army and evacuated to San Francisco … what happened to the hippy girl? … he made his way back to Georgia, to Panther Mountain, to live alone in his head in the abandoned mansion. Until he discovers he is no longer alone.
Two broken souls, one physically, one emotionally, isolated on Panther Mountain until they aren't. Two spirits utterly smashed apart by circumstances and experiences, seeking answers, compassion, humanity.
The layers of psychology explored in this story are rich and thought provoking; terminal illness, sexuality, childhood experiences and losses, war, love ... Kate and Danny are from very different worlds, worlds that slowly orbit each other until their gravities force their collision in the solitude of the Georgian wilderness.
The more I read, the more I become emotionally enveloped by the lives of Katherine Reid and Danny MacLean. This is one of those very rare books that altered my DNA, recalibrated my genetic code and changed my perspective of the world.
In Wilderness, set in the mid-1960s, is a love story, an obsession, a curiosity, a tragedy … an addiction!
FIVE wistfully brilliant stars ... I highly recommend this book!
September 8, 2015
Wow. I am not sure what to say, except, again, Wow. What a delight to come across a writer not many have heard of before, and find such emotional depth and skillful artistry. This is one of the best books I've read this year. Maybe ever. This won't be for everyone. Read some reviews and decide before adding to your to read list. It is disturbing and raw in places, heartbreaking in others, but also transcendent. For folks who love wilderness/nature, this is a must. Think female Thoreau. The author reveals she wrote this over thirty years, and it shows. Each sentence is so carefully constructed, my teeth almost ached. You can read the blurb for the plot. All I can say is, you will rarely encounter such flawed, beautiful characters in such a detailed wilderness setting. Shades of Gatsby and the Garden of Eden, with somewhat contemporary explorations of obsessive love, erotic desire, PTSD, and environmental illness. It doesn't fit into one category, and I LOVE it for that and its bravery in depicting a woman in the wild.
March 19, 2019
I was sucked into this book mostly due to my recently developing fantasy to “run away from home” and hide is a cabin in the woods. This is pure fantasy, of course, and not anything I could or would ever do. But, that is why we read fiction. I liked the book, but did not love it. The writing was not amazing, and the story got bogged down at times and became quite monotonous.
October 19, 2022
The solitude, the wilderness, the complex psychological stakes. Quiet and disquieting, fearsome and lovely. Thomas took thirty years to write this, and it feels both old and new. She gripped me right from the start and held on.
June 22, 2015
I’m always hungering for a book that will make me forget I am reading. A book that will make me take a pass on doing the shopping, forget the milk out on the counter, and burn dinner. In Wilderness, by Diane Thomas is that kind of book.
It begins quietly: an expectant mother feels her baby flutter for the first time. But this is not some saccharine, worn out by overuse Women’s fiction trope; it couldn’t be anything further. For in the next chapter that same baby is dead, killed possibly by the anonymous spray of pesticide on the ginkgoes outside their home. And now the mother is dying as well.
The story is set in the mid-1960s, that time of pesticide innocence, when boys on bikes followed those small tanker trucks spraying for mosquitos, and everyone marveled at how much more comfortable chemicals could make life seem, never suspecting that with the turn of the millennium would come the mass death of bees, swaths of unexplained brain tumors and auto-immune diseases. Katherine Reid does not know why she is dying, nor do her doctors, she only knows she doesn’t wish to do it in the home she bought with the husband whose love didn’t survive the death of their baby. She sells her share of her advertising agency and her home, and buys a cabin in the back country of Georgia’s Appalachian Mountains. There she will settle with only the sparest rudiments of living, to await death.
But the woods around her cabin hold several life-altering surprises in store for Katherine.
Part of what makes In Wilderness so remarkable is that the main character is alone for much of the novel, and yet the story is never dull; we watch Katherine learn to survive, and away from all the chemicals, we watch her begin to recover. There’s little dialogue. Deeply interior, the novel is told in third person present tense. Thomas sweeps us into Katherine’s head and heart, and there, in language and style uniquely her own, she spins her spell, as increment by painful increment Katherine moves from hopelessness, toward revival—and into the arms of new terrors, because she is not alone in her woods.
I greatly enjoyed this novel, and highly recommend it to readers who enjoy sentences that make you want to read them again – they’re so pretty; but also to those who expect an engaging plot. This one has all that, and more.
It begins quietly: an expectant mother feels her baby flutter for the first time. But this is not some saccharine, worn out by overuse Women’s fiction trope; it couldn’t be anything further. For in the next chapter that same baby is dead, killed possibly by the anonymous spray of pesticide on the ginkgoes outside their home. And now the mother is dying as well.
The story is set in the mid-1960s, that time of pesticide innocence, when boys on bikes followed those small tanker trucks spraying for mosquitos, and everyone marveled at how much more comfortable chemicals could make life seem, never suspecting that with the turn of the millennium would come the mass death of bees, swaths of unexplained brain tumors and auto-immune diseases. Katherine Reid does not know why she is dying, nor do her doctors, she only knows she doesn’t wish to do it in the home she bought with the husband whose love didn’t survive the death of their baby. She sells her share of her advertising agency and her home, and buys a cabin in the back country of Georgia’s Appalachian Mountains. There she will settle with only the sparest rudiments of living, to await death.
But the woods around her cabin hold several life-altering surprises in store for Katherine.
Part of what makes In Wilderness so remarkable is that the main character is alone for much of the novel, and yet the story is never dull; we watch Katherine learn to survive, and away from all the chemicals, we watch her begin to recover. There’s little dialogue. Deeply interior, the novel is told in third person present tense. Thomas sweeps us into Katherine’s head and heart, and there, in language and style uniquely her own, she spins her spell, as increment by painful increment Katherine moves from hopelessness, toward revival—and into the arms of new terrors, because she is not alone in her woods.
I greatly enjoyed this novel, and highly recommend it to readers who enjoy sentences that make you want to read them again – they’re so pretty; but also to those who expect an engaging plot. This one has all that, and more.
January 7, 2016
This is well written. It's also very dark. It's about 2 people with isolating and horrendous illnesses.
Many people will like this far more than I did. The parts narrated from Danny's thoughts became so distasteful to me that I skipped huge tracts of them. I already "got" it.
Katherine's cognition was not as soured but as difficult, maybe more so. So I don't know how you can say that this is a novel for any "enjoyment" level quotient. It's barely a 2 on that, maybe 1.5 star. And actually the plot was decidedly pat. Every aspect of the end I accurately guessed. And as after thought of my own, I'm not sure I believe Katherine's solutions would be effective in that time frame OR current reality.
If you like well written angst and suffering sorrow- this is the book for you. Also I have to add- it did remind me of Ron Rash. The Southern forest and personalities- all across, coupled with writing style points.
Lastly, I personally detest the extent of foul language in thought patterns that have become endemic (just as demonstrated here in this book). To me it just makes the characters trite and inherently moronic in communications and in emotive levels.
Many people will like this far more than I did. The parts narrated from Danny's thoughts became so distasteful to me that I skipped huge tracts of them. I already "got" it.
Katherine's cognition was not as soured but as difficult, maybe more so. So I don't know how you can say that this is a novel for any "enjoyment" level quotient. It's barely a 2 on that, maybe 1.5 star. And actually the plot was decidedly pat. Every aspect of the end I accurately guessed. And as after thought of my own, I'm not sure I believe Katherine's solutions would be effective in that time frame OR current reality.
If you like well written angst and suffering sorrow- this is the book for you. Also I have to add- it did remind me of Ron Rash. The Southern forest and personalities- all across, coupled with writing style points.
Lastly, I personally detest the extent of foul language in thought patterns that have become endemic (just as demonstrated here in this book). To me it just makes the characters trite and inherently moronic in communications and in emotive levels.
June 1, 2015
"Way down yonder, in the meadow,
Poor little baby crying mama,
Birds and the butterflies flutter 'round his eyes,
Poor little baby crying mama."
Setting:Georgia’s Appalachian Mountains; 1966-1968
Coverly Love?:Yes! It perfectly captures the haunting nature of this book.
Plot:Katherine Reid is dying, or at least that’s what the doctors tell her. She once had a highly successful career at an advertising firm, a loving husband, and a baby on the way. But after she lost both her baby and her husband, she contracts a mysterious illness. All she can do is wait to die. And she decides to wait in the wilderness of Georgia’s Appalachian Mountains in a cabin. There she will live off the land for the allotted time given to her, and die. What she doesn’t realize though is that she’s being watched by another individual. Danny, a Vietnam vet with PTSD living in an old abandoned mansion on top of the mountain, starts watching Katherine. They soon meet and start an intense, passionate and twisted love affair. Will it destroy them both? Or will their inner demons get to them first?
If The Things They Carried and Wuthering Heights met and had a love child, this book would be the result. This will probably end up in my Top Ten of the year, it was THAT goo. I loved the descriptive writing and how the characters practically leaped off the page. I literally had no idea how much I would love this book until I read the prologue. And while I did have some minor issues with it, I found it overall to be a wonderful character study of two damaged individuals who find the wilderness for comfort. It appeals to the wilder, nature side of me.
Characters:Well, this is going to be quite easy, since there are really only two characters in the book!! Katherine Reid has come to grips with the fact that she will die soon of the mysterious ailment that no doctor seems to be able to diagnose. We later find out that she has Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, which basically means that some environments make her constantly sick. But back in the 60s and 70s, this was pretty much an unknown disease. She decides to live off the land and just wait for her time to come. But something mysterious happens; she starts to get better. And not only get better, but thrive. I liked Katherine in the beginning, but everything started to go downhill after she became involved with Danny. With Danny, she became a weak-willed submissive doormat, which really disappointed me.
Danny is a Vietnam vet with PTSD (again, not a well-known disease back then, not to mention the horrible reception they all got back then). He lives with his dog in the Appalachian wilderness as well, but in a grand old mansion he names Gatsby’s House. When Katherine arrives, he completely loses whatever marbles he had left in his brain. He starts to follow her, then he starts a relationship as well, which has “DISASTER” written all over it. I can honestly say that I felt sorry for him at first, but as the book wore on, he just became despicable.
Pros:Diane Thomas has created some of the most gorgeous and haunting prose here in this book. She honestly makes you feel like you’re deep in the Appalachian Mountains, picking wild berries and hiking through the spooky darkness of the woods.
This book is based on some of the author’s own personal experiences when she was younger and was so sick she thought she was dying. While I’m sorry that she had to go through all that, I felt that it made the story all the more personal and better, as she was able to feel emotionally what Katherine was feeling.
Of course, it also doesn’t help that the main character and I share the same name, spelling and all ;)
Cons: SWEET BABY JESUS IN A CRADLE, DANNY WAS SUCH AN ASSHOLE. I get the fact that his behavior is partially due to a traumatic childhood and partially due to PTSD, but towards the end of the book he was becoming absolutely despicable.
The book also tended to veer more towards 50 Shades of Grey in terms of the smexy times, if you know what I mean. It made me just a tad but uncomfortable.
Love Triangle?:Nope!
Instalove?:Insta-obsession, yes. Insta-love, no. What Katherine and Danny experience is in no way loving.
A Little Romance?:Let’s get one thing straight here folks; this is not a love story. This is a story about two people who are so wrong for each other that they’ll wind up ruining themselves in the process if they stay.
Twisted. That’s the best way I can describe Katherine and Danny’s relationship. It doesn’t even start until halfway through the book, with the first half him watching her from afar. But when they do come together, it’s like lighting a match and sticking it right next to an oxygen tank. Sooner or later, something disastrous is going to happen. And that’s what exactly happens. They can’t live without each other, but at the same time if they stay together, they’ll end up destroying each other. You want to yell at Katherine to GET THE EFF AWAY FROM HIM.
Conclusion:I so wish that developers would leave the natural wilderness alone, instead of trying to develop it all. If this book taught me anything, it’s to appreciate the beauty of nature. It also gives us an insight of two people who are misunderstood by society and themselves because of illnesses they don’t understand and won’t until much later. And yet this book is so powerful, so haunting and lyrically beautiful. This little tale of love, obsession, destructive passion, twisted desire and a raw wildness about it that makes this book impossible to put down.
February 15, 2015
If you love twists in fiction with unusual, bizarre, warped characters that make you wonder about their sanity, and then yours as well for getting sucked up into their world, never quite sure how it will end, thinking about it for days after the last page, then this 1960s thriller is for you.
During the 1960s, women in the corporate world in high-powered positions are not the norm. But Kate is that anomaly. Kate who worked beside her husband in their advertising agency, until she receives the controlling interest in their divorce settlement. But that's not the only thing that sets Kate apart, because she has endured so much already with the loss of their child, and no hope for more, which is all she thinks about when she's not fully focused on her company. And now this. The unthinkable. Kate is dying from some unknown illness the doctors can't identify and she has, at most, four months to live.
What does one do when there is such a short time to live, not wanting to live it out in a hospital with no hope? Or to bear the inevitable pain that is coming? Taking a load of pills didn't kill her, so perhaps the gun she buys to take with her into the woods will be more efficient?
Kate buys an isolated cabin about two miles walking distance from the nearest road, next to a national forest that includes a place to garden and a pond. She buys it sight unseen, other than the Polaroids they give her at the closing, because does it really matter what your cabin looks like when one is dying?
The first night at the cabin Kate arrives exhausted, after dragging the few things she has brought with her through the woods for two miles. It's in that exhausted state when she's almost asleep that she first hears the breathing of a creature outside her cabin wall, the creature she calls "the deer" for some time, until she realizes that the edgy feeling of being watched while outside of the cabin during the day is not just her imagination.
Danny is stoned the first time he sees the Dead Lady. A Vietnam veteran trained as a sniper, Danny knows how to be the silent watcher in the woods of Georgia's Appalachia, surviving on leftovers from the dumpster in town. But that doesn't help him cope with the fact that this invasion by the Dead Lady has made him move out of the cabin that he took as his home, just in time too, before she arrives.
This book didn't make me sad that the main character was dying in the beginning because somehow I knew it would work out okay. Although Kate has dark thoughts, she has an inner light that begs to survive. I am familiar with her illness so I suspected, but, oh my word, I did not expect half of what happens. Very clever!
For straight fiction lovers who love a few shocking twists in their reading, along with some thriller tendencies and psycho oddities that will rattle you just a bit, this novel is the perfect answer to your wishes. For those who yearn for a back-to-basics survival lifestyle, while escaping the environmental concerns of our cities, then this novel will feed your desires with a wicked bent you won't expect. A bit erotic at times, too, without the very detailed descriptions most often found in erotic romance, while still being very sexy, as well as possessive—this novel will keep you wondering what in the world you have gotten yourself into by starting it, because even though it's twisted and downright sick at times, you won't be able to stop reading for wanting to know how it will end. And the language, oftentimes brutally raw, can make you gasp for the realness of it, and yet, you know it needs to be written just like that to portray the reality of this attached detachment to the real world as we know it.
I'm not sure that I even like this book even though I am in awe of its creativity. There were many times while reading it when I wondered how I could possibly continue, and yet I eagerly persisted. The characters have an obsessed addiction to each other that's riveting. Their growth together is sometimes good and sometimes very bad, feeding the frenzy that is them together. But that's why I've rated this book five stars, because it kept me reading and wondering, not just about its content, or how it was so artistically written, but about myself for wanting to reach the end, even though I knew I might not like the conclusion. This novel has some Southern Gothic fiction similarities while maintaining its originality, possibly appealing to fans of author Ron Rash. The writing becomes the characters as much as the characters are the writing, it's all synonymous while they twist and turn together, making the reader wonder what is real and what is imagination. Thrilling, creative, all-consuming, raw—IN WILDERNESS is exactly what great fiction should be.
For those who aspire to write, and wonder what might happen to the 30-year-old manuscript you have lying under the bed, should you drag it out someday, be sure to read author Diane Thomas' stirring bio and frequently asked questions at her website. My thanks to you, Ms. Thomas, for never giving up hope on life and your obvious talent—you not only give those of us who have endured the unexplained great hope, but you are also an inspiration to writers who cling to the dream.
Reviewed by Dorine, courtesy of TBR Mountain Range and Romance Junkies. ARC provided by NetGalley.
During the 1960s, women in the corporate world in high-powered positions are not the norm. But Kate is that anomaly. Kate who worked beside her husband in their advertising agency, until she receives the controlling interest in their divorce settlement. But that's not the only thing that sets Kate apart, because she has endured so much already with the loss of their child, and no hope for more, which is all she thinks about when she's not fully focused on her company. And now this. The unthinkable. Kate is dying from some unknown illness the doctors can't identify and she has, at most, four months to live.
What does one do when there is such a short time to live, not wanting to live it out in a hospital with no hope? Or to bear the inevitable pain that is coming? Taking a load of pills didn't kill her, so perhaps the gun she buys to take with her into the woods will be more efficient?
Kate buys an isolated cabin about two miles walking distance from the nearest road, next to a national forest that includes a place to garden and a pond. She buys it sight unseen, other than the Polaroids they give her at the closing, because does it really matter what your cabin looks like when one is dying?
The first night at the cabin Kate arrives exhausted, after dragging the few things she has brought with her through the woods for two miles. It's in that exhausted state when she's almost asleep that she first hears the breathing of a creature outside her cabin wall, the creature she calls "the deer" for some time, until she realizes that the edgy feeling of being watched while outside of the cabin during the day is not just her imagination.
Danny is stoned the first time he sees the Dead Lady. A Vietnam veteran trained as a sniper, Danny knows how to be the silent watcher in the woods of Georgia's Appalachia, surviving on leftovers from the dumpster in town. But that doesn't help him cope with the fact that this invasion by the Dead Lady has made him move out of the cabin that he took as his home, just in time too, before she arrives.
This book didn't make me sad that the main character was dying in the beginning because somehow I knew it would work out okay. Although Kate has dark thoughts, she has an inner light that begs to survive. I am familiar with her illness so I suspected, but, oh my word, I did not expect half of what happens. Very clever!
For straight fiction lovers who love a few shocking twists in their reading, along with some thriller tendencies and psycho oddities that will rattle you just a bit, this novel is the perfect answer to your wishes. For those who yearn for a back-to-basics survival lifestyle, while escaping the environmental concerns of our cities, then this novel will feed your desires with a wicked bent you won't expect. A bit erotic at times, too, without the very detailed descriptions most often found in erotic romance, while still being very sexy, as well as possessive—this novel will keep you wondering what in the world you have gotten yourself into by starting it, because even though it's twisted and downright sick at times, you won't be able to stop reading for wanting to know how it will end. And the language, oftentimes brutally raw, can make you gasp for the realness of it, and yet, you know it needs to be written just like that to portray the reality of this attached detachment to the real world as we know it.
I'm not sure that I even like this book even though I am in awe of its creativity. There were many times while reading it when I wondered how I could possibly continue, and yet I eagerly persisted. The characters have an obsessed addiction to each other that's riveting. Their growth together is sometimes good and sometimes very bad, feeding the frenzy that is them together. But that's why I've rated this book five stars, because it kept me reading and wondering, not just about its content, or how it was so artistically written, but about myself for wanting to reach the end, even though I knew I might not like the conclusion. This novel has some Southern Gothic fiction similarities while maintaining its originality, possibly appealing to fans of author Ron Rash. The writing becomes the characters as much as the characters are the writing, it's all synonymous while they twist and turn together, making the reader wonder what is real and what is imagination. Thrilling, creative, all-consuming, raw—IN WILDERNESS is exactly what great fiction should be.
For those who aspire to write, and wonder what might happen to the 30-year-old manuscript you have lying under the bed, should you drag it out someday, be sure to read author Diane Thomas' stirring bio and frequently asked questions at her website. My thanks to you, Ms. Thomas, for never giving up hope on life and your obvious talent—you not only give those of us who have endured the unexplained great hope, but you are also an inspiration to writers who cling to the dream.
Reviewed by Dorine, courtesy of TBR Mountain Range and Romance Junkies. ARC provided by NetGalley.
April 22, 2015
A special thank you to Random House Publishing Group, Bantam Dell, and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
IN WILDERNESS, by Diane Thomas is an emotional and riveting literary fiction of illness, danger, obsession, and love, set in the North Georgia Mountains of two troubled souls igniting, for a compelling and moving thriller.
Katherine is a thirty-eight year old woman, a former successful professional of an advertising agency in Atlanta in the early sixties. Her life has been shattered by an undiagnosed disease and left with the message of dying. She throws away the pills, as she sees a rustic mountain cabin adjacent to a national forest, for sale in the North Georgia Mountains. She is thinking, what if?
She had dreams of a baby, a husband, a long life. She had not expected dying at such a relatively young age to be awkward, unseemly cause for embarrassment and shame. Death is about to come, as the doctors have given her six months.
As she makes preparations, she sells her controlling interest in the agency, and her house, telling everyone she is headed to California and buys the remote cabin without even seeing it, only pictures. She packs up the bare essentials and her gun and sets out to the wilderness to die in peace, alone. A perfect place to die. However, she is not alone in the mountains. Someone is watching her.
Danny, a 20-year-old Vietnam War vet has suffered with mental illness from Vietnam with PTSD. He too, has escaped to the wilderness to drown out the noise in his head and those around him. He has been here for two years, and now here is a woman intruding on his space. He lives in the woods, this is his home, as he has so much death inside himself, taking over his mind. He feels he is better in the woods with the wild animals.
Without the daily work, Katherine allows herself to keep a journal, possibly harboring some faint hope she may be around a while. Each day she is getting stronger. As the seasons change, things change and she plants a garden harvesting full-grown vegetables, plans for long walks, and imagines herself sitting on her porch in the moonlight. She continues to feel a current of chill air and an intensity of a sudden gaze and someone watching.
With references to Gatsby and Daisy, (Gatsby who loved Daisy more than he loved himself), this pair, haunted by illness and a past, as new life in the wilderness sprouts everywhere, where Katherine learns everything is a gift. She is part of everything and everything is a part of her; how could she not have known this all along? They meet, and obsession becomes erotic, as these two troubled souls ignite; as they share their passion of books, companionship, tears, fears, and love. From darkness to light. can she make a place for him, with the danger lurking within his mind?
IN WILDERNESS is unique, haunting, and mesmerizing, and was reminded of my times in the North Georgia Mountains (not as remote as the novel). Talented Thomas writes eloquently, with a slow paced tale of engaging and lyrical prose, as she transports readers to another world away from technology and worldly possessions – only the raw emotions, beauty, and backdrop of nature.
This time in the sixties presents two illnesses, unrecognized at the time, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and environmental illness (EI), also known as multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS)—demonstrating effects of the lack of knowledge surrounding these illnesses.
I related to the novel in so many ways. I too have severe allergies and sensitivities to foods, additives, and environmental elements and chemicals. It has been a long haul with many doctors and over the past five years, have managed to control issues with foods and a strict vegan lifestyle.
On a personal note, an Atlanta resident for many years in the media, publishing, and advertising business, I spent many weekends in North Georgia Mountains, staying in remote Blue Ridge log cabins with hiking through the most beautiful mountains, as well as Highlands, NC.
I miss the lush greenery and trees, the stillness, and the solace of the mountains, as there is nothing like it. The deer outside your door each morning, endless weekends of hiking in the woods, waterfalls, the rustic surroundings, the crisp air, and the breathtaking mountain and lake views from a swing with a glass of wine and a good book, or by a roaring fire. I even lived in a log cabin in Big Canoe, GA, year-round, a beautiful resort, located in the foothills of North Georgia Appalachians, an hour north of Atlanta with over 8,000 acres of mountains.
(Even though I have the beauty of the ocean, in South Florida; however, my perfect world would be a log cabin and a beach cottage). Big Canoe also has a history; the Indians referred to the mountains and valleys as "The Enchanted Land." Something magical about this part of North Georgia attracts people to it.
Highly recommend IN WILDERNESS, and look forward to reading more from this gifted author!
Judith D. Collins Must Read Books
IN WILDERNESS, by Diane Thomas is an emotional and riveting literary fiction of illness, danger, obsession, and love, set in the North Georgia Mountains of two troubled souls igniting, for a compelling and moving thriller.
Katherine is a thirty-eight year old woman, a former successful professional of an advertising agency in Atlanta in the early sixties. Her life has been shattered by an undiagnosed disease and left with the message of dying. She throws away the pills, as she sees a rustic mountain cabin adjacent to a national forest, for sale in the North Georgia Mountains. She is thinking, what if?
She had dreams of a baby, a husband, a long life. She had not expected dying at such a relatively young age to be awkward, unseemly cause for embarrassment and shame. Death is about to come, as the doctors have given her six months.
As she makes preparations, she sells her controlling interest in the agency, and her house, telling everyone she is headed to California and buys the remote cabin without even seeing it, only pictures. She packs up the bare essentials and her gun and sets out to the wilderness to die in peace, alone. A perfect place to die. However, she is not alone in the mountains. Someone is watching her.
Danny, a 20-year-old Vietnam War vet has suffered with mental illness from Vietnam with PTSD. He too, has escaped to the wilderness to drown out the noise in his head and those around him. He has been here for two years, and now here is a woman intruding on his space. He lives in the woods, this is his home, as he has so much death inside himself, taking over his mind. He feels he is better in the woods with the wild animals.
Without the daily work, Katherine allows herself to keep a journal, possibly harboring some faint hope she may be around a while. Each day she is getting stronger. As the seasons change, things change and she plants a garden harvesting full-grown vegetables, plans for long walks, and imagines herself sitting on her porch in the moonlight. She continues to feel a current of chill air and an intensity of a sudden gaze and someone watching.
With references to Gatsby and Daisy, (Gatsby who loved Daisy more than he loved himself), this pair, haunted by illness and a past, as new life in the wilderness sprouts everywhere, where Katherine learns everything is a gift. She is part of everything and everything is a part of her; how could she not have known this all along? They meet, and obsession becomes erotic, as these two troubled souls ignite; as they share their passion of books, companionship, tears, fears, and love. From darkness to light. can she make a place for him, with the danger lurking within his mind?
IN WILDERNESS is unique, haunting, and mesmerizing, and was reminded of my times in the North Georgia Mountains (not as remote as the novel). Talented Thomas writes eloquently, with a slow paced tale of engaging and lyrical prose, as she transports readers to another world away from technology and worldly possessions – only the raw emotions, beauty, and backdrop of nature.
This time in the sixties presents two illnesses, unrecognized at the time, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and environmental illness (EI), also known as multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS)—demonstrating effects of the lack of knowledge surrounding these illnesses.
I related to the novel in so many ways. I too have severe allergies and sensitivities to foods, additives, and environmental elements and chemicals. It has been a long haul with many doctors and over the past five years, have managed to control issues with foods and a strict vegan lifestyle.
On a personal note, an Atlanta resident for many years in the media, publishing, and advertising business, I spent many weekends in North Georgia Mountains, staying in remote Blue Ridge log cabins with hiking through the most beautiful mountains, as well as Highlands, NC.
I miss the lush greenery and trees, the stillness, and the solace of the mountains, as there is nothing like it. The deer outside your door each morning, endless weekends of hiking in the woods, waterfalls, the rustic surroundings, the crisp air, and the breathtaking mountain and lake views from a swing with a glass of wine and a good book, or by a roaring fire. I even lived in a log cabin in Big Canoe, GA, year-round, a beautiful resort, located in the foothills of North Georgia Appalachians, an hour north of Atlanta with over 8,000 acres of mountains.
(Even though I have the beauty of the ocean, in South Florida; however, my perfect world would be a log cabin and a beach cottage). Big Canoe also has a history; the Indians referred to the mountains and valleys as "The Enchanted Land." Something magical about this part of North Georgia attracts people to it.
Highly recommend IN WILDERNESS, and look forward to reading more from this gifted author!
Judith D. Collins Must Read Books
May 4, 2015
3.0 out of 5 stars - Haunting, extremely disturbing, somewhat depressing -- I had to take a little time to get my thoughts ordered after finishing this one. The prose paints a very poignant picture of loneliness mashed up with near psychosis. The details of the wilderness and Katherine's isolation, along with her physical illness, made me anxious and fearful. I perceived Danny as a dangerous menace immediately, and willed him to stay away from her even as I knew she was emotionally needy given her history, and compelled to play her part in their mutually assured destructive relationship. This could never result in any "happily ever after" fairy tale ending.
After thinking about this book for two days, I find that there was much that just makes me uncomfortable. So many things happened to Katherine from opening to conclusion. The shifting point of view didn't help to clarify -- and unless you read the author's note at the back of the book, you might be perplexed. It was obvious what Danny's problem was, but I really had no clue about Katherine's illness. And to be honest, I didn't "like" either of the main characters in this book.
If you like to read long descriptive phrases about the woods, names of trees, flora, fauna, weather -- then you might like this more than I did. I'm not a wilderness type, so it didn't affect me in the way the author probably intended.
One main point to make in my review, this would make a great book for a book club discussion.
Thank you to Random House Publishing Group - Bantam Dell for the e-book ARC to review.
After thinking about this book for two days, I find that there was much that just makes me uncomfortable. So many things happened to Katherine from opening to conclusion. The shifting point of view didn't help to clarify -- and unless you read the author's note at the back of the book, you might be perplexed. It was obvious what Danny's problem was, but I really had no clue about Katherine's illness. And to be honest, I didn't "like" either of the main characters in this book.
If you like to read long descriptive phrases about the woods, names of trees, flora, fauna, weather -- then you might like this more than I did. I'm not a wilderness type, so it didn't affect me in the way the author probably intended.
One main point to make in my review, this would make a great book for a book club discussion.
Thank you to Random House Publishing Group - Bantam Dell for the e-book ARC to review.
March 10, 2015
In Wilderness by Diane Thomas is an intimate and atmospheric book of terminal illness, isolation, the stages of grief, and of love. Katherine Reid is given a terminal diagnosis in 1966 and moves to a cabin deep in the Appalachian Mountains. Her chosen cabin is remote, isolated, and has the bare essentials, surrounded by beauty she is allowed to grieve in her own way, but Diane is not alone. Vietnam veteran Danny lives in a grand mansion, known as the “Gatsby House”, in his own way is isolated and haunted, and stumbles across Katherine’s small cabin, where he begins to observe her, casually at first, but soon Danny is fixated on Katherine. Thomas writing flows beautifully, her characters and their deep feelings are well fleshed out and easily relatable to the reader. The writing is beautifully atmospheric and it is not difficult to imagine being in the cabin with Katherine or the mansion with Danny. I thoroughly enjoyed this deeply intense, dark, and emotionally charged book and would recommend it to those who enjoy excellent works of fiction and to discussion groups.
May 16, 2016
In Wilderness
Diane Thomas
Time: winter 1966
Setting: isolated wilderness in Georgia's Appalachian Mountains
"Told she is dying of the mysterious illness that plagues her, thirty-eight-year-old Katherine Reid moves to a remote cabin in the southern mountains to live out her last days.
But in this peaceful solitude, her life may still be in terrible danger: A damaged young man also lives in the forest, and he watches her every move." (publishers note)
Danny (20) is a PTSD veteran traumatized by experiences in Vietnam and life experiences thereafter.
We meet him existing in the wilderness in a near feral state.
I found at times I almost couldn't handle the intense, vivid, lyrical prose and the melange of vehement emotions.
But, I couldn't put this read down and I feel the story
will remain with me.
..heartbreaking...haunting...hypnotic
4.5 ★
Diane Thomas
Time: winter 1966
Setting: isolated wilderness in Georgia's Appalachian Mountains
"Told she is dying of the mysterious illness that plagues her, thirty-eight-year-old Katherine Reid moves to a remote cabin in the southern mountains to live out her last days.
But in this peaceful solitude, her life may still be in terrible danger: A damaged young man also lives in the forest, and he watches her every move." (publishers note)
Danny (20) is a PTSD veteran traumatized by experiences in Vietnam and life experiences thereafter.
We meet him existing in the wilderness in a near feral state.
I found at times I almost couldn't handle the intense, vivid, lyrical prose and the melange of vehement emotions.
But, I couldn't put this read down and I feel the story
will remain with me.
..heartbreaking...haunting...hypnotic
4.5 ★
June 29, 2015
This is such a beauty of a book. I finished it a couple of days ago and haven't even wanted to pick up another book yet as I wanted to stay with the thoughts of this book for a while. This may well be my favorite book of the year so far and I consider it a strong 5-star book.
Two lonely souls, Katherine and Danny, are each trying to heal from their individual hardships of life in this beautiful wilderness. The author does such a masterful job of bringing these two people to life and digs down deep into their hearts and minds. I was brought to tears throughout this story and was touched so often by the author's words. Her descriptions of the wilderness are pure poetry. The suspense is intense and the storyline is very unpredictable. The ending literally took my breath away.
It’s not a fast paced, action filled book but rather one that you can immerse yourself in. Slow and thought provoking, it will pull you in and not let go.
I loved too, all the references made to "The Great Gatsby" by Danny. He related to Gatsby and thought of the old derelict mansion where he lived and was attempting to fix up as Gatsby's house. He could envision all of the wild parties and lovely flappers who had danced the night away there once upon a time. Nice touch by the author.
I read that the author worked on this book for 30 years. I do hope that her next book will be written much quicker as I would love to read more of her work. She does have a previous book, the plot of which didn't sound as appealing to me but I will give it a try as her writing style is superb.
A beautifully written story of love, obsession, desire, tragedy and madness, which is most highly recommended. Don't miss this haunting tale. It’s truly unforgettable.
I won this book in a LibraryThing giveaway
Two lonely souls, Katherine and Danny, are each trying to heal from their individual hardships of life in this beautiful wilderness. The author does such a masterful job of bringing these two people to life and digs down deep into their hearts and minds. I was brought to tears throughout this story and was touched so often by the author's words. Her descriptions of the wilderness are pure poetry. The suspense is intense and the storyline is very unpredictable. The ending literally took my breath away.
It’s not a fast paced, action filled book but rather one that you can immerse yourself in. Slow and thought provoking, it will pull you in and not let go.
I loved too, all the references made to "The Great Gatsby" by Danny. He related to Gatsby and thought of the old derelict mansion where he lived and was attempting to fix up as Gatsby's house. He could envision all of the wild parties and lovely flappers who had danced the night away there once upon a time. Nice touch by the author.
I read that the author worked on this book for 30 years. I do hope that her next book will be written much quicker as I would love to read more of her work. She does have a previous book, the plot of which didn't sound as appealing to me but I will give it a try as her writing style is superb.
A beautifully written story of love, obsession, desire, tragedy and madness, which is most highly recommended. Don't miss this haunting tale. It’s truly unforgettable.
I won this book in a LibraryThing giveaway
April 16, 2015
Absolute 5 star read for me.
This book promised something out of the ordinary and boy did it deliver.
After turning the last page I sat and wondered how I would write a review that could convey all that I was feeling. Instead I just started typing the words that came to mind -
haunting
touching
emotive
descriptive
thought-provoking
gripping
at times terrifying
gut wrenching
poetic
moving
crescendo
masterful in setting the scenes
kept me off balance and on my toes
tear jerking
raw
animalistic
wild
laid bare
heart wide open
not your usual love story
It is a book that will stay with me for a long time.
I co-read this with my friend Lola over at Scandalicious Book Reviews and we posted a book chat. Go here to read more on our thoughts about this great book
copy kindly provided by the publisher and Netgalley
This book promised something out of the ordinary and boy did it deliver.
After turning the last page I sat and wondered how I would write a review that could convey all that I was feeling. Instead I just started typing the words that came to mind -
haunting
touching
emotive
descriptive
thought-provoking
gripping
at times terrifying
gut wrenching
poetic
moving
crescendo
masterful in setting the scenes
kept me off balance and on my toes
tear jerking
raw
animalistic
wild
laid bare
heart wide open
not your usual love story
It is a book that will stay with me for a long time.
I co-read this with my friend Lola over at Scandalicious Book Reviews and we posted a book chat. Go here to read more on our thoughts about this great book
copy kindly provided by the publisher and Netgalley
July 17, 2015
This book is definitely not a beautiful love story. I'd say a sick obsession that borders on creepiness and insanity! The two main characters take love and loneliness to another level. The doctors tell Katherine Reid that she is dying. She decides to wait for death in the wilderness of the Appalachian Mountains. Danny, a Vietnam vet with PSTD, watches her from afar. He becomes obsessed and has to have her. When these two lost souls meet the story explodes into destructive passion and twisted desire. I was totally sucked up into the story which made me feel anxious and a little fearful as to what was going to happen next. I'm a little drained now and probably should read a lighter book that will make me laugh. This book was well written, haunting, and at times touching. I didn't much care for the ending but after thinking about it perhaps it was for the best. :) I won In Wilderness from LibraryThing. I'm giving it 4 stars for its psychological intrigue. I won't forget this one!
June 18, 2016
Creepy. I really didn't like the first half of the book but something made me keep reading it. Pretty disturbing look at 2 people who have psychological problems. Danny is a war veteran with PTSD and Katherine has environmental illness. They end up meeting and have a very disturbing relationship with each other. Like I said before creepy. The second half of the book is better because there is more interaction between the two characters and you want to find out what happens next.
April 25, 2015
Great story~ Fever pitch~ Evocative like a dream, like a nightmare~ Psychological intrigue~ Celebration of Nature~ Intensive self-discovery~ Empowering parable~ Beautifully written~ Favorite 2015!
November 16, 2015
Weird. Creepy and unsettling ... but I couldn't put it down. I SO want to talk to SOMEONE about this book.
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