Fiction, 2021
If I ever met an alien, though I doubt I ever will, explaining what human beings are–and what they do–might be my toughest challenge. Demonstrating how our experience of reality is inherently non-linear because of the pesky function of memories and how despite our incredible and unmatched vanity, we destroyed the one planet that can sustain us, would be difficult too. In such a situation, I would encourage the alien to read Charlotte McConaghy’s novel Once There Were Wolves.
It is gritty, bleak, beautiful, and kept me gripped till the last page. The reader follows Inti, a woman who is part of a Wolf Trust that aims to rewild landscapes by reintroducing a key apex predator, the wolf. After her success in Yellowstone, she goes back to her home, the Scottish Highlands, to do the same thing. But the townspeople are antagonistic and fearful about the whole idea, and when a dead body turns up, things get much worse. The depiction of the wolves is sincere enough that I had to walk away from the book when anyone tried to hurt them.
The novel is at once a mystery, thriller, plea for reforestation, and analysis of parenthood. It perfectly balances the tension of human beings, how we can be both the predator and the victim, and how much of a part we play in deciding this role. Try to read it outside, if you can.
Song - Into My Arms (Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds)
Film - Marley & Me AND The Devil All The Time (One cannot be separated from the other when it comes to explaining this novel)
P.S. Buy the E-Book version (or audio) because it doesn’t seem to be available anywhere now. Also, it is now one month of bookcrumbs! You may celebrate by sending me lavish flower arrangements, or diamonds—I’m not picky. (just jesting, if you find my address, that would be creepy.)
congratulations on one month! I love it here!
purchased