By Diane Thomas
ISBN: 9780804176958
Publisher: Random House- Bantam
Publication Date: 3/3/2015
Format: Hardcover
My Rating: 4 Stars *Book Giveaway Contest**
May 1-10, 2015 (Closed)
Winners Announced Summary
For readers of Amanda Coplin and Chris Bohjalian, In Wilderness is a suspenseful and literary love story, aa 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 a Gatsby 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 Thomasâs 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.
Enter a Book Giveaway Contest!
For a chance to win a complimentary copy of
IN WILDERNESS by Diane Thomas
ENTER HERE May 1-10, 2015 (closed)
Congrats to the five winners:
Burma Turner
Joe Ewing
Tennille McBride
Kim Mitchell
Barbara Urban
Thank you, to all the participants.
Stay tuned for the next upcoming book giveaway
contest, coming soon!
Praise
“A harrowing exploration of desire and obsession, In Wilderness sends two people into a physical and psychological wilderness that becomes stranger and more terrifying the deeper they go.”—Christina Baker Kline, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Orphan Train
“Not my usual thing, which makes me say it all the louder: I love, love, love this book—the fearless and unflinching story of two extraordinary, vivid people alone in a vast pristine wilderness, told with genuine suspense and a wonderfully empowering ending. In Wilderness is altogether spectacular.”—Lee Child, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Personal
“[Diane] Thomas writes hauntingly of obsession and survival in this dark, unusual love story. . . . As the author moves her characters through the seasons of 1966, 1967, and 1968, she offers a deep and unforgettable look into how tragedy and madness can shape lives. Written from the points of view of two suffering people, the story takes on an almost surreal, lyrical quality. Riveting and raw.”—Publishers Weekly
“Unforgettable: a mad, haunting, dreamlike story of love, obsession, and wildness . . . Diane Thomas mixes elegant prose with raw emotion.”—William Landay, New York Times bestselling author of Defending Jacob
About the Author
A Georgia resident since she was a toddler, Diane graduated from Georgia State University and holds an MFA from Columbia University. She began her writing career as a reporter for The Atlanta Constitution newspaper (now part of the AJC) and soon became its entertainment editor.
This new position allowed her to spend her working hours viewing and passing judgement on local and touring theater productions, reviewing such iconic films as "Bonnie and Clyde" and "Blow-UP," and interviewing a list of celebrities that ranged from directors Alfred Hitchcock, Robert Altman and Elia Kazan to actors Susan Hayward, Carol Channing and Michael Caine. She later joined Atlanta, then a pioneering and controversial city magazine, which she left after several years to become a freelance writer. She is married to Bill Osher, a retired educational psychologist and university administrator.
Diane Thomas is the author of the critically acclaimed novel The Year the Music Changed. A lifelong resident of Atlanta and the Georgia mountains and part-time resident of the Florida panhandle, she now lives in New Mexico. Website Twitter Goodreads
My Review
A special thank you to Random House- 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. 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!
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