Morag is a 15-year old girl in Scotland who climbed on a bus to escape her neglectful childhood and the series of unpleasant foster homes that followed it. Her destination: some beautiful, remote mountains beyond a small village, as depicted in a photograph she clipped from a newspaper. This photo is her "happy place," something she looks at to daydream when life gets to be too much. She doesn't have much of a plan, and due only to some extraordinary luck, she manages to not die within a few days.

She gets set up in a cave, abducts a couple of feral goats, and steals some things from nearby farmhouses in order to get herself going. And at first, living in the wilderness is good for Morag - being alone with nothing to do but take care of her own needs gives her a measure of peace that she never had in her previous life. (Side note: it wasn't pointedly addressed, but there was something off about Morag's mental state. Maybe just a case of ADD combined with an unstable family life, maybe something more.)

After a while, though, loneliness and boredom begin to set in. Also, the superstitious rural townfolk have compared notes about things going missing from their homes and yards, and think that some sort of demon is responsible. What will happen to Morag? Spoiler alert: nothing good.

This book made me feel things. It was a darker take on the same themes as Island of the Blue Dolphins, although the heroine of that book, better prepared, lasted 18 years instead of nine months. I know A Wild Thing has a sad ending, but I still got a deep feeling of peace reading about this young girl who goes weeks and months without encountering another living soul. It's the sort of thing that sometimes sounds very appealing to me, usually when I'm getting especially tired of having my boyfriend's obnoxious cat around all the time. It's not something I ever seriously consider, but I would seriously consider rereading this once every few years when I want to feel that sweet, sweet solitude. ( )