The Wolf Border: A Novel by Sarah Hall

(Thank you to the publisher and TLC Book Tours for providing me with a copy of this book!)

about book:

She hears them howling along the buffer zone, a long harmonic.
One leading, then many.
At night there is no need to imagine, no need to dream.
They reign outside the mind.

Rachel Caine is a zoologist working in Nez Perce, Idaho, as part of a wolf recovery project. She spends her days, and often nights, tracking the every move of a wild wolf pack—their size, their behavior, their howl patterns. It is a fairly solitary existence, but Rachel is content.

When she receives a call from the wealthy and mysterious Earl of Annerdale, who is interested in reintroducing the grey wolf to Northern England, Rachel agrees to a meeting. She is certain she wants no part of this project, but the Earl’s estate is close to the village where Rachel grew up, and where her aging mother now lives in a care facility. It has been far too long since Rachel has gone home, and so she returns to face the ghosts of her past.

my thoughts:

Compelling.  Beautiful.  Haunting.  The Wolf Border is a literary delight.  I absolutely loved losing myself in a story about relationships, familial bonds, and wolves (the grey wolf in particular).  Written without quotations marks, this story may frustrate some who find that distinguishing between dialogue and a character's musings to be rather difficult.  I found it to be rather freeing.  The lack of quotations felt in line with the character of Rachel who is rather an earthy, minimalist loner type who spends her days observing wolves.  Suddenly pregnant she takes on a new job that will bring her back to a home and family she's left behind - dying mother and estranged brother.  Talk about facing family issues head on (or at least trying to). 

Told at a slow and steady pace, the story unfolds rather passively.  You feel as if you are observing Rachel's life and dramas in real time, along with the mundane details of her job as a zoologist.  Its may sound boring, but truth be told, I was fascinated by it all.  As for Rachel, I found her to be the epitome of unlikeable.  Yet, I couldn't help but want to know what would happen to her and the wolves.  I wanted to know her story.  And that is what I loved about Hall's writing - it was spellbinding!  I absolutely loved The Wolf Border and plan on reading more of Hall's works in the future.

I would most definitely recommend The Wolf Border to fans of Hall's works and fans of literary fiction.  You will LOVE this book! 

Here's the link to the TLC Book Tour schedule for: The Wolf Border

Thank you to the publisher and TLC Book Tours for providing me with a copy of this book!