Wildlife was published by Atlantic Monthly Press in 1990. The novel is brief (barely 180 pages) and confined: three days in Great Falls, Montana, in October 1960. Joe Brinson is sixteen. His father Jerry loses his job at a golf course and goes to fight a wildfire burning in the mountains. His mother Jeanette, left alone, begins an affair with an older man — and Joe watches, helpless, as his family destroys itself.
Ford tells the story from Joe’s retrospective viewpoint: an adult looking back at the three days when his childhood ended. The restraint is absolute — Ford refuses to melodramatize. Jerry’s departure is not heroic but desperate (he needs the fire-fighting wages). Jeanette’s affair is not passionate but lonely (she is terrified of abandonment and grasps at the nearest available man). Joe’s observation is not wise but bewildered — he can see what is happening but cannot understand or prevent it.
The wildfire burning in the mountains provides the novel’s central metaphor (the family is burning too) without Ford ever making the parallel explicit. The Montana landscape — the dry autumn, the smoke-hazed sky, the distant glow of the fire at night — creates an atmosphere of impending disaster that matches the domestic crisis. The novel’s power lies in its compression: everything inessential has been removed, leaving only the essential actions and the silence between them.
Collecting Wildlife
First edition (Atlantic Monthly Press, New York, 1990): Cloth with dust jacket.
Market values:
- First edition, fine/fine: $30–$75
- Very good: $15–$30
Projected values (2026–2036): Moderate appreciation.
A Family Coming Apart
Wildlife (1990) is Ford’s most compressed novel — a spare, devastating account of a sixteen-year-old boy watching his parents’ marriage disintegrate over a few days in Great Falls, Montana, during a 1960 forest fire season. The father leaves to fight fires; the mother begins an affair. Ford strips the prose to essentials, and the result is a small masterpiece of restraint. Paul Dano adapted it into a well-received film (2018) starring Carey Mulligan and Jake Gyllenhaal.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does the film compare? Paul Dano’s 2018 adaptation is remarkably faithful, preserving the novel’s spare tone and period setting. The film raised interest in the book and modestly increased first edition prices.