Once There Were Wolves

Bookseller recommendation

“Telling of the reintroduction of wolves to the Scottish highlands, Once There Were Wolves affirms the importance of our connections to the human and more-than-human worlds that sustain us, worlds we sever at our own peril.”

— Ben Platt • Jackson Hole Book Trader

Bookseller recommendation

“Inti has always relied on tough, talkative Aggie, whether they're with one parent surviving in the wilderness of North America or with the other, a tough cop in Australia. Her sense of security, constantly undermined by her rare neurological disorder - a tactile form of synaesthesia, is fragile at best. We can all relate to Inti's growing fears she faces a parent's illness, her sister's change from strong one to frail one, and the ecological fight of a lifetime. The murder that threatens to undermine her professional project makes Inti question all her certainties (and keeps us guessing until the end!). Like in Mandel's Station Eleven, Heller's The Dog Stars, and McConaghy's earlier novel Migrations, beautiful descriptions of landscapes and tough, edgy questions about ecology enrich a story of a main character searching for strength and trust in a world of disaster, and Inti's story, with its rich parallel themes (book clubs, listen up!) and thriller-speed plot twists, will appeal to a variety of readers.”

— Nialle • The Haunted Bookshop

Bookseller recommendation

“Inti and Aggie. Sisters. Twins. Aggie with a gift for language and Inti who belongs in the forest. A complicated intertwined life journey has landed the two of them in the wilds of Scotland as part of a wolf rehoming project where local tempers run hot, scientist's missions are complicated, and wolves howl for love and justice in the hills and peat bogs of the highland forests. McConaghy's writing will destroy you, demand your attention, ask you to be still and listen, and will absolutely change you. Once There Were Wolves and after there were, they'll never leave you. ”

— Angie • The Country Bookshop