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.
"Lyrical, captivating, thought-provoking and thrilling, this immersive read will capture your attention from the first page." - Good Morning America
"Bold...A heartfelt and earnest novel." - The New York Times Book Review
"Far more than an old wolves' tale. Instead, it illustrates what it's like to be an outsider--from both a human and animal perspective--and the level of healing and acceptance it takes from within to be accepted and to accept yourself." - Electric Literature
"The Australian author made waves with last summer's Migrations, a meditation on climate change and loneliness, and returns with a new story set in the Scottish Highlands, where two twin sisters join a team attempting to reintroduce a pack of wolves to their natural surroundings." - Entertainment Weekly
"From the author of 2020's gorgeous Migrations comes a similarly earth-shattering tale of humanity's influence on the natural world." - Thrillist
"Urges us to take a lesson from the wolves, and learn to lean on one another." - BookRiot
"A lyrical novel with a wild heart." - PopSugar
"A moving, moody story by the author of the 2020 novel Migrations." - AARP
"Intense, emotional and rich with beautifully rendered prose, McConaghy's novel is a powerful meditation on humanity, nature and the often frightening animalistic impulses lurking within us all...Another triumph for a rising fiction star, offering an intensely realized world for readers to get lost in." - BookPage
"Vividly realized... Gorgeously rendered...A story full of subtle surprises...This is a stunner." - Publishers Weekly
"Poetic...A lovely, gripping tale about a world that could be our own." - Kirkus
"McConaghy infuses Inti's adventures with ravishing descriptions of the landscape and the 'infinite mysteries of wolves'... McConaghy's richly plotted tale of suspense and psychological insight poses provocative questions about predators and humanity's impact on Earth." - Booklist
