ELK LOVE

A woman’s new life in the western United States begets romance and a welcome sense of connection in O’Connor’s memoir.

After spending seven years in Atlanta curating folk art exhibitions, the author took a job as a museum director in Great Falls, Montana. She was already enamored with Montana, having spent ten summers on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation for doctoral fieldwork. She had long studied and appreciated Indigenous cultures, a passion stemming from her yearning “to feel more connected”; the opportunity for such a connection unexpectedly popped up when she met a cattle rancher, Harrison O’Connor, to discuss taking a seat on the museum’s board. While the widower’s cheekiness took some getting used to, he proved to be a dependable and trustworthy person. The author grew closer not only to Harrison but also to nature as the pair hunted and fished, bonding over local wildlife and the animals living on Harrison’s ranch. Each of the two had suffered tragedies and hardships in their pasts, but their future was an exciting prospect that they could shape together. As a writer, O’Connor makes this autobiography genuinely engaging; her meet-cute with Harrison involved a car accident. The couple’s fascinating backstories could have filled their own books—the author suffered a frightening, painful illness for two years in Atlanta; Harrison’s mother and CIA agent father had terrifying fights (one involving a can opener). The bulk of this memoir, however, consists of quiet scenes of the couple together as they track elk, tackle daily ranch chores, or simply bask in Montana’s bountiful landscape. O’Connor also showcases Indigenous customs that she’s seen or experienced in her studies and work. All of this material is conveyed by the author’s exceptional prose, describing such springtime sights as “mountain golden peas and arrowleaf balsamroot, flowering wild currants and cream-colored chokecherry blossoms that smell of sweet almonds.”

A superbly written true story of love and self-discovery.