The Wolf, the Woman, the Wilderness: A True Story of Returning Home
Teresa tsimmu Martino
This book is a fascinating and true story of a wolf’s return to the wilderness of her grand[arents, and the woman who helped her.
Paperback Original ISBN 978-0939165-29-2
156 Pages, $14.95
Includes Photos & Author’s Illustrations
The Wolf, the Woman, the Wilderness, is a story that Library Journal reviewer Vicki L. Toy Smith compared to Born Free, Joy Adamson’s tale of a lion cub, Martino tells how she helped raise a wolf and successfully reintroduced it into the wild.
In 1991, Teresa tsimmu Martino helped a young gray wolf, McKenzie, return to her homeland in the northern mountains of the Pacific Northwest. Martino had rescued her from captivity as a pup and decided to keep her wild with minimal human contact.
As the two made their journey back to the wolf’s homeland, which took months to accomplish, Martino underwent her own personal transformation. She discovered the richness and strength of her mixed-blood ancestry—Osage and Italian. Martino’s roots, particularly as Osage, guided her in the dangerous and unpredictable journey of returning Mckenzie. On the journey, Martino found her own wildness.
In this memoir, Martino also includes some of her poetry and line drawings that help illustrate this adventure story of both body and soul. As Martino writes in the introduction to her story:
I know a wolf. She was born captive in the northern mountains, but her grandparents were free. I taught the wolf to return to her people. For a year we traveled between my cabin and the northern wilderness. And in that time, I returned to my people. The circle comes around, and the wolf became my guide. Now, my eyes are bright gold like the wolf’s, my pupils narrow to a pin prick.
The animals can speak. The wild has not lost her voice, she is calling us. Her voice is in the howling of wolves. And the wolves say, Come home.
Praise
In a work reminiscent of Joy Adamson's Born Free, poet and short story writer Martino, part Osage and part Scotch-Irish, writes about raising a gray wolf and returning it to the wilderness. She reflects thoughtfully on humans living with wild animals: "The idea of forever is guarded not by hard walls but by a thin film that, when it pops, you will spill out and mix with eternity."
In her attempt to share her thoughts on freedom, she describes her feeling about fences, how science fails humans, and being Native American. She also explores the ways in which human beings deal with wild animals and nature. What matters to her are such basic values as loyalty, wildness, and the philosophy of not "bearing" arms. "Why do we fear wildness?" she asks. "Is it because it takes away our dominion over all? I must die of something and I prefer a few seconds of terror to a slow death of spirit." This is an affecting narrative; for appropriate collections.
About The Author
Teresa tsimmu Martino is the daughter of a first-generation Italian American father and a mother of Osage and Scots-Irish descent. Her middle name, tsimmu, was given to her by a Native American man from her childhood. It is derived from the Yumi word that means “dreams of a wolf.”
For years, she has lived on an island in the Pacific Northwest where she has written books, created art, and worked as a horse trainer. She also founded a nonprofit horse and wildlife sanctuary, WolfTown!
NewSage Press has also published Martino’s book, Horse Nation: True Stories About Horses and People, and Dancer on the Grass (no longer available).
