Reviving Artemis - by Deborah Lee Luskin (Paperback)

About the Book

At sixty, longtime writer, gardener, and teacher Luskin feels a wild new calling: to leave the safety of her garden and learn to hunt deer, choosing to age on her own fierce terms.

Book Synopsis

FINDING A PLACE IN THE NATURAL WORLD AS A HUNTRESS

After thirty years cultivating fruits and vegetables, raising children, and teaching literature, Deborah Lee Luskin stepped out of her garden and into the forest. At sixty, it was time to age fiercely, overcome her suburban fear of getting lost in the woods and her urban reliance on street signs to know where she was. She wanted to forge her own path through the forest by following the deer. A dedicated locavore, Luskin didn't want just to read the landscape, she also wanted to eat it.

Luskin overcame her ambivalence about guns as she gained a deeper understanding of the hunter's role in the ecosystem of the northern forest. Her literary acumen helped her read the landscape and-as thoughtfully as she hunts for words--to hunt for deer. With the stories of Artemis, goddess of the hunt, childbirth, and wild nature to inspire her, Deborah became a deer hunter. Reviving Artemis is her story of finding her place in the natural world.

Review Quotes

"This engaging memoir follows the trail of how hunting deer grounded a woman more strongly in her community, the forest, and herself-truly a joy to read." --Tom Wessels, author of Reading the Forested Landscape

"Reviving Artemis is so much more than a story about a woman learning to hunt; it's a story about following your heart, finding your passion, challenging your fears, and building confidence. It's a story about growth and believing and trusting in yourself." --Judy Camuso, Commissioner of the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife

"On its surface, Reviving Artemis is about becoming a deer hunter, but in its heart it is so much more: an honest, tender and engaging story about building relationship with land and community, about conservation, about reciprocity and responsibility, about death and change, about choosing to step bravely and humbly into the unknown." --Ethan Tapper, forester, digital creator and the bestselling author of How to Love a Forest: The Bittersweet Work of Tending a Changing World

"Luskin's writing tracks like a hunt: moments of exhilarating poignancy interspersed with quietly sublime reflection. Her ability to relate the feeling and experience of the woods--especially from the perspective of a new hunter--is remarkable." --Lou Tamposi, Cow We Doin' (Substack)

"Hunting stories are as old as recorded time. Mostly told by men. Reviving Artemis is a woman's story through and through with a lot to say to all of us. Deborah Luskin is an honest and self-aware writer with a keen sense of language." --Tom Bodett, author, storyteller, voice actor, woodworker

"Deborah Lee Luskin is an important voice for women who take up hunting as adults. As she spins her story, she comes face to face with mortality, past pain, gender, and the conundrums that come any time we begin to truly engage with the sources of our own lives." --Erika Hawsare, author of The Age of Deer

"I found the book to be a delight to read and the title is perfect! It's the story of a woman's evolution into the world of not only sustenance hunting but the culture of hunting." --Kelly Price, Vermont State Game Warden, retired

"In Reviving Artemis, Deborah Lee Luskin answers the call to enter the woods with courage and perseverance, starting a new chapter in her life. Like Artemis, Luskin becomes a protector of wild nature, and she understands the deep interconnectivity between her personal life, the forest, and her community." --Jesse C. McEntee, Next Adventure (Substack)

"Luskin's insights are not just limited to the woods. With a sharp intellect, she opens new doors of awareness about community and connectedness." --Kate Troll is an Alaskan adventurer, columnist and author of All in Due Time: A Memoir of Siblings, Genealogy, Secrets and Love