There is no question. This is the best book I've read this year and I would be shocked if it isn't my favorite of 2021. If you know me, there is a good chance I will be recommending or gifting this book to you.

I was a huge fan of Migrations, so I knew the bar was extremely high. I think I liked Wolves even better. Wolves has the same style of writing (lyrical, crisp, deep but accessible) but it is a completely different type of book that is like nothing I've ever read. It's literary fiction, a love story and a slow burn mystery that I never saw coming.

The story focuses on Inti and her twin Aggie, the result of an unlikely union between a conservationist in Canada and a policewoman in Australia. Init has come to Scotland as part of a project to repopulate the area with wolves, which were killed off by hunters. The farmers and townspeople are against her efforts. The book follows Init and Aggie, who is suffering from a trauma, in Scotland in the present, while they were young women in Alaska and growing up in Canada and Australia. It is not a linear story, but it is easy to follow. That is all I'm saying. Go in as blind as you can but know if you need trigger warnings, which I don't give, you should probably read up on this book.

Just like Migrations, I'm left in wonder of Charlotte McConaghy's talent - how did she create this book? And in so few pages (256 to be exact) Please keep on writing!

A dazzling, immersive novel with all the signature hallmarks of Garlotte McConaghy's previous work--a richly drawn world, wonderfully crafted characters, an urgent message for readers, all spun together in the shape of a mystery.
A novel to keep you awake late into the night--and one which haunts with the questions it raises.

Her last book, Migrations, caught me off guard frequently and at times, I wasn’t sure if it would even interest me. Then, it did and I was hooked. I had much the same feelings about Once There Were Wolves but my emotions and late nights staying up reading were exacerbated. I wanted to cry with Inti, scream with Inti, hug her and Aggie. I learned about wolves and about the land. It was a beautiful book and haunting at the same time. Highly recommend it to anyone interested in wolves or a fan of her precious book. I wish it had been longer even though it wrapped up well. I just needed to know
More about these unusual people.

Once There Were Wolves
by Charlotte McConaghy
Pub Date: August 3, 2021
Flatiron

Thanks to Flatiron and Netgalley for the ARC. This is a great book!
Charlotte McConaghy is brilliant! If you've read Migrations and loved it, you will do the same with this one.
McConaghy’s prior novel, Migrations, looked at the demise of wildlife (birds in particular, and even more particularly terns) in a slightly future world. In this one, she continues her interest in the impact of people on the natural environment. Officially, the last wolf in Scotland was killed in 1680. There are reports of wolves being seen as late as 1888, but Scotland has been essentially wolf-free for well over three centuries.
Thus, Inti’s presence. She is leading a team charged with re-introducing a small population of wolves to a remote part of Scotland, near the Cairngorms, a mountainous area in the highlands.
And then someone goes missing. Inti’s primary concern is with the danger to the program, as she expects her wolves to be blamed.
The mystery for us is why, and how this person vanished. This book is great! 5 stars

This is a very well written but very dark story. Inti Flynn is in a desolate part of Scotland, leading a team of biologists introducing wolves back into the area. Unpopular with the residents who have lived in the area for generations and raise sheep. Inti has to deal with the townsfolk, her wolves and her twin sister. There are killings: sheep, wolves and then people. Inti has to work hard to save her wolves and those she loves. There are dark episodes in everyone's past and deep secrets that slowly come out. Plenty of twists and well timed revelations as well as plenty of opportunities for recovery, redemption and understanding. The story does have a very satisfactory ending.

A stunning look at human nature in all its complexities, blending eco-fiction with the drive of a thriller. Full review posted at BookBrowse: https://www.bookbrowse.com/mag/reviews/index.cfm/ref/pr277120

Once There Were Wolves
Charlotte McConaghy

This book was so special and had everything I enjoyed in a unique read. The setting of the novel is in the wild Scottish Highlands and is centered around twins Aggie and Inti Flynn. It is a story about them reintroducing the wolves back in the wild, until a farmer was found dead. Inti is able to feel other's pain with her mirror-touch synesthesia and is a difficult condition for her. Growing up they either lived with their mother in Australia who is a detective, or their father in the isolated part of Canada.

This book had everything from a murder mystery thriller aspect, environmental and climate change, as well as a beautifully written novel about families, sisterhood, and sensitive themes as rape and abuse. The writing was completely immersive with deep review of complex characters background, with the stories moving from the past and to the present.

McConaghy writes a visceral and complex dynamic of a story that is emotional, poignant and at times heart breaking. I really enjoyed this story.

Once There Were Wolves is an absolutely breathtaking book. From page one I knew that I would be changed. McConaghy creates a beautiful picture of wolves reentering the highlands with a cast of imperfect characters. Throughout the novel I both loved and very much disliked Inti, but I was so drawn into her story. I often found myself in awe of her and then also questioning her decisions. There were many moments where my heart felt so broken and full of hope ( and yes I cried while reading)

Overall I thought this book was a wonderful reading experience. I was impressed with all of the messages sewn into the story. It is safe to say I will be reading anything that Charlotte McConaghy writes.

A big thank you to NetGalley and Flatiron books for my eARC of Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy.

A book with a great premise that didn't hold up to expectations. Our main character has the goal of rewilding wolves to Scotland, but the book gets swept up in it's plot. The wolves were always secondary to the mystery, they felt like an ancillary side plot, and the entire premise of the book is the wolves.

Charlotte McConaghy is brilliant! If you've read Migrations and loved it, you will do the same with this one. If you haven't read Migrations, get on that. Read both. SO GOOD!

I was as caught up in the stories of the main character Inti and her twin as I was in the wolves she worked to reintroduce into the forests of Scotland.  The work she did was personal to her yet was vital to the overall ecosystem of the area, where wolves had been killed off decades before. Now the area was overrun with deer which were eating tree and plant shoots so that nothing had a chance to grow.

"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 shape and size will return to these lands.”

It's Inti trying to convince local sheepherders that the wolves are there to prey on deer, not on their sheep. But after an attack or two by unknown perpetrators, Inti has her work cut out for her.  She's one strong force of nature, tough as nails and looking out for the wolves as well as the local farmers. 

A character and a book that will have a lasting impact on me, I'm certain.   

My thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for my copy, which is where the quote came from, as it best explains the point of rewilding.

Takes the shape of your average NYT-bestselling mystery/thriller in a general ways, but proves McConaghy's prowess in how it mitigates the typical pratfalls of those lesser-brained, puzzlebox works. Crafts immense power from its memorable heroine and gorgeous, sparse language.

I enjoyed this novel, despite it being somewhat dark. I didn’t expect a mystery, but that happened when a dead body shows up, maybe killed by a wolf, maybe a human.

Init Flynn is leading a rewilding effort in Scotland, bringing back wolves, which should also restore the forest. Her team is facing a community that is strongly against the wolves with the most vocal being a man who appears to abuse his wife. The dynamic of spousal abuse, of what it does to the victim is, one of the main components of this book. The story of the wolves is just the backdrop.

The author McConaghy shows her deft writing. I felt immersed in this story, as if it was true, despite that the story takes place in the near future, or some other timeline. The mystery unwinds, what happened in Init’s past, with her twin sister? How about Duncan’s past, the town sheriff who Init hooks up with? And of course that dead body, the man who abused his wife.

One other aspect that I liked about this book was the hope given for wild animals, that we could come back from the collapse of species failure. I will be looking out for what McConaghy writes next.

Yeah I’m about to use this word… this book is EXQUISITE. Just so lovely. Migrations was my favorite book of the whole year in 2020, and somehow the author has done it again with Wolves. Such a beautiful gut-punch of a story, right to the end. Insightful, honest, sad, earnest, and so very hopeful. Love love love.

So good! With gorgeous writing and a beautiful sense of place, I just couldn’t put this one down. This is a story of a brilliant but guarded woman, leading an environmental experiment, reintroducing wild wolves into the rural Scottish countryside. The small town where she is based, is as hostile as the brutal landscape, and violence and fear begins to threaten the project. As past and present mysteries unravel, you begin to question the nature of predators and their prey, and of instincts both human and animal. The nature writing is so lovely, and the story of twin sisters intrinsically linked by their upbringing and their trauma, is gripping. Highly recommend this unique and memorable novel.

So good! The writing style, the story, the characters. Everything about this book was everything. Basically. From the first page until the very last. This may end up being in one of my top ten for the year list! Read this book!

Another great book by Charlotte McConaghy examining an ecological crisis! The characters draw you in and you root for the wolves from the very first chapter.

Charlotte McConaghy is back with an amazing second novel with Once There Were Wolves!! She continues with her uniquely lyrical voice and writing style, and her detailed descriptions make the reader feel immersed in the Scottish Highlands.

Once There Were Wolves is an atmospheric novel set in the future, after humans have carelessly destroyed Earth's environment. Forests around the world have nearly disappeared, including the Scottish forests. Biologist Inti is working to rebuild the ecosystem by introducing wolves. However, Scottish farmers are understandably worried about the wolves hunting their livestock, and this causes significant tension between the biologists and the townspeople. When Inti discovers a farmer that has been killed, with injuries similar to those a wolf would inflict, tension skyrockets. Who or what killed the farmer? Can Inti convince the farmers not to harm the wolves? What lengths will Inti go to to protect her animals?

Parallel to the storyline of Inti in Scotland, the reader also gets the story of “before,” when Inti and her twin Aggie grew up, and then moved to Alaska to help with reforestation efforts there. This story arc gives insight into events that have shaped both Aggie and Inti and led them to where they are at present in the story.

Charlotte McConaghy's writing style draws me in every time, as her words flow smoothly and are so descriptive. I can completely envision myself in the setting of her stories. I also liked how she alternated storylines throughout the novel, giving me little peeks here and there at the backstory of the characters to help develop them as well as increase my connection and empathy with their present situation.

Once I started, I couldn't put this book down and I stayed up way too late reading! The enticing storyline of Once There Were Wolves combined with the writing style makes for an ethereal story. Be sure to snag a copy of this futuristic mystery for yourself!! Look for it in bookstores August 3, 2021, or use the link below to pre-order on Amazon.

Thank you to Charlotte McConaghy and Flatiron books for the advanced copy!!

Charlotte McConaghy’s Once There Were Wolves pits biologists seeking to reintroduce the titular animals into the Scottish Highlands against a society that has intentionally moved on from the creatures. Like her previous novel, 2020’s bestselling Migrations, Once There Were Wolves explores the interplay between humanity and nature, and the author ably uses that battle as a mirror of our all-too-human conflicts between ourselves and those we love.

McConaghy’s strength lies in her ability to conjure an erotic bond between nature and humanity. Inti suffers from (if “suffers” is the right word) “mirror touch synesthesia,” a condition that results in her feeling the sensations experienced by those she observes. If she sees someone get injured, she feels their pain. And she cannot inflict pain on others without causing herself physical distress. Inti literally manifests the truism that humans are “hardwired for empathy.”

Once There Were Wolves is a thoughtful, enjoyable book, every bit as readable as Migrations. In it, Charlotte McConaghy has once again created a world where we must balance trust and fear, humanity and nature. That she can do so with such spellbinding skill makes me excited for where she might take us next.

“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.”

This book is phenomenal! I haven’t read anything of Charlotte McConaghy’s before, but if Once There Were Wolves is anything to go by, I will be reading her entire backlist very soon. The writing was haunting and spare, the story deftly woven and slowly teased out; McConaghy knows how to let things happen in their own time. This book has everything: atmospheric Scotland highlands setting; magical realism; angst; murder mystery; interpersonal conflict; environmentalism and stewardship. What more could I ask for? This story gripped me from sentence one and did not let go.