Story Circle Network
Austin Chapter
Reader's Guide

November 1999
Woodswoman

Woodswoman
by Anne LaBastille

  1. Reconstruct the timeline of the book. What period of time does it cover? Approximately how old was Anne when she wrote it?

  2. Anne faced many challenges in becoming a woodswoman in the Adirondacks. Name some. How did she meet these challenges? Does her choice of lifestyle appeal to you? Explain.

  3. Anne said that the trees were her "close and constant companions" (p.43). Why did she feel this way -- in what ways did she relate to trees? Do you have something in your life that gives you that kind of feeling of communion or attunement?

  4. She mentioned numerous times the phrase "forever wild" (p.21), as it related to Adirondack Park. In what ways do you think she did (and did NOT) adopt a "forever wild" credo/lifestyle for both herself and her land? What compromises did she make, and were they ones that you would feel comfortable with?

  5. Anne's love of her self-imposed isolation in the country and her vehement dislike of life in the city come across loud and clear. Yet she learned both positive and negative things about both. Cite one or two.

  6. Anne had "three rules for a full, good life...work, health, and love" (p.243). What do you think about these rules? Are there others you would add? Do you think that she lived by these rules?

  7. At the end of the book, how well do you feel you know Anne? Is she holding back part(s) of herself? Do you think she is a deeply spiritual person? Compare Anne's Woodswoman to Alix Kates Shulman's Drinking the Rain and Terry Tempest Williams' Refuge in this respect.