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Shop nowFox and I
An Uncommon Friendship
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Narrator
Stacey Glemboski
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Length
10 hours 22 minutes
Language
English
Bookseller recommendation
“On the surface, this is a story about a woman befriending a fox, which is in and of itself remarkable enough, but it is also a powerful meditation on nature, living in the world with and without people, as well as the power of literature.”
— Cody Morrison • Square Books
WINNER of the 2022 E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing PEN America Award
A solitary woman’s inspiring, moving, surprising, and often funny memoir about the transformative power of her unusual friendship with a wild fox, a new window into the natural world, and the introduction of a remarkable literary talent.
Catherine Raven left home at fifteen, fleeing an abusive, disdainful father and an indifferent mother. More comfortable in nature than among people, she worked as a National Park ranger, eventually earning a PhD in biology. She built a house on an isolated plot of land in Montana, teaching remotely and leading field classes. One day, she realized that the mangy-looking fox who had been appearing on her property was now showing up every day at 4:15 p.m. She had never had a regular visitor before. How do you even talk to a fox? So, she brought out her camping chair, sat as close to him as she dared, and began reading to him from The Little Prince. Her scientific training had taught her not to anthropomorphize animals, but as she grew to know him, his personality revealed itself—and he became her friend.
But friends cannot always save each other from the uncontained forces of nature. Fox and I is a poignant and dramatic tale of friendship, transformation, and coping with inevitable loss—and of how that loss can become meaningful. It is also the introduction of an original, imaginative, stunning literary voice.
CATHERINE RAVEN received her Ph.D. in biology from Montana State University and is a former National Park Ranger at Glacier, Mount Rainier, North Cascades, Voyagers, and Yellowstone National Parks. Her natural history essays have appeared in American Scientist, Journal of American Mensa, and Montana Magazine; and her textbook, Forestry: The Green World, was published by Chelsea House. A member of American Mensa and Sigma Xi, she is currently an Assistant Program Director and Professor at South University in Savannah, Georgia.
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Reviews
WINNER of the 2022 E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing PEN America AwardPraise for Fox and I:
One of Fredricksburg Free Lance Star’s “[A]nimal tales for adults”
“If Thoreau had read The Little Prince, he would have written Fox and I.”
—Yann Martel, author of Life of Pi
“[A] book that everyone will be talking about . . . [A] real-life friendship that mirrors the one between Saint-Exupéry’s Little Prince and his fox, full of tenderness and understanding.”
―The New York Times
“In this quiet, charming memoir, Raven recounts her journey to accepting this unusual companion . . . Throughout, Raven writes about her environment with wonder and reverence but never formality―it’s the easy affection of someone who’s long made family of the natural world.”
―BuzzFeed News
"It’s a familiar story arc: human becomes best friends with a wild animal and life lessons are learned. Yet in biologist and former Glacier National Park ranger Catherine Raven’s hands, the story―of isolation and tender friendship with a wild fox―feels new . . . Her memoir reminds us that connection to the natural world comes in many forms.”
―Time Magazine
"A heartfelt meditation on the power of nature and atouching homage to a beloved wild friend."
—Kirkus
“[An] offbeat and charming memoir . . . Along with reverently describing her furry friend―who had a ‘face so innocent that you would have concluded that he never stalked a bluebird, let alone dismembered one’―Raven writes poetically about the flora (“my sun-worshipping tenants”) and fauna around her. Rich and meditative, Raven’s musings on nature and solitude are delightful company.”
―Publishers Weekly
“Fox and I will make you feel deeply about our relationship with animals and nature. After you read this book, you will experience animals in a new and marvelous way.”
—Temple Grandin, author of Animals in Translation
"Ms. Raven’s book, mysterious and magical, is an abiding invitation."
— The Wall Street Journal
"The observations of high-desert nature―of wildlife, plants, landscapes, weather―in this book are some of the best you will ever read. The story of Catherine Raven and the fox's friendship charmed me and drew me in completely.”
―Ian Frazier, author of Great Plains
“Intimate and poetic …. By paying ecstatic attention to grasses, insects, birds, and animals, Catherine Raven allows us to hear what nature is saying to us. Fox and I is essential reading for anyone concerned about the catastrophe human beings are inflicting on the environment from which they and all other creatures sprang.”
—Stephen Batchelor, author of The Art of Solitude
“This tale of wilderness, in the tradition of Thoreau and Steinbeck, is distinguished by a narrator who sees herself as one of the many creatures she lives among …. Catherine Raven has achieved something unique in the literature of nature-writing: genuine love for the wild within the rigor of scientific observation. The voice of this story-teller is startlingly original. I read it breathlessly.”
— Andrei Codrescu
“Fox and I is a mesmerizing, beautifully written, and entirely unsentimental book about the connection among all things: the author and her fox friend, but also magpies, brown dogs, fawns, voles, and junipers. I learned as much about the meaning of friendship from this book as I have from any work of nonfiction that I’ve ever read.”
—Will Schwalbe, author of The End of Your Life Book Club
“Fox and I is a beautiful story of friendship and solitude and the realities of the wilderness. . . . [A] book for those who are looking to reflect on our interconnectedness with nature. [Raven’s] writing about the wilderness made me want to be out there. It made me want to be alone and quiet and observing.”
—CPR News
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