A woman in the wild, poised to begin a new career yet holding on to an innate longing for solitude, meets a wild creature who seems to understand and communicate with her. This is the fascinating premise of FOX AND I, Catherine Raven’s profoundly touching memoir.

Raven meets Fox when the author, who is almost totally content in her mountain cottage perilously far from ordinary goods, services and human contact, realizes that this unusual guest has chosen to visit her, not only every day, but at a specific time: 4:15 in the afternoon. How this can be, and why it matters, becomes her focus. With a Ph.D. in biology, she would seem poised for a successful, even brilliant career in science, and much of her story captures that aspect of her vision.

"Anyone who has ever wished to live in direct contact with nature and its many forces and faces will appreciate Raven’s recollections, and perhaps be tempted to embark now on that outward --- and inner --- journey."

But further layers are revealed. She left home as a troubled teen, feeling rejected in the normal world of family and friendships. Work as a National Park Service ranger outfitted her for existence in a remote plot of land in Montana. There she encounters Fox, a red-furred denizen of the local realm. Since he is regular in his habit and seems to want to stay a while each day, she begins reading to him --- first from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s classic, THE LITTLE PRINCE, and later from Dr. Seuss’ HORTON HEARS A WHO!

Raven comes to an understanding: Fox is not and never will be a pet, but from him she can learn how to experience the animal kingdom --- not as huntress or self-appointed organizer, but as a harmonious inhabitant. Battling freezing cold and the ravages of forest fires, her relationship with her visitor includes contact with litters of fox kits, observation of his attitude toward other, larger animals, and a poignant visit to his lair where she finds little purloined scraps of her own lair arrayed. 

After Raven and Fox are separated, her life changes, as she avows that “I have to act like him…he wanted connections. He wanted to matter.” So she will turn toward a fresh, more outward-looking perspective. FOX AND I is infused with classical references, botanical, biological and geological explorations, and deep intellectual and emotional theorizing about her time in the wilderness and her remarkable contact with Fox.

Anyone who has ever wished to live in direct contact with nature and its many forces and faces will appreciate Raven’s recollections, and perhaps be tempted to embark now on that outward --- and inner --- journey.