148
2021
NORTH CAROLINA L I T E R A R Y RE V I E W
RESILIENCE AND CONNECTION a review by Kristina L. Knotts Rebecca Hodge. Wildland: A Novel. Crooked Lane Books, 2020.
KRISTINA KNOT TS has a PhD in English from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville and works as an Adjunct Professor in the English Department and as Assistant Director of the Banacos Academic Center and a Program Advisor in the Learning Disabilities at Westfield State University. She reviews regularly for NCLR. REBECCA HODGE lives and writes in Raleigh, NC. She’s also a clinical research scientist and veterinarian. Wildland is her first novel.
OPPOSITE Rebecca Hodge reading
at Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh, NC, 25 Feb. 2020
Set in the mountains of western North Carolina, Wildland by Rebecca Hodge is part character study and part action adventure. This debut novel reveals insight and a sensitivity about its characters, all of whom are experiencing transition of some kind in their lives. Wildland illustrates the qualities readers search for in literature, particularly empathy and the need for human connection. Along with the author’s careful building of relationships between characters, she creates a novel that bursts into an action adventure story as her characters fight for their lives to elude a fast-moving wildfire. At the start of the novel, the main character, Kat Jamison, a high school teacher from northern Virginia, has retreated to a cabin in the mountains to vacation in seclusion. Struggling with a return of breast cancer and widowed for two years, Kat seeks a month of “unbroken solitude” on the mountain to come to terms with her diagnosis and to be at peace with her decision not to pursue further treatment (29). The initial tension of the novel begins with Kat and her daughter, Sara, arguing about Kat’s decision to not seek medical intervention. Sara thinks her mother should resume treatment, while Kat considers herself “done with this battle” (5). Kat is a smart and caring woman but doubtful about her future, and the later events of the novel demonstrate
her capabilities, those known and unknown to her. Wildland features other characters, those vacationing near Kat, who are also adjusting to change in their lives. Scott Bradford is a single father who’s trying to reconnect with his preteen daughter, Lily, whom he seldom sees. Malcolm Lassiter is a war veteran and a new father to Nirav, a nine-year-old son he recently adopted from Pakistan. Before moving to the US with Malcolm, Nirav had barely survived a train wreck and fire that killed his parents. Two dogs also play important roles, and even they are in flux: Juni, a rescue Sara leaves with her, and Tye, an injured puppy Kat finds. While Kat is sometimes uncertain of her own abilities, Wildland features competent, capable female characters. Though they play minor roles, their characterizations are memorable. Early in the novel, we meet Dr. Lawrence, a veterinarian, who is both wise and empathetic, and during the forest fire we meet the helicopter pilot Lou who, along with her partner, Pete, shepherds Malcolm and Scott to search for their loved ones. These women’s strengths foreshadow what Kat must discover in herself. The novel’s two single fathers, Malcolm and Scott, couldn’t be more different, in terms of life experience and interpersonal skills. Malcolm has an adventurer background and