Wolf Tree: An Ecopsychological Memoir In Essays

by Heather Durham

In this memoir-in-essays, Durham melds her backgrounds in psychology and ecology to examine her relationships with resonant landscapes, animals, and human animals, and the myriad environmental, physiological, and cultural factors that inform those relationships. In lyric or more traditional personal essays, linear narratives or meandering musings, each exploration builds on the one before, quilting together a patchwork terrain of ruminations, insights, and ever more questions that comprise the examined life of an earthling.

Free-ranging with a pack of feral children on a suburban Connecticut farm; communing with water in the churning seas of the Atlantic, then Pacific, in New England lakes and Pacific Northwest rivers; stalking fire in sunshine, flames, and blood; learning the language of the birds; digging for roots and carving spoons; feeding raccoons, ravens, and ultimately herself; tracking bears, wolves and a gang of wild humans; Durham follows threads of consciousness, solitude vs. escapism, ecophysiology, spirituality, mental health, and the difficulties and rewards of connecting with all those outside our own skins. Wolf Tree invites readers on an intimate journey deep into the quiet heart of an interior landscape on a path that ultimately leads back to the vibrant richness of external communities.

Genres: Memoir

320 pages, Paperback

Published April 5, 2022

About the author

Heather Durham is a naturalist and contemplative writer exploring the science and mystery of internal and external landscapes, seeking meaning and solace as a feral human in the more-than-human world. Her first memoir, Going Feral, was selected as a Next Generation Indie Book Awards Finalist in Nature Writing, and her second collection, Wolf Tree, won a Nautilus Gold Award for Memoir in Essays. Sylvan Crone is her third memoir-in-essays, deepening into midlife existential questions and discovering new insights in the realms of folklore, feminism, ecophysiology, mental illness, and mysticism.

Heather holds degrees in psychology, ecology, and creative nonfiction, and lives, writes, works, and plays on the traditional lands of Coast Salish tribes in Washington state.

Reviews

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

An incredible second work by Heather Durham that is chock full of incredible nature moments and insightful pondering about human nature. These thoughtful pieces of memoir and introspection allow the reader to step into the shoes (or paw prints) of others and learn from the more-than-human world.

[Melissa Hart · Rating 5 out of 5]

The essays in Heather Durham’s newest collection shock like a leap into an alpine lake and soothe like a sunset witnessed solo on a mountaintop. Here are meditations on the challenges of being hyper-sensitive in an aggressively fast-paced world along with observations on how those struggling with social anxiety can find solace outdoors. Here are stories of a young person grappling with relationships—familial and romantic—and finding noble, satisfying work among the trees.

Durham’s candid, uncompromising stories demand self-reflection—a tallying of my own decades of anxieties, fears, and passions--and inspire a deep desire to take to the woods and to the water, so that I may renew my relationships with the non-human creatures around me.

--Melissa Hart, author of Avenging the Owl and Daisy Woodworm Changes the World

[Chris LaTray · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of those books I can pick up and open to any part of and I'm guaranteed to read something that blows my mind with how beautiful and smart it is, even if I've read the passage before. In a genre so clogged with pseudo-earnest white dudes writing the same book over and over and passing them around in a relentless circle jerk, people like Heather Durham should be getting way, way more attention, and it pisses me off that she isn't.

[Alyson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved the form of this memoir. Just a glorious read for the loners who love the woods and prefer trees to humans. Read while taking breaks from sewing and listening to the rain, wind, and dog snores on my glorious two days off from dealing with extroverts.

Some quotes I highlighted:
"Like the early days of television when the broadcasts ended for the day and all twelve channels turned to static fuzz."

"Where can one go, in the presence of other people, where quiet is expected?"

[Jacqueline Haskins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heather seamlessly enters the greater-than-human world through the doorway of her own self, memories, senses, and adventures. You will follow tracks in snow, dive deep underwater, wander, wonder, laugh, and sometimes weep. Go on this grand adventure with Heather, you'll be so grateful you did!

[Kenzie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book! I finally had the time to sit down and read it all. I go to heather’s bird language class monthly, she’s an amazing human! It was neat to learn about what has made her how she is.

[Iris Graville · Rating 5 out of 5]

These essays both transport and connect me to the seasons, landscapes, and animals of all kinds that nourish and challenge me. Much beauty, wonder, and insight fill these pages. Durham's lyric writing is a balm, and these short pieces are the perfect accompaniment to times of reflection.