This is difficult to review, as I found some of it interesting, and some of it quite unsettling.
Nothing in it was for shock tactics, but I did have to put the book down a few times to let what I'd read settle and feel less... Uncomfortable.
All in all, I found this book solidly constructed and the sexual violence and other items that I found a bit difficult were integral to the story, rather than for shock value. I was sympathetic to some characters, and found the plot reasonably well paced.

Animal protection, Climate Change and a mystery - perfect Clare reading fodder! The relationship between the two sisters, Inti and Aggie, was touching, and the relationship between the main character (Inti) and the townsfolk was tense, to say the least.

The idea of reintroducing wolves to the Highlands of Scotland in order to enrich and preserve the ecosystems there, is fascinating and exciting as a reader - and as someone who doesn’t have to farm under those circumstances. The writing was sensitive to every side of the story, but as Inti was leading the project to reintroduce wild wolves, the novel leant more in her favour - and I enjoyed that.

Aggie, Inti’s twin, has had a very traumatic experience, and she has severe depression along with other mental health problems. Inti hopes that by living in the wilds of Scotland, the isolation and wild country will begin to heal her.

But when one of the townsfolk is hurt, it’s hard to know who is safe - not the wolves, that’s for sure.

There are some really deep, involved themes in this: climate change, ecology, domestic abuse, violence, relationships.

Incidentally, I went on holiday in the Cairngorms this summer. We stayed in a cottage, away from all the other cottages on the estate (we couldn’t even see them), surrounded by fields containing alpacas and deer, with the odd buzzard, peregrine and even an osprey! I half expected to see a wolf-pack!! Sadly, there aren’t any wild wolves in Scotland now, but that estate was a weeks worth of heaven for me and my family - and would have fed a wolf pack for about that long, too!

An enjoyable read, well written and entertaining. Hadn't read this author before but would consider reading again.

This is a story of how being inert can lead to attack. It’s a deep and beautifully written story. If has got some scenes that people may find hard to read such as rape but it is about humanity and not a shock tactic.

The published very kindly offered me the chance to read this because I enjoyed Charlotte’s debut, The Last Migration, so much. Obviously, I jumped at the chance to read this not only for that reason, but because the blurb sold this to me immediately. Reintroducing wolves in the Scottish highlands and all the tension that endeavour brings with it? Yes, please!

I wasn’t disappointed. Like her debut, Once There Were Wolves was highly atmospheric. Charlotte transports you entirely to whichever location she writes about, ensuring you’re fully immersed in the story. The descriptions are so vivid you can practically feel the damp air and bite of the wind on your cheeks.

I also have to mention how this book has one of the most impactful, intriguing opening lines I have ever come across. I dare anyone to read that and not want to read on.

I loved the mystery element of this novel, too. I would have been happy to simply read about the reintroduction program, with the exploration of the protagonist’s traumatic backstory included too, but the mystery helped the pacing, added an extra level of intrigue and brought old wounds to the forefront all the more prominently.

Overall, a fantastic read and can’t wait to read whatever Charlotte publishes next!

Beautifully written, poignant and well paced with convincing plot twists, a wonderful and unpredictable tension running through it and a satisfying ending.

Not what I expected at all, in a good way! The story wasn't too technical or focused on the wolves, but had a love story at the heart. Really interesting explorations of family, isolation and forming bonds.

Fabulous book - I loved this beautiful, eerie story about a woman leading a project to rewild wolves in rural Scotland. Although it has shades of crime thriller / psychological thriller, I am not really sure what to call it as the crimes and solution are almost a backdrop to the relationships of the characters and the successes / failures of the wolf project. I don't usually connect with books that are so focused on nature as I often find them boring / repetitive, but the author gave all the different natural settings and the animals that she felt so strongly about, such character and personality that they felt alive and distinctive. The language was captivating, the characters multi-dimensional and intriguing, the tension between the locals and the project (and ultimately the short- vs. long-term tensions of ecological efforts vs. immediate livelihoods) relatable and pertinent. The development of the key central relationships (one romantic and one familial) were compelling and the thriller/mystery elements were unravelled deftly in such a way that kept me page-turning eagerly until the end. Highly recommended - powerful but highly readable, intriguing, a bit different. Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read.

A moving and fully engaging novel that will pull you into some amazing characters from the first chapters. I finished this books in an evening as I wanted to know how the main threads ended up.

We are more than halfway through the year and I am naming my favourite book so far.

Once There Were Wolves follows a biologist, Inti Flynn, who as part of a small team, is hoping to right an ecological wrong in the Scottish Highlands, preventing long-term environmental crisis.

Without getting too detailed, Inti and her team are introducing a pack of 14 grey wolves to a remote area as part of a rewilding project. The area has reduced tree cover due to an abundance of deer, which has hastened climate change. The topic itself is so interesting, as is the behavioural nature of the wolves, but that's not all there is to love about this book.

It also explores the interplay between humanity and nature, human conflict, isolation, trust and fear. It takes an insightful and fascinating look at humanness, hurt and survival, particularly through it's depiction of the relationship between Inti and her twin sister, Aggie, and the relationship between parents and their children, and husbands and wives.

The story is rife with violence and suffering, which explains why Inti prefers the uncomplicated company of animals and nature. She has a rare condition in which she takes on the physical pain experienced by people she observes, which both connects her to and separates her from the world around her. It's an impossible predicament: she yearns for contact with others but can't enjoy it without experiencing pain.

There's also a murder mystery included in the story, some romance, and I loved the community piece. This is honestly one of the most beautiful, thoughtful, considered and thought-provoking books I have ever read. Spellbinding. I can't recommend it enough. I adored it.

Reading the synopsis and reviews, I thought I was set for a murder mystery with an environmentalism plot. Instead, I get a family drama with major domestic violence storylines. The wolves hung in the background, and in the end, never received the appreciation they deserved. While I thought the sisters' relationship is harrowing and tragic, I thought the way their trauma is magically wiped away with the power of deus ex machina upsetting, I never felt the characters were accountable for their actions.

For me, this is the type of book that should come with a trigger warning. There are on-page scenes of rape that felt gratuitous. The way domestic violence and mental illness are portrayed is questionable. While I liked the way the writing flows, it wasn't enough to salvage my reading experience. Ultimately, this book didn't work for me.

Brilliant twisty little thriller had me hooked from page one and the ending was not to be missed, will look out for more from the author!

Once again, I’ve found myself lost for words at the close of Charlotte McConaghy’s work. Similar in its tone and its simple brilliance to The Last Migration, Once There Were Wolves perfectly interweaves the vulnerability with the fragility of the natural world, beautifully encapsulating what it means to be human. It carries with it not just the haunting howls of wolves, echoing over the Highlands, but the silent screams of those of us in pain. In its pages, it holds the complete spectrum of human emotion, from sorrow to joy, disillusionment to hope, and tranquillity to violence. It connects us to nature, and nature to us. It reminds us of what we are: a small part of a massive global ecosystem.
Once There Were Wolves comes alive, living and breathing just like us. It takes us on a journey to discover a dream … a dream of reintroducing wolves to the Highlands … a dream of nature. It gives us hope in these crushing times, through rewilding and protecting nature and the world around us. The pages are a beacon in the night, wonderfully relating emotional recovery to the recovery of the natural world – a harsh and seemingly never-ending tunnel but with the most beautiful light on the other side. McConaghy pens characters that each undergo their own journey and, on the way, uncover aspects of themselves long buried away in fear.
Just as with The Last Migration, it’s incredibly difficult to write this review simply because my words cannot do McConaghy’s justice. I can’t replicate the haunting description of the Scottish Highlands or the atmospheric quality the pages carry with them. I can’t show you how much we become part of the story, tearing through the pages looking for a resolution that becomes as much our own as it is Inti and Aggie’s. I can’t convey the dreamlike quality that McConaghy imbues the wolves with or the desperation we feel for their survival. I can’t show you any of that, but I can say here that McConaghy’s work is simply unmissable, glorious as a tale of human healing set against a journey to heal nature.
Many thanks to Charlotte McConaghy, Random House UK Vintage Books and Netgalley for providing an ARC for Once There Were Wolves.

Naturalist Inti Flynn is leading a project to re-introduce grey wolves into the Cairngorms National Park in the Scottish Highlands. Such a project has apparently been successfully carried out in Yellowstone National Park in the US and the ecosystem has benefited. But not surprisingly the locals, mainly farmers, are not only sceptical, but downright hostile and equally surprisingly Inti and her team don’t make much of an effort to win them round – a priority for any re-wilding project I would have thought. Be that as it may, Inti arrives with her 14 wolves and sets about freeing them. Things don’t go too well, as might be expected, and soon she and her colleagues are embroiled in all sorts of shenanigans – and here the novel turns into a murder mystery. In fact, the wolves’ part of the novel is really only one thread as the book is as much an exploration of trauma and abuse among the humans as amongst the animals. Every single character is damaged. Every single one. Misery piled on misery until I felt like crying out “enough already!” Lots of dark, disturbing back stories so that soon I found my credibility being stretched to breaking point. And then there’s the ending, which descends into bathos and a nice uplifting end note about how we’re all going to be fine after all if we only bring back the wolves. I did actually find it a compelling read and really enjoyed it whilst I was reading it, but it’s one of those books that when you start really thinking about it the flaws becomes more and more obvious. Drama becomes melodrama and thus desensitising. One reviewer called it “tragedy porn”. But nevertheless it’s an enjoyable and entertaining thought-provoking read about rewilding, even if the actual re-wilding isn’t necessarily the main focus.

I am struggling to write a review in relation to this book. Parts of it were good - I enjoyed the writing about the project work to introduce wolves to Scotland, However, I felt the focus should have been on this. The subplots that were running alongside it bored me and I needed to rush through them to get to the parts I enjoyed. Whilst domestic violence is, unfortunately, a reality, I found the depiction in this book to be salacious. I have seen another review describe it as tragedy porn and I can understand why it was described as this.

For me, I felt that the rewinding parts of the novel saved this and allowed the 3 stars, however, it was close and could so easily have been 2.

Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

If someone was to reintroduce wolves to the forest on your doorstep, what would you do? Inti Flynn is faced with these angry landowners as she begins her new conservation projects in the Scottish wildlands and is determined to prove that wolves and humans can live in peace, if given the chance. As Inti makes friends, as well as enemies, in her new town, she is also trying to piece back together her fragile sister who has been hurt beyond recognition.

This was a fast-paced, tense read that once I started, I couldn't put down. I really enjoyed learning about Inti and her childhood, and I think her condition of mirror-touch synesthesia brought such an added element to the story, and really made the reader experience everything going on to a whole new level.

I am fascinated and terrified by wolves in equal measure, and I really enjoyed how the author opened the reader's understanding of how wolves worked, the ways they were truly wild and yet how they could often be cute, playful and loyal to one another. But there would always be an outlier, one truly wilder than the others and because of that more dangerous. I really felt like the author had given the human characters wolf counterparts (or vice versa) and even as we saw these characters grow and change, maybe so did their wolves.

Inti's relationships and pregnancy all felt very fast-tracked in the book though this is because of the book's overall fast pace. I did find it a bit skeptical that so many people didn't notice Inti's late-stage pregnancy belly and she was able to do so much in her final trimester (literally track a wolf across the mountain in the snow) and the end was almost a bit too picture perfect in a way but I also think Inti deserved some of the peace that she so longed for for her wolves

I loved the fact that it was set in Scotland and featured wolves. It follows the story of Inti Flynn rewilding wolves in the Highlands. Not all landowners and farmers welcome the change, due to the risk of loss of life to their livestock.
Inti is a strong and passionate woman, with a clear understanding of the benefits of reintroducing wolves back into the wild. However, she is intolerant of others and has the tact of a bull in a China shop. This makes it hard for her to positively influence others and not easy to work with if you don’t share or are prepared to consider her views.
She does however begin to fall into a complex relationship with the local chief police officer, Duncan, and get drawn into a weave of deceit when an unpleasant local goes missing. So there is a whodunnit aspect in the book also.
Some of the experience of the wolves as they develop their own packs, become parents and weather the threat from some humans is incredibly emotional and moving. There is much to learn about the rewilding of wolves from an informational perspective as well as being drawn into an immersive story, packed with unconventional situations and much tension.
There are a lot of side story strands weaved into this. At times they didn’t all hold together and may have meant it occasionally felt lack it lost some credibility. But this was a bold attempt, covering Some very different topics. Having said this, it was an atmospherics and immersive read with a real feel for the geographical setting.

As an exiled Scot, I’m always keen to read novels set in my homeland. I love the sense of connection: to the place, the people and the language. There has been a real spate of such books recently, but with the exception of Freya North’s Little Wing, none has touched me more profoundly than this beautifully crafted marriage of climate fiction and poignant human drama. It’s instructive and thought-provoking, and possessed of a rare potency that lingers long after the final page.

Inti Flynn is a biologist tasked with leading a team to reintroduce wolves to the wilds of Scotland. The Cairngorms are overrun by deer, which although routinely culled, have upset the balance of the ecosystem, as there are no natural predators to keep them in check. Inti is convinced of both the necessity of the project and its chances of success, but the reaction of the locals is naked scepticism and hostility, especially amongst the farmers, who fear for their livestock.

Even on its own, this has the makings of an absorbing plot line, but McConaghy ups the ante by weaving into the narrative an exquisite human story about love, trauma, survival and redemption, revolving around Inti and her twin, Aggie, an elective mute, whose shared history and unconventional childhoods have created the fiercest of bonds.

There are parts of this novel that are haunting in their beauty and others that show the very worst of human nature. And there are moments — notably those demonstrating Inti’s extraordinary affinity with the wolves — that are almost spiritual; genuine goosebumpy, lump-in-the-throat stuff.

What McConachy has created is a multilayered, richly textured thriller-cum-mystery-cum-family drama, whose overarching theme is an ode to the natural world. There is so much to admire in her writing — the storytelling, the characterization, the evocatively lyrical prose. But it is her passion for the environment that shines through on every page and underpins the perfection of this work.

More where this came from, please.

Totally captivating story with the added bonus that the reader feels better educated by the time they finish it. Plausible characters depicted with all of their weaknesses as well as their strengths. You cannot help but become committed to the rewilding cause and to feel the pain from all angles of the deep themes of the book..

A stunning novel combining ecofiction, thriller and literary fiction.
Inti relocates to Scotland to head a team of biologists that is to reintroduce wolves into the Scottish Highlands as part of a nature restoration and rewilding project. She is accompanied by her sister Aggie, who is a damaged individual as they escape a traumatic past in Alaska. What happened? Is it possible to recover and restore balance? Is rewilding viable? The project seems to go well and the sisters seem to be integrating and making new friends, but this changes the moment a person disappears and someone starts to think the wolves are to blame.
This is astonishing ecological and literary fiction made propulsive by a thrilling storyline. We follow the detective plot, the rewilding project, the mystery surrounding the sisters’ past, the new relationships, and all this converges into a ramified exploration of damage and healing at the level of individual, society and ecosystems. The novel also effectively scrutinizes the good /evil, society/state of nature dichotomy: the sisters have been exposed to the best/worst of both worlds by living with their environmentalist father in the wilderness as well as with their detective mother chasing crime in in Australia. Trust and empathy and the need to be attuned to nature, our surroundings and others is also a theme, analysed via unusual lense of the mirror touch syndrome, that causes the sufferer to experience the same pain others are feeling.
Complex, timely and beautifully written.