“Deep and Wild – On Mountains, Opossums & Finding Your Way in West Virginia”

By M. Lynne Squires

To read a book about your home state is a bit like playing the lottery. You hope you hit big instead of suffering buyer’s remorse. Reading Deep and Wild – On Mountains, Opossums & Finding Your Way in West Virginia is like having the winning ticket, plus the multiplier. Author Laura Jackson offers insights into West Virginia, combining humor and education in equal parts. Her words gently convey that perhaps you are wildly off base about what you thought you knew about this 35^th state.

For every misconception, Jackson provides an honest rebuttal. For every glaring drawback of this wild state, she provides a counterbalance. Even as it’s impossible to define West Virginia succinctly, Deep & Wild provides a path forward in understanding its history and people. An added bonus? Her writing is wildly funny. You will find yourself laughing your way through page after page.

What is it about opossums that they rate being in the cover art and title, and even her author photo? The black bear seems a more practical choice. After all, it is the state animal. Jackson’s affinity for the lowly opossum informs why the rest of us should take a closer look at it before we cast stones. Or waste a scintilla of care about one smushed into roadkill. Not the most adorable of critters by a country mile, they provide benefits that, for example, its marauding and far more appealing buddy, the raccoon, does. Eats ticks? Check. Eat a variety of things, including the trash humans leave behind? Check. From assisting in the prevention of the spread of Lyme disease to vacuuming the forest floor behind careless campers, opossums check so many boxes. Jackson elevates the opossum’s stature until you, too, believe it should be the official animal of the Appalachians.

Animals aside, there are many other facets of being in or from West Virginia that benefit from Jackson’s thoughtful observations. Among them are food, firearms, and festivals. Food festivals dot the landscape when winter breaks into spring. Celebrations of strawberries, walnuts, apples, ramps, and more draw crowds from across the state and beyond. If you are new to the idea of eating ramps or don’t even know what one is, you’ll learn more than you’d imagine within these pages.

Firearms are ubiquitous to West Virginians. Hunting is so revered that some schools schedule days off around deer hunting season. Even for those loathing the prospect of hunting, everyone is sure to know gun owners, even if it’s just a friend with an inherited 20-gauge shotgun. Guns don’t define West Virginians, but the fact there is one on the West Virginia flag is indicative of their longstanding presence as an integral part of the state’s story.

Even as outsiders maintain their preconceived notions about the state and its residents, this book will enlighten its readers. The misconceptions only serve to unite residents under a shared pride in their place. Jackson writes about the state’s poverty among its people and wealth of resources. Of both the shrinking population and growing opportunities for adventure seekers and the history inquisitive.

If Laura Jackson can tell us anything, it is how to appreciate West Virginia, one curvy backroad at a time.

Laura Jackson

Deep & Wild was selected as the 2024 Autumn House Nonfiction Prize winner.

Laura Jackson holds an MFA from Chatham University and regularly publishes in journals and magazines, including Wonderful West Virginia. She is a research writer for WVU, rescues homeless animals, and spends time with her sons on the mountains and in rivers.