“Rich in insight, A Woman in the Wild is an engrossing story of desire, healing, and the limits of human knowledge. With mindful reflections upon the wilderness in the world and in our hearts, this tale of a psychologist in crisis is immediately and deeply captivating. A marvelous read.”
—Ethan Gallogly, author of The Trail: A Novel
“So-called wild men and women wander the forests of our sleep and our wakefulness, but we rarely let them in. Crawford does that for us, and the result is a revelation. If we let it, the wild part is our greatest teacher. This author never takes the easy path on the way to that healing . . .”
—Baltimore Sun
“. . . a gripping tale of trauma, transformation, and self-discovery.”
—Shelf Awareness
“Crawford weaves together beautiful prose, from descriptions of nature to otherworldly musings. . . . eloquently explores themes of forgiveness and healing.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“. . . an excellent new novel . . . A Woman in the Wild explores loss, regret, mortality, and other big questions.”
—The American Spectator
“Ultimately, A Woman in the Wild is a profound meditation on loss, the possibility of connection beyond words, and the difficult journey toward gratitude and acceptance of what cannot be changed.”
—BookPleasures.com
“Crawford resists a familiar—and often hollow—narrative: the idea that a woman’s suffering is resolved when the right man arrives. This is not that story. Thea’s progress depends not on being saved, but on her willingness to face what has broken, listen more honestly, and act with greater clarity—often in uncomfortable ways. That restraint is precisely what gives the novel its power.”
—The MAHA Report
“A Woman in The Wild shows how inspiring and healing the natural world can be. The retreat center where the main characters meet offers no prescription for healing other than a safe place to be and the nourishment of rest and reflection. I especially enjoyed the immense range and complexity of the characters’ inner lives as they actively engage the sensate world of the surrounding wilderness. As a psychologist myself, I was not only delighted and surprised with what Thea, the main character, discovers on her quest, I remain deeply inspired by the resounding truth of it!”
—Susan S. Scott, author of Healing with Nature
“A wonderfully original novel. The characters are unusual and engaging, especially the marvelously imagined wild man and the ever-hovering bear concealed in the wilderness. The precision and beauty of the language, together with the measured pace of the narration, allow the time and process required for inner development as well as for conversations and reflections on guilt, the making of amends, healing, loss, and death.”
—Inez Martinez, author of To Know the Moon and former general editor of the Jungian Journal for Scholarly Studies
Description
A Woman in the Wild is a revealing and memorable portrait of a woman boldly facing her demons in pursuit of a meaningful life.
A psychologist in crisis leaves her established practice in the city for an open-ended retreat in the mountains at the Institute for Healing and Transformation. Feeling lost, betrayed, and stricken by guilt not to have saved her daughter from sexual abuse, she hopes to find a new path to ease her pain and uncertainties.
Soon after her arrival, a “wild” man who roamed the forest with a bear is brought to the institute. When the man is given to her care, she performs a suspenseful balancing as she seeks to heal him as well as herself.
Hiking and meditating each day, she initiates an inner journey that shakes her free from the familiar. As the months pass, she engages her guilt and sorrow, confronts her failures, weighs the limits of therapy and self-forgiveness, and seeks to unleash the healing powers of the unconscious and of love.
Readers will find this an absorbing and dramatic novel of abuse, resilience, and the quest for transformation.
The Orpheus Trilogy by Tad Crawford probes the life dramas of people bound together by their struggles with loss, grief, guilt, forgiveness, love, and the search for healing. A Woman in the Wild is Book 2 of the trilogy. Book 1 is The Cave of Forever, which will be published in May 2027. The final novel is Book 3, The Mysterious Velocity of Love, which is scheduled for publication in May 2029.