Friday Freebie: "The Wilding" by Benjamin Percy

Congratulations to Naomi Mercer, the winner of last week's Friday Freebie: The Heroine's Bookshelf by Erin Blakemore.

By the way, I received an interesting mix of responses to last week's Friday Freebie question: Who is your favorite female character in a work of fiction (contemporary or classic)?  You responded with a wide range of Favorite Ladies (and Girls) including: Miss Jean Brodie from The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark, Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice, Anne Shirley of L. M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables, Jane Eyre, Calliope Stephanides from Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides, Lily Bart in Edith Wharton's House of Mirth, Louisa Datchett in Something Light by Margery Sharp, Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, and Scout Finch in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird.  Thanks to all who sent in their responses!

This week's giveaway is for a book you might have heard me mention once or twice on this blog.  Okay, okay, so you're all really sick of hearing me proselytize about Ben Percy's The Wilding, and I promise to shut my yap about Mr. Percy....at least for the rest of this month.  By now, I'm sure most of you have already trotted on down to your local independent bookstore and snatched a copy of the man vs. wilderness/son vs. father eco-thriller off the shelf and devoured it like a Scooby Snack, right?  For the few of you who haven't, in hopes that I would eventually offer it up as a Friday Freebie....well, your lucky day has come, my friend.

I've already pretty much exhausted my own review blurbs for this terrific novel here at The Quivering Pen, so I'll let my friend Jenny Shank offer the final critical word on The Wilding.  This is the concluding paragraph from Jenny's review at The Dallas Morning News:

Every scene in The Wilding is rife with tension, and before it ends, rumors of Bigfoot swirl, irate townsfolk menace, Karen faces temptation and danger, and a bear gives Jaws a run for his money.  The story of a man going into the woods and coming out changed is a classic narrative that has persisted from the time of ancient myth through Faulkner's "The Bear" and James Dickey's Deliverance.  The Wilding follows in this tradition and updates it with great skill.

If you'd like a chance at winning a copy of The Wilding, all you have to do is answer this question:

What was the best book you read in 2010?  (After yesterday's long post about my favorite picks, I realized I never let you have your say--so, here's your chance.  I'll post a list of the responses next week.)

Email your answer to thequiveringpen@gmail.com

Put FRIDAY FREEBIE in the e-mail subject line.  One entry per person, please.  Please e-mail me the answer, rather than posting it in the comments section.  The contest closes at midnight on Jan. 13, at which time I'll draw the winning name.  I'll announce the lucky reader on Jan. 14.