A Book A Week

"All creatures know love, Dad used to say. All creatures."

I have a vivid memory of walking through the wooded trail of my college campus late one night. I had just finished my final class for the evening and was making my way across the campus to the parking garage where I had parked early that same morning. It had been a long day, and I was exhausted. Instead of taking the usual paved path that was the quickest means to traversing the campus, I decided to take the back way, a winding gravel trail clouded by a canopy of mature trees. The moon shone just bright enough to illuminate the path before me, peaking through the leaves above. I walked this trail, taking in the quiet and reflecting on my day. Just before the end of the path, I spotted the shadowed form of what appeared to be a dog. As I cautiously moved forward, I realized that the creature ahead was a coyote. The animal and I locked eyes for a moment. I didn't dare to make any sudden moves. We just stood there, taking each other in. After that brief moment of recognition, the coyote moved off of the path and went about its way into the brush. 

As I listened to Charlotte McConaghy's latest novel Once There Were Wolves, I was reminded of that long-forgotten memory from many years ago. There is a power in our recognition of and existence with nature, the magic of sorts that McConaghy captures in her work. Our experience, the love, and loss that we each face during our lifetime are uniquely intertwined within the larger world we inhabit. It is from that interplay between man and nature that McConaghy begins to form her story.

The novel centers on the story of Inti, a biologist whose team has just introduced a pack of wolves into the Scottish Highlands. She hopes that in bringing the animals to the area that they haven't inhabited for hundreds of years, the pack will grow and become a beacon of hope for the survival of the species. Her arrival is not without its detractors. The local farmers and sheepherders are up in arms about the introduction of potential predators into the area. Despite her best efforts to reassure them with evidence from similar successful programs in Yellowstone National Park, Inti fears the farmers will take to killing the animals. 

The wolves aren't the only thing that brought Inti to the area. She has traveled with her sister Aggie, a woman who has known her own share of trauma. McConaghy hints at an event that occurred in the last place the sisters lived that drove them to move away, an ordeal that will slowly be revealed as the story progresses. Aggie is withdrawn, a shadow of her former self. Just as Inti intends to rehabilitate the population of wolves, so must she rebuild the relationship with her sister. As the two rescue missions ensue, Inti will be challenged to overcome both the political and personal ramifications of her undertaking. 

To reveal too much about the novel's plot points would rob you of the narrative wizardry that McConaghy achieves. Suffice it to say, Once There Were Wolves is the kind of read that is best experienced with as little preconception as possible. I chose to listen to the audio version of the book and was instantly drawn in by the combination of Saskia Maarleveld's gentle narration and McConaghy's captivating plot. The vastness of the landscapes and sheer scope of monitoring a pack of wolves is juxtaposed with the more internalized conflicts that the characters face. McConaghy writes with a quiet sureness that gives even the simplest moments a sense of gravity and enchantment. Once There Were Wolves asks us to reflect upon our own relationship to the natural world, and more importantly, to the relationships that we foster within it. 

For more information visit the author's website, Amazon, and Goodreads. 

(2021, 28)