Deer Man: Seven Years of Living in the Wild
For readers ofFox & I comes "a fable very much for our time."--The TIMES
"Unusual and fascinating... Read this book and enter into another world."-- Jane Goodall
In this sensuous and moving memoir, a young man forms a powerful connection with deer while living alone in the woods for seven years.
Geoffroy Delorme does not fit in the human world. As a boy, he dreams of transforming into a fox so he can escape into the forest. As he gets older, he disappears into the woods at night, drawn to the rhythms of animal life. One night, an encounter with a deer changes his life: from then on, he knows he wants to live among them.
Delorme becomes a creature of the forest. He learns to live without a tent or sleeping bag and forage for whatever food he can find. He blends in with the deer and, slowly, they accept him into their world. He witnesses their births and deaths, courtship and battles, ostracism and friendship over the cycles of their lives. Among the deer, he experiences the beauty, pain, fear, and joy of a life lived as a part of nature, not separate from it.
In his final year in the forest, Delorme meets a woman walking through the trees. He knows he can stay in the forest and die with his friends--or he can leave, and speak their truth to a human world that desperately needs to hear it.
Deer Man is a moving story of what it's like to be an outsider and how forming connections with the natural world can help us feel less alone. A unique and powerful window into how far one human is willing to go to understand an animal, Deer Man asks us to never take for granted the flora and fauna of our world, and to work for their protection in whatever ways we can.
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Geoffroy Delorme is a nature photographer, writer, and deer expert. At the age of sixteen, he began visiting the roe deer near his home in northern France. Struggling under the weight of the human world's expectations, he left civilization behind at nineteen to live among them for seven years. When the deer's habitat was destroyed due to clear cutting, he left the forest. Now, he shares the insights he gained from them with the world.
"A poignant debut. ... Nature lovers will delight in these candid reflections."
--Publisher's Weekly STARRED Review "Deer Man is an absolutely enchanting book. With the eye of a scientist and the heart of a lover, Geoffroy Delorme takes us to another world that exists beside our own: not only the forest of northern France, but the umwelt of the roe deer who live here--who became, during his seven years among them, his chosen family and closest friends. Few other humans have achieved this level of intimacy with wild creatures. I am recommending this book to everyone I know."
--Sy Montgomery, author of The Soul of an Octopus and How to Be a Good Creature: A Memoir in 13 Animals "A story of extraordinary power and tenderness... Deer Man will change you."
--Charles Foster, author of Being a Beast "A delightful, moving read - and a quietly revolutionary one."
--The Guardian "A riveting read...remarkable and ultimately very moving"
--The Sunday Times "A tender and sensitive glimpse into a world that exists all around us but which we seldom see or even imagine."
--Carl Safina, author of Beyond Words and Becoming Wild "Geoffrey Delorme shows just how much we can learn from immersing ourselves inside the heads and hearts of these amazing beings... because of this powerful book I'll never again look at deer the same."
--Marc Bekoff, PhD, author of A Dog's World: Imagining the Lives of Dogs in a World Without Humans "Prepare yourself for a deeply immersive experience. You will be captivated to the surprising last page."
--Jeffrey Moussaief Masson, PhD, author of Lost Companions and When Elephants Weep "One of the most unusual and fascinating stories of human-animal relations I've ever encountered. Read this book and enter into another world."
--Jane Goodall, DBE, founder of the Jane Goodall Institute and UN Messenger of Peace "Deer Man takes nature writing to an entirely new level--Delorme doesn't merely observe the natural world, he becomes a part of it in the most committed way imaginable. This remarkable and passionately written book will forever alter the way you see the forest."
--Michael Finkel, New York Times bestselling author of The Stranger in the Woods
