Early in the 1900s Charlotte Bridger Drummond, a thoroughly modern woman & a writer of popular women's adventures, sets out with a search party to rescue a lost child in the wilderness between Oregon & Washington.In the beginning, Wild Life is written in a dense & informative narrative style, reminiscent of the literature of that era & Molly Gloss has captured the transformation of a self-assured pioneer woman, confident in her knowledge of the local flora & fauna, until she becomes separated from the search party.
Then Wild Life changes to short entries of despair & longer ones when the observer, the scientist in Charlotte, overtakes the pampered housewife.
When Charlotte wanders into the territory of band of elusive, seemingly human creatures & is accepted as part of their extended family, she must re-think her modern, patronizing opinion of wild animals & learn the secrets to a contented life. Then the unthinkable happens: a battle between modern men & the wild creatures she has befriended & suddenly all the layers of that revered civilization are peeled away.
Wild Life is both a joy & a labor, a remarkably absorbing, thought-provoking & endearing read. Do check out my site for my full review.
