literarychronicles's reviews
689 reviews

Once There Were Wolves is a story about a biologist's mission to reintroduce wolves to Scotland. 
“When we were eight, Dad cut me open from throat to stomach.”

This was the shocking start to the book, & it was able to catch my attention from the first sentence itself. It held my attention till the end and turned out to be one of my favourite 2023 reads.

Records say that wild wolves have been extinct in Scotland for centuries. Due to this, farm animals & deer have been roaming free in the Scottish highlands grazing any new shoots & existing greens. To restore natural forests, it’s essential to keep the deer moving. This is the reason to reintroduce wolves to the Scottish highlands. This was why our protagonist Inti came to Scotland.

However, the farmers are not happy about it as they are worried about the farm animals. Amidst the hostile farmers, there are a few that stand out. One of the most hostile of them disappears one night. While everyone blames the wolves, Inti is positive that the wolves are innocent. 

Inti’s twin sister Aggie who accompanies her is mysterious & is recovering from a previous trauma. Another side story is Inti’s budding romance with the local sheriff. They are both trying to figure out who’s responsible for the disappearance of the farmer. Can they trust each other? What role does Aggie play in all this?

Another interesting aspect was a neurological condition Inti was suffering from, called Mirror-touch synesthesia. It makes her feel the same sensations she sees. Navigating life & work with this condition is not easy, but Inti is able to feel both what wolves and humans feel. Did the author mean to say that wolves mirror the humans in the story? Maybe. I felt that there were few characters & wolves who seemed similar. 

At times, Inti annoyed me. As the head of the programme, she should have learnt to work with the stakeholders, not against them. The author had woven in animal cruelty, death, & domestic abuse to the story. This made it dark & gruesome at times. The characters were complex & even the worst sounding person had some redeeming qualities. 

This is a story about the environment. It is also a story about complex human nature. It was well researched & multi-layered. In my point of view, this was a very well written book, & I invite all lovers of literary fiction to read this.