Once There Were Wolves
Once There Were Wolves
By Charlotte McConaghy
This was yet another book read for yet another literature class. I am not going to lie, it has been a long time since I have been able to pick up a book and read it just because I want to. Work, kids, a never-ending barrage of coursework to earn that pesky bachelor’s degree… there never seems to be enough time. Anyway, this book came via my Eco Lit class, and turns out, it was amazing.
The book follows a wolf biologist who grew up in two very different worlds. One where humans and nature co-exist, living off one another, never taking more than needed. The other world is filled with violence, fear, and monsters. Bringing wolves back into the Scottish Highlands, Inti not only has to protect the wolves from the angry town folk, but her twin sister who has been broken by the hands of a man who swore he loved her.
From the past to the present, the reader begins to understand why Inti is the way she is, and why she has more faith in her wolves over the people around her. People are afraid of the wolves, seeing them as monsters lurking in the trees, and when a man is murdered Inti has to work to find out if the man died by the teeth of a wolf, or at the hands of a human. The lives of her wolves depend on her finding the truth.
What I love about this novel, even more than the suspense of a good whodunit, is how complex the characters are as they try to continue through life with their trauma. Some chose to move forward, others get locked away and are unable to come back out, and there is the denial of the trauma. Each of these is well represented in the novel through Duncan, Aggie, and Inti. There is a parallel in the wolves, who are doing nothing more than nature intended. There is a lot that can be learned from this novel about not only the way we see nature but who the real monsters are.
I suppose a trigger warning should be at hand considering the amount of domestic violence discussed and portrayed throughout the novel. There are also a few harsh scenes involving animals.
