Ruth Emmie Lang tells such magical stories, and The Wilderwomen is no different.

Zadie and Finn’s mom disappeared into thin air five years ago, leaving Zadie on her own and Finn in foster care. Both girls have psychic powers: Finn can read memories and Zadie has premonitions. Finn wants to start looking for their mom, and convinces Zadie to go with her.

The Wilderwomen is ultimately a story and mothers and daughters and sisters wrapped up in a story about magic. Zadie and Finn have such a dynamic relationship. Both girls motivated by their mother for completely different reasons.

Thank you to the publishers for an arc of this book in exchange for my honest review. Let me start by saying I don’t loveeee fantasy/sci-fi/magical realism BUT I’m willing to try anything. I enjoyed a lot of things about this book but ultimately parts fell flat for me. I liked the relationship between the sisters but the magical aspects left me feeling unsatisfied. I wanted more. I do like her writing though and the way she words things.

The Wilderwomen by Ruth Emmie Lang follows Zadie and Finn, two sisters who possess unique magical gifts. Zadie is able to see into the future and sense things that are coming, while Finn is able to somehow detect echoes of memories of others who have been wherever she happens to be at the moment. Somehow, even with these abilities, both sisters are blindsided when their mother, Nora, abruptly leaves their home and disappears.

Fast forward five years and Zadie and Finn have become estranged from one another and there’s still no sign of their mother, that is, until Finn stumbles across a memory echo that she is convinced belongs to her mother. She reaches out to Zadie and after some coaxing, convinces Zadie that she can retrace their mother’s steps using her memories and finally figure out what happened to her. The sisters embark on a road trip that will change their lives in more ways than they can possibly imagine.

The relationship between Zadie and Finn was by far the highlight of the book for me. It’s clear they need each other in spite of having grown so far apart without their mother there for guidance. And it’s also clear that the absence of their mother and the constant wondering about why she just left them has really kept them from truly moving on and living their lives to the fullest. I loved watching Zadie and Finn reconnect as they worked together to retrace their mother’s steps. No matter how far apart they’ve grown, the bond of sisterhood is still there. Similarly, I also enjoyed the coming of age aspect of the story as we watch each sister grow and figure out their place in the world as they’re on this journey.

Another highlight for me was Lang’s beautiful writing. It reminded so much of Alice Hoffman’s writing, very lyrical and atmospheric, almost weaving a spell around me as I was reading. Her descriptions of the girls’ abilities were so vivid that it was easy to picture exactly what the girls were sensing every step of the way.

The only thing that didn’t quite work for me was the ending. For me it felt a bit rushed and like all of the loose ends were tied up a bit too neatly. In some ways I was content with how it ended, but in others, not so much. I found myself with unanswered questions, particularly with respect to the why behind Nora’s disappearance and the why behind the sister’s abilities. I found myself flipping back through the pages to see if I had missed something.

Even with my issues with the ending, however, I still found The Wilderwomen to be a lovely read overall. It’s a wonderful story for readers who enjoy stories about family, sisterhood, and magic.

When Finn and Zadie's mom vanishes, their worlds are shattered. Both sisters possess magical abilities, Zadie is a psychic, and Finn gets visions of memories left behind. On Finn's birthday, she is slammed with an echo memory of her long-lost mother. The sisters go in search of their mother, following Finn's echos and coming across some very unusual people along the way. Time is limited because the more Finn spends time in her mother's echos, the more she loses touch with reality. Can their mom be found before it's too late? This was a very unique take on magical realism, and I enjoyed it very much. Thank you, NetGalley for the eARC.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the advanced copy of The Wilderwomen by Ruth Emmie Lang. This was my first read by this author.

I thought the writing style was great. However, I thought the story itself was sort of boring. For a book that had elements of magical realism, I thought that there wasn't enough adventure or excitement. It felt like we went through half of the book before things really started to pick up and get interesting.

Also for some reason having to read the name Zadie over and over again started to get on my nerves, really for no reason. I would be willing to read another book by this author.

Zadie and Finn had the life that you would never want to experience, one second your mother's there and the next she's not. These characters were so out of this world that this didn't necessarily feel like you were reading about a girl who just happened to graduate high school. I liked the imagery that Lang was able to provide.

Unfortunately I found that this was a slow mover. I was waiting for things to happen and it just felt as if it wasn't ever going to happen. The girls relationship was hard to get into at first but as you see Zadie actually care for Finn you realize that their relationship is complicated.

I appreciated the great writing style here, but just could not fly through this like I initially thought I could.

I had high expectations going into this book since I was a big fan of Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstances. The Wilderwomen just didn’t keep my interest the same way. I felt pretty bored most of the time I was reading it. It seemed too coincidental that everywhere the girls went, they met someone with special abilities like them. I also hated Nora and felt angry at her the whole time. All of the flashbacks and memories of her just made me wonder why they would bother looking for a mom who frequently abandoned them and was totally self involved. I would not recommend this book but it was a pretty quick read.

A gentle exploration of a family's love and its scars. The author does a good job balancing the heavy reality of her story with the girls' magic, which is restrained and effective. A lovely, moving novel.

My thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Wilderwomen, by Ruth Emmie Lang, is a complex tapestry that weaves together relationships between mothers and daughters, coming of age, and magic. It took me a bit of time to connect to the two main characters: sisters who had been abandoned by their mother and drifted apart. Once I did, I was fully engaged. The story begins as they embark on a journey to find their mother, guided by the very different sixth senses that each possess. It is a story of love, forgiveness, discovery, and acceptance. Lang’s narrative moves back and forth between past and present and point of view. Her characters, even minor ones, are very well developed, multi-dimensional, and believable. Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an unusual and heartwarming read.

The Wilderwoman by Ruth Emmie Lang was a heartwarming book with quirky characters. It starts off a little slow until you get to know everyone, and then it becomes a wonderful mystery coming of age story. I recommend this intriguing journey about sisters finding their way and loving every minute of it!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's press for this ARC!

Finn and Zadie are on a quest to find their mother who disappeared 5 years earlier, leaving Finn in foster care and Zadie all on her own. Both of these young women have unique gifts: Zadie is psychic, and Finn relives the memories of others.

The story takes us on the journey with them to find their mother. While well-written, I found my attention wandering frequently througout the book. It has taken me a couple of weeks to finish. Some aspects of the reasoning for their mother's disappearance were somewhat confusing and I didn't understand how some of the "powers" worked. For example, in one scene, Finn is in one of her "echoes" and she is interacting as her mom with Zadie. If these are memories that she is living out, how can she interact with someone in present day? These types of situations made the book a little difficult to understand and a little tough to push through. Overall, 3 stars.

Ruth Emmie Lang's Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance is one of my top 10 books of all time, so my hopes were very high here. Perhaps too high. This one didn't have the emotional pull I was expecting, so it was a bit of a disappointment. Without the high expectations, I think this could be a real win for readers though.

Dear The Wilderwomen,
You were so enchanting and emotional. I absolutely loved Finn and Zadie, and felt for them every single step of their cross country journey. The depth of grief and loss and anger that they felt about losing their mom was so heartbreaking. I loved how you were touched with magic, the presence of sixes throughout your world was fascinating. I kept hoping that the girls would be able to find their mother, but as you dove deeper into Finn's echoes, I had to wonder if she was still there to be found. Each of the Wilder women were keeping their own secrets, which usually drives me crazy, but I completely understood why they couldn't lay themselves bare to each other. Usually with a story about secrets and lack of communication, I become frustrated with the characters, not understanding why they just can't tell each other what is going on with them, but you made it make complete sense to me. I am so glad that I picked you up.

I read Lang's first book earlier this year and absolutely ADORED it. When I heard she was publishing another book, it was very high on my priority list.

'The Wilderwomen,' did not disappoint! Similar to the first novel, the writing in this book was STUNNING. There was a lot of gorgeous imagery related to birds. There was adventure. I absolutely adore Ruth Emmie Lang and will read everything she writes.

Having enjoyed Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance I really looked forward to this one. The more modern setting and background at the start threw me, however I loved the magic realism. The dynamic between Zadie and Finn was drawn so beautifully, it appeared fragile at times and strong at others. This reminded me just a little of Practical Magic, which I adored too.

You ever have a book that wrecks you but you're totally ok with it? Yea, that's this book. Wow. Incredible. Following Zadie and Finn as they search for their mother was so amazing. I love the fact that they each have powers as well. What an amazing book! I feel so lucky that I got an ARC.

This story was an unconventional mix of family drama, mystery, and a touch of magic realism.

When Nora Wilder disappeared years ago, she left behind her two daughters, Zadie who is psychic and Finn who not only remembers her own memories but the echoes of memories others have left behind. Finn is overcome by an echo the day of her graduation party and she comes to the realization that the memory belongs to her mother. Finn then convinces Zadie to join her on a road trip to retrace Nora’s footsteps in the hopes of finding her and asking her why she left. But the more echoes Finn receives from her mother’s past, the harder it is for her to remain in the present. Zadie recognizes the changes in Finn, she saw them in their own mother years ago, but now she must decide what lengths she’s willing to go to find their Nora and time is of the essence.

I really enjoyed this story because it‘s so different from what I’ve been reading lately. I tend not to choose books that are based in fantasy or have characters with preternatural abilities, but I was really drawn to the uniqueness of this story, and I found myself wanting to find Nora just as much as her daughters. Both heart-wrenching and heartwarming, I think it was a great book and a nice change from what i normally read!

*Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing a copy of this book to review.*

I love a good family story, so I was easily drawn to The Wilderwomen by Ruth Emmie Lang. The novel follows sisters Finn and Zadie Wilder as they search for the mother who abandoned them at ages twelve and eighteen. Using Finn’s ability to track their mother through her memories and Zadie’s cryptic power of premonition, the sisters embark on an open-ended road trip.

The search becomes increasingly difficult as Finn’s gift turns dangerous. But there are magical moments along the way as they meet and connect with other “sixers.” These supporting characters - especially those with ties to the earth and the stars - provide mystical and hopeful moments.

The Wilderwomen starts as a story of abandonment, but it’s ultimately about connection, identity, and forgiveness. It’s about the freedom we can only allow ourselves when we feel safely tethered. It’s about making choices out of love, not need.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for providing this ARC.

I was drawn into this story of Zadie and Finn. Two half-sisters with “special” gifts reconnect to try to find their mother, Nora, who vanished from their home years ago.

First of all, I loved how the girls’ gifts were described. Zadie is a psychic, reluctantly, and her visions are not clear but more like invasive messages she must decipher. Finn can remember “echoes” of her memories and others’ memories as well. It’s an echo that Finn gets that convinces her that Nora is out there and wants to be found. So the two girls decide to hit the road to find their mother.

The story folds back and forth on itself - from before Nora left to the girls on their road trip, searching. This helps to give clues, breadcrumbs if you will, as to what forces are pulling on these unique women.


The plot is magical and a little haunting, but sprinklings of humor make this a truly curious story.

Thank you @stmartinspress for a gifted copy. And thank you @macmillan.audio for the complimentary audiobook.

This one was interesting but very slow. I haven’t read anything quite like it before, which I really appreciated but it took a while to get into. The sisters were both very unique with their different senses and I really appreciated the band of side characters that helped them to grow into themselves. The end felt a little rushed and seemed to have some loose ends, but I gave that a pass due to the unique plot. While I wouldn’t recommend this widely to everyone, I feel like this story will definitely appeal to folks who appreciate magical realism.

Thank you to the publisher and NG for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.