WILDLAND

March - Wildland by Rebecca Hodge.

I attended a writing class with Rebecca Hodge on Sullivan’s Island, so I was eager to get my hands on her debut novel when it came out in February.

I whipped through the pages like the wildfire that ripped through the parched North Carolina mountains.

Three rental homes bring together Kat, Malcolm and his son Nirav, Scott and his daughter Lily.

Kat’s plan was to getaway to the mountains for a quiet retreat to contemplate her options for treating, or not treating, the recurrence of her cancer. Nothing goes the way she planned. She’s not even unpacked before she is confronted with neighbors, their children, a surprise visit from her daughter and dogs. Kat is not a dog person. She’s not really an outdoorsy person either.

But when the wildfire cuts off the only road out and Kat is trapped with the two children and two dogs, she learns that she is more capable than she ever imagined and stronger than she knew. Through the decisions, setbacks, and rescue attempts by the neighbors, we learn that our biases toward others and our beliefs about ourselves, our strengths and our weaknesses don’t rule the outcome.

Wildland gives us characters we love and one’s we might root for even when they aren’t the most loveable. And when Kat and the children, the rescuers and the dispatcher panic, we turn the pages with the same sense of urgency. You can feel the heat and smell the smoke in this survival story.