Once There Were Wolves: A Novel

By Charlotte McConaghy

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

"Blazing...Visceral" (Los Angeles Times) · "Exceptional" (Newsweek) · "Bold...Heartfelt" (New York Times Book Review) · "Thought-provoking and thrilling" (GMA) · "Suspenseful and poignant" (Scientific American) · "Gripping" (The Sydney Morning Herald)

From the author of the beloved national bestseller Migrations, a pulse-pounding new novel set in the wild Scottish Highlands.

Inti Flynn arrives in Scotland with her twin sister, Aggie, to lead a team of biologists tasked with reintroducing fourteen gray wolves into the remote Highlands. She hopes to heal not only the dying landscape, but Aggie, too, unmade by the terrible secrets that drove the sisters out of Alaska.

Inti is not the woman she once was, either, changed by the harm she’s witnessed—inflicted by humans on both the wild and each other. Yet as the wolves surprise everyone by thriving, Inti begins to let her guard down, even opening herself up to the possibility of love. But when a farmer is found dead, Inti knows where the town will lay blame. Unable to accept her wolves could be responsible, Inti makes a reckless decision to protect them. But if the wolves didn’t make the kill, then who did? And what will Inti do when the man she is falling for seems to be the prime suspect?

Propulsive and spell-binding, Charlotte McConaghy's Once There Were Wolves is the unforgettable story of a woman desperate to save the creatures she loves—if she isn’t consumed by a wild that was once her refuge.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Macmillan Publishers
• Release date: Aug 3, 2021
• ISBN: 9781250244130

Charlotte McConaghy

Charlotte McConaghy is the New York Times bestselling author of Once There Were Wolves and Migrations, which are being translated into more than twenty languages. She is based in Sydney, Australia.

Book preview

1

When we were eight, Dad cut me open from throat to stomach.

In a forest in the wilds of British Columbia sat his workshop, dusty and reeking of blood. He had skins hanging to dry and they brushed our foreheads as we crept through them. I shivered, even then, while Aggie grinned devilishly ahead of me, bolder than me by far. After summers spent wishing to know what happened in this shed I was suddenly desperate to be gone from it.

He’d caught a rabbit and though he’d let us stalk the woods with him he’d never shown us the act of killing.

Aggie was eager, and in her haste she kicked a brine barrel, her foot making a deep echoing thud, one I felt on my foot, too. Dad looked up and sighed. You really want to see?

Aggie nodded.

Are you prepared for it?

Another nod.

I could see the furry rabbit and all the blades. It wasn’t moving; dead already.

Come on over then.

We went to either side of him, our noses peeking over his workbench. From here I could see all the fine colors of its pelt, russet browns and dusky oranges and warm creams and grays and whites and blacks. A kaleidoscope of color, all designed, I supposed, to make it invisible and prevent this exact fate. Poor rabbit.

Do you understand why I’m doing this? Dad asked us.

We both nodded. Subsistence living, Aggie said.

Which means? Inti?

We hunt only what we need and we give back to the ecosystem, we grow food, too, we live as self-sufficiently as we can, I said.

That’s right. So we pay our respects to this creature and thank it for sustaining us.

Thank you, Aggie and I chimed. I had the feeling the rabbit could have cared less about our gratitude. Silently I bid it a glum apology. But all the while something was tingling in my belly, right down at the bottom of it. I wanted to get out of there. This was Dad’s realm, the furs and the blades and the blood, the smell he was always draped in, it had always been his realm and I wished it could stay that way; this felt like the opening of a door to a darker place, a crueler one, an adult one, and I didn’t know why she wanted this but if she did, if she did want it then I had to stay. Where Aggie went, I followed.

Before we eat it we have to skin it. I’ll cure the pelt so we can use it or trade it, and then we’ll eat every part of the carcass so there’s no…?

Waste, we answered.

And why’s that?

Waste is the true enemy of the planet, we said.

Come on, Dad, Aggie complained.

All right, first we cut from throat to stomach.

The tip of his blade went to the fur of the rabbit’s throat and I knew I had made a mistake. Before I could slam my eyes shut the knife opened my throat and sliced my skin in one long swift motion to my tummy.

I hit the floor hard, cut open and spilling. It felt so real, I was sure there must be blood and I screamed and screamed and Dad was shouting now too and the knife dropped and Aggie dropped and she pulled me tight against her. Her heartbeat pressed to mine. Her fingers drumming a rhythm against my spine. And in her skinny arms I was intact again. Myself, with no blood and never in fact a wound at all.

I had always known there was something different about me, but that was the day I first recognized it to be dangerous. It was also the day, as I stumbled out of the shed into a long violet dusk, that I looked to the trees’ edge and saw my first wolf, and it saw me.

---

Now, in a different part of the world, the dark is heavy and their breathing is all around. The scent has changed. Still warm, earthy, but muskier now, which means there’s fear in it, which means one of them is awake.

Her golden eyes find just enough light to reflect.

Easy, I bid her without words.

She is wolf Number Six, the mother, and she watches me from her metal crate. Her pelt is pale as a winter sky. Her paws haven’t known the feel of steel until now. I’d take that knowledge from her if I could. It’s a cold knowing. Instinct tells me to try to soothe her with soft words or a tender touch but it’s my presence that scares her most, so I leave her be.

I move lightly past the other crates to the back of the truck’s container. The rolling door’s hinges rasp as they let me free. My boots hit the ground with a crunch. An eerie world, this night place. A carpet of snow reaches up for the moon, glowing for her. Naked trees cast in silver. My breath making clouds.

I rap on the driver’s side window to wake the others. They’ve been sleeping in the cabin of the truck and blink blearily at me. Evan has a blanket pulled over him; I can feel the scratchy edge of it against my neck.

Six is awake, I say, and they know what it means.

This won’t go down well, Evan says.

They’re not gonna find out, I say.

Anne’ll flip, Inti.

Screw Anne.

There was meant to be press here for this, government officials and heads of departments and armed guards; there was meant to be fanfare. Instead we have been hamstrung by a last-minute motion meant to delay us until the stress of this prolonged journey causes our animals to die. Our enemies would have us keep them caged until their hearts give out. But I won’t have it. So we are four—three biologists and one vet—stealing, moonlit, into a forest with our precious cargo. Silent and unseen. Without permission. The way it always should have begun.

There’s no more road for the truck so we’re on foot. We lift Number Six’s container first, Niels and I taking a back corner each while burly Evan carries the front on his own. Amelia, our vet and the only local among us, will remain here with the other two containers to keep watch. It’s a little over half a mile to the pen, and the snow is deep. The only sound Six makes is a soft panting that signals her distress.

A loon calls, distinct and lovely.

I wonder if it stirs her, that lonely cry in the night, a recognition of the same ancient call she makes. But if it does, then she doesn’t reply in any way I can interpret.

It seems to take an age to reach the pen, but eventually I make out its chain-link boundary. We place Six’s container inside the gate and head back for the other two animals. I don’t like leaving her unguarded, but very few know where in the forest these pens have been placed.

Next we carry male wolf Number Nine. He is a massive creature, so this second hike is harder than the first, but he hasn’t woken from his sleep so there is that, at least. The third wolf is a yearling female, Number Thirteen. She is Six’s daughter, and lighter than either of the adults, and we have Amelia for this last journey. By the time we have carried Thirteen to the pen it’s nearly dawn and exhaustion has set into my bones, but there is excitement, too, and worry. Female Number Six and male Number Nine have never met. They are not from the same pack. But we are placing them in a pen together in the hope they will decide they like each other. We need breeding pairs for this to work.

It’s just as likely they’ll kill each other.

We open the three containers and move out of the pen.

Six, singularly conscious, doesn’t move. Not until we retreat as far as we can without losing sight of them. She doesn’t like the scent of us. Soon we see her lithe form rise and pad out onto the snow. She is nearly as white as the ground she walks so lightly upon; she, too, glows. A few seconds pass as she lifts her muzzle to smell the air, maybe taking note of the leather radio collar we have placed around her neck, and then, instead of exploring the new world, she lopes quickly to her daughter’s container and lies beside it.

It stirs something in me, something warm and fragile I have come to dread. There is danger here for me.

Let’s call her Ash, Evan says.

Dawn burnishes the world from gray to golden and as the sun rises the other two animals stir from their drugged sleep. All three wolves emerge from their containers into their single acre of glittering forest. For now, it’s all the space they’ll be given and it’s not enough, I wish there didn’t have to be fences at all.

Turning back for the truck, I say, No names. She’s Number Six.

---

Not long ago, not in the grand scheme of things, this forest was not small and sparse but strong and bursting with life. Lush with rowan trees, aspen, birch, juniper and oak, it stretched itself across a vast swathe of land, coloring Scotland’s now-bare hills, providing food and shelter to all manner of untamed thing.

And within these roots and trunks and canopies, there ran wolves.

Today, wolves once again walk upon this ground, which has not seen their kind in hundreds of years. Does something in their bodies remember this land, as it remembers them? It knows them well; it has been waiting for them to wake it from its long slumber.

---

We spend all day carrying the remaining wolves to their pens, and return as evening falls to the project base camp, a small stone cabin at the edge of the woods. The others drink sparkling wine in the kitchenette to celebrate our having released all fourteen gray wolves into their three acclimation pens. But they aren’t free yet, our wolves, the experiment has barely begun. I sit apart at the computer monitors and watch the feed from the cameras in the pens, wondering what they think of this new home. A forest not dissimilar to the one they came from in British Columbia, though temperate instead of boreal. I too came from that forest, and know it will smell different, sound and look and feel different. If there is any one thing I know best about wolves, though, it’s that they adapt. I hold my breath now as big Number Nine approaches delicate Number Six and her daughter. The females have dug a groove into the snow at the very back of the pen and hunker down, wary of Nine’s advance. He towers over them, shades of gray and white and black, as glorious a wolf as I’ve ever seen. He places his head over the back of Six’s neck in a sign of dominance and I feel, with exquisite vividness, his muzzle pressing onto the back of my neck. His soft fur tickles my skin, the heat of his breath brings bumps to my flesh. Number Six whines but stays down, showing her deference. I don’t move; any sign of defiance and those jaws will close over my throat. He nips her on the ear and teeth sink into my lobe, startling my eyes closed. In the dark, the pain fades almost as quickly as it struck. I return to myself. And when I look again Nine has gone back to ignoring the females, pacing round the perimeter of the fence. If I watch, I will feel the cold of the snow on my bare feet with each of his steps but I don’t, I’m already too close, my edges have forgotten themselves. So I look instead at the dark ceiling of the cabin, letting my pulse slow.

I am unlike most people. I move through life in a different way, with an entirely unique understanding of touch. Before I knew its name I knew this. To make sense of it, it is called a neurological condition. Mirror-touch synesthesia. My brain re-creates the sensory experiences of living creatures, of all people and even sometimes animals; if I see it I feel it, and for just a moment I am them, we are one and their pain or pleasure is my own. It can seem like magic and for a long time I thought it was, but really it’s not so far removed from how other brains behave: the physiological response to witnessing someone’s pain is a cringe, a recoil, a wince. We are hardwired for empathy. Once upon a time I took delight in feeling what others felt. Now the constant stream of sensory information exhausts me. Now I’d give anything to be cut free.

This project isn’t going to work if I can’t create distance between the wolves and me. I can’t get lost in them, or I won’t survive. The world is a dangerous place for wolves. Most of them will be dead soon.

---

It’s midnight when I next look at the time. I have been watching the wolves sleep or pace, hoping in vain that they might howl, that one would begin and the rest would follow. But wolves don’t howl when they’re stressed. The research base cabin is made up of one main room, in which we keep all the computer monitors and equipment, an adjoining kitchen, and a bathroom at the back. Outside is a stable housing three horses. Evan and Niels have clearly already gone home to their rented cottages in the nearest town—I’m so tired I don’t even remember saying good-bye to them—while Zoe, our data analyst, is asleep on the couch. I should have left hours ago, and scramble to pull my winter gear back on.

Outside the air is biting. I drive through the forest and onto a snaking road, a couple of miles along the north-west of the Cairngorms, led only by the small orbs of my headlights. I’ve never liked car travel at night for it turns the thriving world into something empty and gaping. If I stopped and walked into it, it would be a different world altogether, filled with the shivering of life, blinking reflective eyes and the scurry of little feet in the underbrush. I turn the car down a smaller, winding road, one that leads me all the way to the valley in which Blue Cottage sits. Made of grayish blue stone and flanked by a couple of grassy paddocks, during the day its view is twofold: to the south lies thick, beckoning forest, to the north long bare hills that, come spring, will be covered in grazing red deer.

Inside the lights are out, but the fireplace glows orange. I remove all my gear, piece by piece, and then pad through the little living room to a bedroom not mine. She is motionless in the bed, a shape in the dark. I crawl in beside her; if she wakes, she gives no sign of it. I breathe her in, finding comfort in her scent, unchanged even now, even unmade as she’s been. My fingers twine within her pale hair and I let myself fall asleep, safe now in the sphere of my sister, who was always meant to be the stronger of us.

2

Gently, he says.

Her small hands are gripping so tightly to the reins. She is too tiny up there, so tiny she must surely be flung.

Gently.

He slows her, a palm to her spine to press her flat.

Feel him. Feel his heartbeat inside yours.

The stallion was free not long ago and a part of him remains that way, but when she drapes herself upon him like this, gently, gently, as Dad says, he calms.

I am perched with one leg either side of the training yard fence, watching. There is coarse timber under my hands, a splinter beneath my fingernail. And I am on that horse, too, I am my sister, pressed to the warmth of the trembling, powerful beast, with my father’s large, steady hand holding me still, and I am my father’s hand, too, and I am the stallion, the light load he carries and the cold metal in his mouth.

All creatures know love, Dad says. I watch Aggie’s embrace turn tender and fierce. She won’t be flung free.

But the stallion’s head lifts in the pink evening light; a scent has been carried to him on the wind and he paws at the earth. I twist on the fence, turning to scan the tree line.

Easy, Dad is saying, calming the horse and his daughter both. But I think it’s too late for that. Because I’ve seen it now. Watching from the forest. Two unblinking eyes.

Our gazes meet and for a moment I am the wolf.

While behind me my sister tumbles from the rearing horse—

---

I wake disoriented from the dream, dreamt often, also a memory. For a few moments I lie warm in bed, remembering, but the day won’t be denied, there is light streaming through the window and I have to get my sister up.

Good morning, my love, I murmur, stroking Aggie’s hair from her face and gently helping her rise. She is guided into the bathroom and allows me to undress her and sit her in the tub. There’s actual, real sun out there, I say, so we’d better wash this mane in case you want to sit outside and dry it. She loves to do that, as much as she loves anything, but my words are a charade for us both: I know she won’t be going outside today.

The wolves are in their pens. They survived the journey, I say as I massage shampoo into her scalp. They’ll want to run home.

She doesn’t respond. It’s one of her bad days, which means I can talk and talk and she will do nothing but gaze listlessly at something beyond my capacity to see. But I will keep talking, in case she can hear me from that faraway place.

Aggie’s hair is thick and long and pale, as mine is, and as I methodically work the conditioner through the tangles I wonder if she was right and we should have cut it all off. She is dispassionate about it now but despite the effort it takes to care for I couldn’t bring myself to get rid of it, this mane she has always been known for, the hair I’ve spent my life brushing and braiding and trimming for her.

If we hadn’t taken them across an ocean they might have been able to. I help Aggie out of the bath and dry her off, then dress her in warm, comfortable clothes and park her in front of the fireplace while I make breakfast. There’s no love between Six and Nine yet, I say. But they haven’t killed each other, either. The words fall so casually from my mouth that I am startled. Is that the way of all love? That it should carry the risk of death?

But the words haven’t reminded Aggie of the same things, she is too far distant to be reached. I want to follow her to wherever she’s gone and I also fear that place more than anything. I fear, too, the day she stops returning from it.

She doesn’t eat the eggs I leave at her elbow, too tired, too soul-exhausted to manage anything at all. I brush her wet hair slowly, gently, and I speak more of the wolves because they are all I have left that isn’t rage.

---

Blue Cottage isn’t far from the project base camp. Both cottage and camp sit on the edge of Abernethy Forest, one of the last remnants of the ancient Caledonian Forest that arrived here after the Ice Age. These old trees belong to an unbroken, 9,000-year evolutionary chain, and it’s within them that we placed the closest wolf pen, the one containing wolves Six, Nine, and Thirteen. If they manage to form a pack, we will name them after their new home: Abernethy. There are few houses around here, but behind us sprawls vibrant green pasture for the many sheep farms dividing us from the closest town. This was not where I would have chosen to place a new pack of wolves. But there aren’t many places in the Highlands upon which you wouldn’t find sheep, and anyway the wolves aren’t going to stay put. I only hope they prefer the shelter of forest. Beyond this stretch of wintry pine woods rise the Cairngorm mountains, and there, I’m told, is the wild heart of the Highlands, where no sheep roam and no roads enter. Perhaps this will be where the wolves like it best.

I have the heater on high in the car. The road is slippery with ice, and a light snowfall has begun, a gentle swirl of lace. The drive is beautiful; this is big country, sloping hills and sinuous frozen rivers, stretches of thick forest.

When the black horse blazes onto the road in front of me I think at first I have imagined it. Its tail is a dark comet trailing behind. My foot slams the brakes too hard and my wheels fishtail. The car spins half a circle and comes to a stop backward in the middle of the road, in time for me to watch the horse disappear into the trees.

My chest feels tight as I ease the car onto the side of the road.

A truck rumbles to a stop beside me. You okay? a male voice calls from the driver’s side window, which is open only a pinch.

I nod.

See a horse?

I point in the direction it ran. Ah shite, says the driver, and then the truck, to my astonishment, promptly heads off-road to follow it. I am horrified as it skids through the snow. I check the time and hop out of the car, following the tire tracks. It’s not hard. He’s left trenches in his wake.

The snow picks up; the world is falling around me. I’m in a rush now, late for work, but even so. I tilt my head to look up. Flakes upon my lips and eyelashes. My hand reaching to the cool papery bark of a silver birch. The memory of forty thousand aspens breathing around me, their canopy not naked but canary yellow and as vivid as his voice in my ear. It’s dying. We are killing it.

A shout, from somewhere distant.

I let the memory slip away and start running. Past his truck and into thick snow only disturbed by his footprints and the hoof marks of a frantic horse. I’m sweating by the time I reach the river. A narrow, frozen stretch of ice between steep embankments.

The dark shape of him ahead. Below on the ice stands the horse.

Even at such a distance I feel the cold beneath its hooves. A cutting kind of cold. The man is tall, but I can’t see any more of his shape beneath his winter layers. His hair is short, dark like his beard. There’s a black-and-white collie sitting calmly next to him. The man turns to me.

You know this is protected forest? I ask.

He frowns quizzically.

I gesture to his truck and the mess it’s made. You don’t mind breaking the law?

He considers me and then smiles. You can report me after I’ve dealt with the horse. He has a thick Scottish brogue.

We look at the animal on the ice. She’s not putting much weight on her front hoof.

What are you waiting for? I ask.

I got a bum leg. I wouldn’t get back out. And that ice won’t hold forever.

There are tiny cracks on the surface of the river, spreading with each shift of the horse’s weight.

Best get my rifle from the truck.

The horse gives a snort, tosses her head. The black of her coat is broken only by a diamond of white between her wide, darting eyes. I can see the quick rise and fall of her belly.

What’s her name? I ask.

No idea.

She’s not yours?

He shakes his head.

I start climbing down the steep ravine.

Don’t, he says. I won’t be able to get you out.

My eyes stay on the horse as I slip and slide down the jagged edge. My boots hit ice and I edge my way out, watching for cracks. It holds me for now but there are sections thin enough to reveal the dark flow of water beneath. I see how easy it would be to step wrong, for that sheath to split and for me to slip silently through; I see my body dragged and tumbled head over tail until it’s gone.

The horse. She is watching me. Hello, I say, meeting her deep liquid eyes.

She tosses her head and stamps a hoof. She is fierce and defiant; I move closer and she rears, thundering hooves landing with a crack. I wonder if she knows her fury will kill her, if maybe she’s fine with that, maybe she would charge toward oblivion rather than return to whatever she fled. A bit and bridle, a saddle. Some horses aren’t meant to be ridden.

I lower myself into a crouch, making myself small. She doesn’t rear again, keeping her eyes on me.

You got any rope in your truck? I ask the man without looking up at him.

I hear him move off to retrieve

Reviews for Once There Were Wolves

[desiree_reads · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Interesting. Excellent Aussie-accented narrator. Don't think I would have enjoyed it as much without her narration. A little bit too hippy, earth-loving, humans are the ones who are the real evil kind of business. Pretty good surprise mystery wrap-up ending however.

[castlelass · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Twins Inti and Aggie are relocating wolves from Alaska to Scotland to reintroduce them into the Highlands, improve the ecosystem, and achieve results similar to what occurred at Yellowstone. Aggie is trying to recover from domestic abuse. Inti gets involved with a local man. Around the half-way point, it turns into a murder mystery. There are many flashbacks to Aggie being abused at the hands of her ex-husband. Inti has a rare condition called mirror-touch synesthesia, where she feels the pain of others.

I enjoyed the natural scenes involving wolves. The rest of it is not something I normally read or enjoy. I prefer non-fiction on these types of topics. That way, I do not have to deal with melodrama and elements that stretch belief to the breaking point. I could have done without the romance, domestic abuse, and murder mystery, which is the bulk of the story. As a warning, deaths of people and animals are described in gruesome detail.

Saskia Maarleveld does a very nice job with the narration. If I had not been listening to the audio, I think I would not have finished. Her various accents and characters are subtle, and she articulates well. I think many people will like this book – it is just not my personal taste.

[amzzz_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book was sad and haunting and very well done. I think it will stick with me for a while!

[smik_3 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

In places where there were once trees, the forests are gone. The world has lost countless species of wildlife, largely in our lifetimes. In places where there were once wolves, there are now none. In hunting down or chopping one down, the world's population has often destroyed the entire ecosystem that it was part of. Re-wilding projects believe that if you can re-instate one part of the system, sometimes the main predator, then you stand a chance of restoring the ecosystem.But often the land was cleared, or the predators killed in order to grow another economic enterprise. In Scotland for example the land was cleared and the wolves hunted down to make way for sheep. But destroying that ecosystem has often turned the land barren. The promise is that if we can re-introduce wolves then other things will be restored and nature's balance will be restored.But those whose livelihood depends on the sheep fear the re-introduction of wolves, believing that they will not only attack the sheep but also humans.I found the scale of this novel breath taking. Only part of it was concerned crime fiction, with murder, and violence. Much of it was about how humans treat each other. The characters were very real and the scenarios credible. Highly recommended.

[nyiper · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Wonderful in so many, many ways!! The detail was incredible! The author is a force for what this earth needs and this novel is a beautiful way to put her ideas out there. I hope this is widely read!!

[hccpsk · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy, Inti moved to the Scottish Highlands as part of a team trying to reintroduce wolves into the environment. She knew it would not be easy, but she believes in the project, and she needed to get her twin sister Aggie away from their previous life in Alaska. Part environmental novel, part mystery with a little romance thrown in, Once There Were Wolves wrestles with a bit of an identity crisis, and it shows at times. I really liked aspects of the story including Inti’s character development and the story of the wolves, but the romance felt forced and the end was disappointing. Overall, readers looking for an interesting environmental novel — especially about wolves — will enjoy this novel.

[sparemethecensor · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This starts off strong: a woman with a tragic past sets about to reintroduce wolves to Scotland, called re-wilding. I was here for the secretive backstory and the fascinating process of reintroducing the wolves. Here's what I am not here for and what made me abandon the novel halfway: dopey romance subplot, hamfisted moralizing townie-versus-outsider subplot, surprise pregnancy. No thanks. I'm out.

[heatherlinc · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Hmmm! This novel is receiving excellent reviews on Good Reads but I never fully connected with it. While I loved the wolves and their reintroduction into the Scottish highlands, the sub-plots weren't that convincing and I wasn't invested in either the mystery or the romance. The mystery was under-developed and the romance felt forced and unbelievable. Nor did I like the heavy-handed environmental messages. At times, I felt the author was trying to beat them into the heads of her readers.Inti and her twin sister, Aggie, were damaged characters and neither one was particularly likeable.I think "Once There Were Wolves" had potential and would have been a better novel had the author focused on Inti's attempts to help the wolves rather than overcomplicating the plot with all the unnecessary drama that was in it.

[lesleynicol · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Thoroughly enjoyed this become about the re-introduction of wolves to the Scottish highlands.... until the last chapters that is....the writer then descended into an incredibly unbelievable story about how a woman gives birth all on her her own in the freezing wilderness..... pur lease ! This really spoiled the book for me.

[humouress · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

{stand alone. Fiction, one step into a future}(2021)Compelling. The story of twin sisters who have survived an unusual upbringing and a traumatic past told against the backdrop of one of them involved in a project to rewild the Scottish highlands by reintroducing an apex predator - wolves, brought in from British Columbia. Local farmers are, understandably, resistant to the idea and the sisters' past is told in flashback.The story is narrated from a first person point of view by Inti, who suffers from mirror-touch synasthaesia, a rare condition which means her brain tricks her into feeling every sensation she sees happening to other living creatures as though it's happening to her own body. Her twin, Aggie, has always stood up for her such as smacking a boy in the face when he insulted Inti, while Inti felt as though it was her face that was smacked and her nose that bled; she turned her focus inward and concentrated on learning about nature and wolves while living vicariously through her twin. Their Australian mother is a crime detective in Sydney and has always tried to toughen Inti up so that life won't beat her down while their Canadian father lives in a forest near Vancouver and teaches the girls a subsistence philosophy of taking only what they need from the land and not wasting anything.Compelling and easy to read. I was very interested in the concept of rewilding which, according to the epilogue, was carried out successfully with wolves in Yellowstone Park in 1995. It involves reintroducing an apex predator to keep the populations of grazing animals under control so that vegetation is not overgrazed and the young shoots of flowers and trees have a chance to grow and establish so that the ecology changes back towards what it originally was and small creatures are encouraged to return with knock on benefits to soil and rivers.come the end of winter the wolves will be released from these pens to live freely in the Scottish Highlands. They are here specifically for a rewilding effort in a broader attempt to slow climate change, and on an experimental basis.“What we have here in Scotland,” Evan says, “is an ecosystem in crisis. We urgently need to rewild. If we can extend woodland cover by a hundred thousand hectares by 2026 then we could dramatically reduce CO2 emissions that contribute to climate change and we could provide habitats for native species. The only way to do this is to control the herbivore population, and the simplest, most effective way to do that is to reintroduce a keystone predator species that was here long before we were. The vital predation element of the ecosystem has been missing in this land for hundreds of years, since wolves were hunted to extinction. Killing the wolves was a massive blunder on our part. Ecosystems need apex predators because they elicit dynamic ecological changes that ripple down the food chain, and these are known as ‘trophic cascades.’ With their return the landscape will change for the better—more habitats for wildlife will be created, soil health increased, flood waters reduced, carbon emissions captured. Animals of all shapes and sizes will return to these lands.”Inti and her team have to introduce their wolves gradually to their new environment and track them from a distance. At the same time, they have to deal with the local farmers' distrust of the wolves since they feel that their flocks will be at risk and they can be quite vocal and aggressive with their disapproval. When one of them dies, it looks like a wolf is to blame and matters come to a head between the two camps. Meanwhile, Inti relives the sisters' past and we gradually find out how Aggie, heretofore the lively, vivacious twin, became mute and unresponsive.I found this book very interesting, especially (for me) the ecological viewpoint. So why not 5 stars? There is violence threaded through the story which is an integral part of it and not dwelt on but it's not my favourite thing; many of the characters have suffered domestic abuse and some of the animals are killed. I did appreciate, though, that the protagonist is over thirty and has experience working with wolves; she isn't trying this project on a passionate whim. And I'm convinced about the concept. Rewilding? Count me in!3.5-4 stars

[juju2cat · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

What a beautiful, soul searing book!

[timbazzett · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I'd never heard of this Aussie writer, Charlotte McConaghy, until several months ago when I picked up a copy of her first novel, MIGRATIONS, which impressed me so much that I could not wait to read this new one, ONCE THERE WERE WOLVES (2021). I finished reading it last night - well, actually it was this morning, around 1am, and I'm not usually up that late, but I literally could not go to sleep until I found out what happened next, whodunit, and what was gonna happen between Inti and Duncan. I mean HOLY KEE-RAP, but this was a page-turner!Quick summary: The narrator-protagonist is Inti Flynn, a thirty-ish wolf expert who is engaged in "rewilding" an increasingly barren and remote part of Northern Scotland by introducing three wolf packs imported from Canada into the region. There is hostile resistance from the local farmers and sheep herders. The love interest is the local sheriff, Duncan MacTavish, a kind, but mysterious figure. Inti has a reclusive twin sister, Aggie. The twins grew up in a divided, broken family. Their father was a skilled woodsman in British Columbia; their mother is an Australian police detective specializing in domestic abuse and murder cases. Inti is blessed/cursed with a condition known as "mirror-touch synesthesia." Both she and her deeply damaged twin harbor dark secrets. A local farmer, known to be a wife-beater, goes missing. The villagers blame the wolves, and Inti herself is a suspect. But hey, that's enough. And the writing! The poetic descriptions of the seasons and sunsets of both British Columbia and Scotland are simply breathtakingly beautiful. I'd quote you a sample, but I told my daughter about the book this morning over coffee and she already took it home with her.This McConaghy woman is a wonderful writer who can really spin a yarn, and ONCE THERE WERE WOLVES is just one of the best damn books I've read in YEARS! My very highest recommendation.- Tim Bazzett, author of the memoir, BOOKLOVER

[tangledthread · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Inti Flynn is the lead biologist on a project to re-introduce wolves to the Scottish Cairngorms. She is also responsible for her twin, Aggie, who is mute and sometimes catatonic as the result of some trauma which is revealed later in the book. Inti also has a neurological condition that causes her to feel the sensations of another if she sees them. It's an unusual variation of synesthesia.The narrative moves back and forth in time as we learn about the twin's lives with their environmentally devoted father in British Columbia and their police detective mother in Australia as well as the twins symbiotic relationship as they move into adulthood. There are a number of themes in the book including: climate change, animal rights, feminism, prey vs predator, compassion vs.empathy. There is also a theme of comparing the wolves as apex predators to humans, with the suggestion that by re-wilding an area may result in more civillized human behavior.I found the book fascinating and well written, though be warned there are graphic scenes of domestic violence in the story. And one may have to suspend disbelief in a sequence toward the end of the story.

[siri51 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Great concept for a plot - reintroducing wolves into Scottish highlands with both the environmental challenges and opposition from farmers. However too many distracting themes; twins, one with an obscure neurological disorder, the other with mental health issues after domestic violence, ; more domestic violence details both historic and current, love interest with town policeman, unplanned pregnancy, murder blames on wolves, another attempted murder etc.main character named Inti Flynn - odd

[lauralkeet · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Inti Flynn is working to rewild the Scottish Cairngorms by reintroducing wolves. The locals are less than happy about this, and fear for their livestock. Inti lives with her twin sister Aggie, who has been rendered silent by some initially undefined trauma. The sisters have communicated through a private sign language since they were children, and now this is the only way they connect. The story of Inti, the wolves, and the community is interlaced with chapters recounting Inti and Aggie’s upbringing and young adulthood, culminating in the trauma. While Inti comes face to face with violence and trauma in the present day, this novel is also a profound story of love and loyalty -- among and between both humans and wolves. Charlotte McConaghy is a superb storyteller, slowly teasing out details for her readers to piece together. This was a beautiful novel that captivated me from beginning to end.

[avanders_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I struggled getting into this one. At page 77, I thought… it’s so highly rated, maybe it’s worth it. At page 98, I finally felt hooked. And the rest? It was worth it.

[brenzi_3 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Another terrific book by McConaghy, this time set in Scotland, where Inti and her small group of colleagues are attempting to reintroduce wolves into a rural area dominated by sheep farms. The locals don't want anything to do with it and protest vociferously. And as soon as a wolf is found very close to a farm, the owner shoots it causing tremendous problems for everyone. At the same time, Inti and her twin sister Aggie, reveal a very disturbing backstory. So well done with a tantalizing mystery that provided the only drawback for me because I figured it out fairly early on. Otherwise, really well done.

[japaul22 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

[Once There Were Wolves] by [[Charlotte McConaghy]]I've read both of Charlotte McConaghy's novels this year and I will read whatever she puts out next immediately. I really love her writing. It's current and emotional and so well-paced. This novel, as her last, focuses on the environmental catastrophes we've created. Inti is leading a team of scientists reintroducing wolves to Scotland in an effort to rewild the land. Introducing the predators will recreate the balance missing. Of course, most of the locals, and definitely the farmers, are not happy to have her there or the wolves back. As the story of the wolves unfolds, Inti's story, and that of her twin sister Aggie, is revealed. They had an odd childhood, moving between a father living in the woods of the Northwest and dealing with mental illness, and a mother living in Australia who is a detective specializing in domestic abuse. And then Aggie marries an abusive man. Her trauma and how it has affected Inti explains some of the current events and Inti's reactions. As twins, they have an incredibly close relationship, heightened by Inti's rare condition that makes her actually feel the touch that others feel - whether loving or violent. I'm not doing the book justice in this review. There's something magical about the way McConaghy talks about wolves and meshes the environment with the human story. I love the backdrop of environmental issues. And there's always a bit of mystery behind her characters' actions. I almost took a half star off because there is some fairly graphic violence in the book, the most troubling to me the violence against women, but for me it was an important part of the story and not put in for shock value. But fair warning for those sensitive to that. Highly, highly recommended.

[candyh_64 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a very interesting story filled with many twists, turns and challenges.

[msf59 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

“The world he describes, empty of wild creatures and places, overrun instead by people and their agriculture, is a dying world” “I want never to leave this place. I want never to see another human again. I want it more than I've ever wanted anything. The aloneness is exquisite; it is calm.” The last wolf seen in Scotland was in the late 17th century. They were hunted into extinction. There have been proposals to reintroduce wolves back into Scotland, since the 1960s. In this novel, it is present day and a team of biologists take on the task of placing fourteen gray wolves into the Highlands. The team is led by Inti Flynn, a young Australian woman. She is accompanied by her twin sister, Aggie. The challenges seem to be insurmountable, led by the disgruntled local farmers and ranchers. To make matters worse, someone is killed and it appears it was done by a wolf. Inti tries to stave off the imminent attack by solving the murder herself.This is another fine book by  McConaghy. She does her research and presents a narrative that is both insightful and suspenseful. She delivered the same soulful, approach with her last novel, Migrations, which I also loved. She has quickly become a favorite.

[bleached_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I get what it was supposed to be but it ended up just being trauma porn. As someone who works with actual domestic and sexual violence survivors this bordered on offensive. Not to mention it had too much going on yet somehow dragged. I regret forcing myself to finish it after the first few chapters thinking maybe it would get better.

[shelleyraec · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

“Not long ago, not in the grand scheme of things, this forest was not small and sparse but strong and bursting with life. Lush with rowan trees, aspen, birch, juniper and oak, it stretched itself across a vast swathe of land, coloring Scotland’s now-bare hills, providing food and shelter to all manner of untamed thing.And within these roots and trunks and canopies, there ran wolves.”In Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy, biologist Inti Flynn is leading a controversial rewilding project to reintroduce wolves to the Scottish Highlands. The scheme has proved to be of great environmental benefit in other countries but Inti and her team are struggling to overcome the local farmers fears of decimated livestock. As the wolves begin to make themselves at home in the forest, Inti surprises herself by becoming involved with the local police chief, but when a man goes missing in the woods, she finds everything is at risk.There are many themes at play in Once There Were Wolves, while it has a strong environmental focus, examining rewilding and the conflicts between ecological and agricultural concerns, it also explores issues including domestic violence, trauma, trust and empathy with a raw honesty. There is also mystery that surrounds not just the fate of the missing man, but also Inti’s sister, Aggie.The timeline shifts between the past and present, giving the reader glimpses of Inti and Aggie’s life before their arrival in Scotland, including a childhood shared between their Australian mother, a homicide detective, and their American father, a logger turned reclusive environmentalist. The sisters close relationship (it’s never exactly clear if they are twins but I suspect so) continues into adulthood. In the present, Aggie has accompanied Inti to Scotland, but it’s clear Aggie, whom remains hidden in their rented home, is experiencing the effects of severe trauma.“I had always known there was something different about me, but that was the day I first recognized it to be dangerous. It was also the day, as I stumbled out of the shed into a long violet dusk, that I looked to the trees’ edge and saw my first wolf, and it saw me.”Inti is a complex character with a rare condition known as ‘mirror touch synesthesia’, this means that she ‘feels’ any touch that she observes, whether that be a gentle stroke of an arm, or the pain of a brutal blow. This trait could have come off as a contrivance but McConaghy uses it judiciously and the effect is haunting. Though Inti is often abrasive and a poor decision maker, I found her passion, anger and hope to be compelling.I’ve never given much thought to wolves to be honest, and I was surprised to find myself invested in the fates of the fourteen relocated animals. McConaghy’s descriptions of the wolves, their behaviours and their contribution to environmental health are affecting and fascinating. Though no such project exists in Scotland, McConaghy makes an eloquent case for it.Lyrical, moving and profound, Once There Were Wolves is a stunning novel.

[ecataldi-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Once I got into this book I was invested - but it took a minute for me to actually come around. This is a tough book if you are sensitive to domestic violence and animal cruelty because there is plenty of both to be found in the pages. I hope I didn't completely deter you though because this book is both fascinating and complex. It's a book I won't be able to stop thinking about and it made me think about wolves in an entirely new way. Inti and her twin sister, Aggie, arrive in Scotland to release wolves into the forests for the first time in hundreds of years. The Highlands have been empty of the gray predators for hundreds of years - but Inti and her team of scientists have great hope that this will restore the dying landscape. Inti and Aggie are fleeing trauma of their own having fled from Alaska - can the wolves heal them and the Scottish people? Or is it bound to be a bloody affair with mangled bodies and spirits. Lyrical, dark, and haunting. Get through the initial slog and it's well worth the journey.

[nbmars · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This story, that begins with a group of biologists transporting fourteen gray wolves to Cairngorms National Park in the Scottish Highlands from British Columbia, appears at first to be about rewilding. That is, as one of the group explains at a town meeting for fearful and hostile residents of the area, an attempt to repair the damaged ecosystem of the area by extending the woodland over, reducing CO2 emissions, and providing habitats for native species. The best way to do this, Evan - the only Scot in the group - tells them, is to control the herbivore population by reintroducing a keystone predator species that has been missing in that land for hundreds of years, since wolves were hunted to extinction.The residents counter that agriculture - specifically raising of sheep and cattle - the third-largest source of employment in rural Scotland - will be threatened by the wolves. Evan tries to assure them that there are effective ways of deterring wolf depredation, but they aren’t convinced.Inti Flynn, self-described (accurately) as a “bad-tempered Australian” leads the rewilding effort, and is prepared to see humans as the main enemy. Inti has the neurological condition of mirror-touch synesthesia. Her brain re-creates the sensory experiences of living creatures, of all people and even sometimes animals; if she sees it, she feels it, and for just a moment, she is them, and their pain or pleasure is her own. The condition has made Inti more compassionate toward animals and nature, but oddly blinded to the nuances of her fellow humans. A bad experience some years earlier that irreparably damaged her and her sister Aggie, albeit in different ways, has made her particularly apt to think the worst of human males. She suspects all of them as having only bad motives, no matter how ill-concealed, as she sees it, by kindness. Her caring for the wolves is in sharp juxtaposition to her behavior towards the species she really considers to be the apex predator.When a murder takes place nearby, Inti is terrified the natives will think the wolves did it, and use that excuse to destroy them. The actions she takes both reflect and intensity her own obsessions, and lead to further tragedies.This is a haunting story, with an interesting dual plot-line. Readers will learn a lot about wolves and their behaviors, which include love, loyalty and violence. But the species with the most love, loyalty, and violence, is the human one. The pain these can bring doesn’t require mirror-touch synesthesia to pervade one’s life.

[tamidale · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Set in the Scottish Highlands, Once We Were Wolves describes the life of Inti Flynn as she reintroduces the wolves into the Highlands against the wishes of the local residents.I found this to be a dark, foreboding tale, full of past mysteries that are slowly revealed. Inti has brought along her twin sister, who has suffered a traumatic event. Inti also has a special gift (or curse) called mirror touch synesthesia, which causes her to feel other’s pain.Inti quickly becomes romantically involved with Duncan, the local sheriff. Theirs is a complicated relationship, as they both have a past full of painful secrets.Bringing the wolves was important to the area to restore the dying landscape and help with the over population of deer in the area. However, the locals are fearful of the wolves killing their sheep and cattle and they are not very friendly to Inti when she arrives with the wolves. I was fascinated by the process of releasing the wolves into the wild and learning about their nature. I also loved how Inti was so intuitive to their needs.This is a complicated and at times violent story, so sensitive readers may not want to read this. I listened on audio, with Saskia Maarleveld narrating. She did a wonderful job. I intend to visit this story again in book form. It’s definitely one worth re-reading.Many thanks to NetGalley and MacMillan audio for allowing me to listen to an early audio release and give my honest review.

[grandmacootie · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

After reading her previous novel, Migrations, and now this spell-binding story Once There Were Wolves, Charlotte McConaghy has become one of my go-to authors. But beware. These books are not light, fluffy, easy reads. They bring up strong emotions, put you on edge, and make you think. It’s well worth it, though. People are in difficult circumstances with tough choices to make; the best choice isn’t always (usually isn’t) the easy choice that would result in that happy storybook ending. But these are strong, layered, dedicated, brave characters that you won’t quickly forget.Once There Were Wolves is all about wolf biologists and rewilding. Rewilding – what a concept. Who would have thought that all the “progress” we have made in moving predators out of our way so we can expand, can settle where they used to roam free, would actually result in such an upset to the balance of nature for the entire planet? The description of the deer, without any wolves to stop them, eating the buds of plants before they have a chance to grow, wiping out any hope of that clearing returning to forest, is startling and thought-provoking.The story is set in Scotland. Author McConaghy paints a wonderfully desolate picture of the town. So gray and cold you picture the story in black and white. Until the picture includes the wolves. In what should have been one of their natural habitats, the wolves are vibrant, colorful and fascinating. Inti Flynn and her team of wolf biologists are there to try and successfully reintroduce the wolves back into the Highlands. But it’s not a popular project with the townspeople. Wolves were driven out for a reason: they kill livestock - and sometimes children. They’re dangerous, and they are unwanted. The conflict between the town and the team is sharp.Your fascination won’t stop with the wolves. Inti has a condition that causes her to feel everything as if it was happening to her. People, animals, everything. Hard to watch, but you can’t turn away. And because of that she’s turned inward, not willing to make connections and relationships.Once There Were Wolves definitely delivers as promised. It is spellbinding, evoking a full range of emotions. I cheered the wolves on as it looked like they were settling in, feared for them when the townspeople became angry and aggressive and wished for a happy ever after for Inti and her twin sister Aggie. Charlotte McConaghy expertly weaves together the science behind rewilding with the beauty of the wolves and the human emotions and actions to just live life, and wraps it all in a fuzzy world that at times seems almost unreal. What are Inti’s secrets? Is Aggie even real, or did she in fact die when Inti remembers how Aggie was hurt and withdrew? Is Inti’s sister just a sad, painful memory confined to Inti’s cabin? This is a beautifully crafted story, multi-layered, touching, poignant. Thanks to Flatiron Books for providing an advance copy of Once There Were Wolves via NetGalley for my reading pleasure and honest review. Charlotte McConaghy is a very talented author writing very compelling books. Keep her on your must-read list. All opinions are my own.

[susan.h.schofield · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was a very powerful and timely book. It covered a lot of very relevant topics - the environment, domestic abuse and the bond between twins. It is beautifully written and the descriptions will transport you to Scotland with the wolves. Inti is a strong and well developed character although you will question her choices. Thanks to NetGalley for the digitial ARC.

[iudita_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This book was not a great read for me and I know exactly why. There were a lot of threads running in the plot and they were not woven together well. There was the story of the wolves and I would have been happy to see that one plot point developed fully on it's own (which it wasn't).There was also the complex relationship with Inti's sister, and the issue of abuse and a murder mystery all dropped into the plot, none of which was fully developed. As well there was the issue of her condition called mirror-touch synesthesia which was just thrown into the story as though it were a common everyday thing. There were other things as well, that I will not mention for spoiler reasons. All summed up - just way too much going on with very little cohesion. This story lacked depth, both in the plot and in the characters. The idea appealed to me. I would have enjoyed a well written book about the re-introduction of a wolf pack, but it seems this book wasn't for me.

[nancyadair-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Last year I read Charlotte McConaghy's debut novel Migrations which I absolutely loved. Her new novel Once There Were Wolves deals with similar themes of ecological destruction and a young woman determined to restore the balance of nature. I also found it darker, more suspenseful, delving into the basic questions of human nature. The opening sentence is horrific, an introduction into Inti's experience of mirror-touch synesthesia, and throughout the novel this device takes readers into the physical experience of violence, and also love. Inti and her twin Aggie grew up with separated parents, their mother a cop in Australia while their father lived a sustainable life in Canada. Their dad taught them how to live in harmony with nature. Their mother taught them that every person is a potential threat. Inti has a condition in which she can feel in her body what she observes happening to others. When Aggie marries a man who abuses her, and Inti does what she must to protect her sister. Aggie never recovers.The Scottish ecosystem in crisis, with deer destroying the vegetation, Itni is part of a team reintroducing the deer's natural predator--wolves. It had worked in Yellowstone National Park. If you want to save the planet, you have to start with the predators, Inti explains.They want to fear the wolves because we don't want to fear each other.~from Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghyThe Scots hunted out the wolves hundreds of years ago to protect their grazing sheep and out of fear. But Inti knows that humans are the real killers. Even in remote Scotland, Aggie lives in terror. Inti and the local cop Duncan begin an affair; both are damaged souls with dark secrets. "Death gets under your skin," Duncan says; "you carry it with you." Like Inti, he has seen the violence men can inflict on women. Inti makes enemies as she clashes with the locals over the wolves. When one goes missing, the wolves are suspect. And over time, Inti and the cop Duncan are also implicated. The wolves must kill to survive. And sometimes, humans must do the same. McConaghy's vivid descriptions bring to life the beauty of nature and the wolves, and the destruction humans inflict on nature and each other.I received a free egalley from the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.