Set to the backdrop of the Scottish highlands, Inti struggles to re-introduce wolves back to the wild. Within the first line of this book, we learn Inti has mirror touch synesthesia, allowing her to feel the pain she witnesses inflicted on other people and animals. Raised by two drastically different separated parents, Inti relies on her twin sister Aggie as her source of comfort and security. The timeline shifts from past to present, as we learn of their childhood and the struggles Inti is now facing in Scotland. The readers are questioning whether her mission to embed the wolves in a community that fears them will be successful.

As Inti immerses herself with the ongoing dramas in the village, we see her passion to defend a woman who is being domestically abused. Through her friendships and rivalries, the readers witness her desperation at saving both this woman and the wolves. As the plot progresses in present day time, Inti becomes deeply involved in a murder that will unveil the truth about the twin sisters' unsettling past.

If my brief synopsis grasped your attention, then this is precisely what happened to me when starting this audiobook. It wasn't hard to get fully invested in this because the narrator was phenomenal. She was able to quickly shift accents which added authenticity to the settings this story was taking place in. The pace of the story was fairly easy to follow in audiobook format.

As for my overall feelings about this book, I think it was trying to tackle too many genres (mystery, romance, environmentalism). The romantic relationship in this book felt incredibly forced and too quick. Whereas the mystery of the murder was underdeveloped; the murder only served purpose to the plot in the ~50% portion and conclusion of the book.

Inti and Aggie are both incredibly unhinged characters. The trauma that both of them faced is so evident based on their reactions to the situations in this book. At one point, the accusations that Inti was making weren't justified and didn't seem believable. Because this accusation drove a huge part of the plot, I felt that novel went downhill at this point.

The book had incredible potential if it only focused on one key storyline; overcomplicating the plot took away from the sole focus on Inti and the wolves. The wolves were only really mentioned at what seemed like random points and only when the plot was stalling. I didn't think there was very good character development with Inti as well. I was left feeling that nothing really significant changed from the first page of the novel to the last, leaving me underwhelmed overall. However, the imagery, descriptions and style of writing were fantastic and were what kept me reading. (If these are things you look for and value in a novel, I think you would be incredibly impressed with this one)

I didn’t think Charlotte McConaghy could top Migrations, one of my favorites of 2020, yet she has done it again with Once There Were Wolves. I have no doubt that this one will be in my Top 10 of the year. She has a way with writing about healing, trauma, conservation, wolves, and sisterhood in a way I couldn’t imagine. I read this in one sitting because I was mesmerized and had to know how Inti and Aggi’s story ended.

The narrator was fantastic and added to the atmospheric tone of this story.

I can’t wait to relisten to this one with the text beside, and my highlighter in hand. The words are truly beautiful.

Thank you to MacMillan Audio for my gifted copy.

Inti arrives in Scotland to manage the reintroduction of wolves into the wilds of the Highlands. Her twin sister, Aggie, is in tow, and dealing with trauma from her past. Inti believes in the wolves; the locals, however, fear for their safety and their livestock, and their fears seem founded when a man is found dead.

I LOVED this gorgeous, atmospheric eco-fiction novel that’s filled with fantastic characters and relationships. Wolves’ ability to revitalize an ecosystem is fascinating, and McConaghy’s tie between healing from the horrors of abuse and trauma (watch your triggers) and the healing of the natural world is masterful. Wonderful on audio and certain to make my final best of the year list.

Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy, narrated by Saskia Maarleveld

Inti Flynn is the leader of a team of biologists reintroducing wolves to the Highlands of Scotland. The hope is that by bringing these predators back to the area that nature can achieve the balance it needs for the land to heal itself and grow in the way that it needs to grow for centuries to come. Inty brings her broken sister, Aggie, hoping she can heal her, too.

I was so angry with Inti, despite all the good she is attempting to do, because I could feel the stress and frustration she was bringing with her, to the lives of people whose livelihoods she was threatening. Inti could have used some diplomatic skills but she suffers her own traumas from the past and she is as mistrustful of humans as her wolves. Regardless of laws or rules, she does what she wants, releases the wolves behind the backs of those she is supposed to notify, takes the law in her own hands to punish those she wants to punish, tramples on life for her own reasons, without thinking or caring that she is hurting humans and animals. I know my thoughts towards her are harsh but I could feel the damage she was doing, in the name of her goals, fine and honorable goals that will be more attainable with a softer approach to the people and way of life that she is threatening.

The writing is beautiful and we are in the head of Inty. We can see that even she is of two minds, torn in so many ways, not always knowing what is best but also knowing that some of what she does hurts both people and animals. Inty is hurt, angry, confused, and she feels powerless to change the past and to fix the future. I am so impressed with how the author brings about Inty's awareness that she went about things in manner that was not helpful and that she knows she needs to find a better way. The very people that she demonized as being in her way of making the earth a better place, once she stops to really get to know them, are people that are willing to work with her, if she would only talk to them. I loved this aspect of the book, that it addressed the very things that were bothering me about Inty.

The audio version of the book is lovely. I was able to switch between the audio version and the digital version which was helpful to me during the most violent passages of this story. This is not a peaceful book, violence plays a key part in the story, and it was hard for me to see/hear those parts of the book.

Thank you to Flatiron Books, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for this ARC.

Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy is a novel with so much going on. I learned so much about wolves and their behaviors from this story. The author either knows a lot about wolves or definitely did her homework. Once There Were Wolves deals with family dynamic between father/daughter, mother/daughters and sisters (twin sisters). It also deals with human/nature relationships.

Inti Flynn is part of a group of biologists who work with wolves and the story is told in her POV. The timeline is non-linenary and goes back and forth between the past and present. We learn that Inti is a part of a team that recently introduced a pack of wolves into the wild. The people of the town are not happy about this because they fear the wolves and make threats to kill them if need be. Inti is forced to protect and advocate for these animals and how they will help the landscape. She is also in charge of protecting and advocating for her twin sister who has been affected by a secret that they both hold. We learn more about this secret in the flashbacks revealed throughout the story.

While this book has the potential of being an amazing read, it fell flat for me. It might have been because I listened to the audio book and it was not able to hold my attention. The narrator’s voice was on the monotone side and I was unable to connect with the characters and their emotions through her reading. Perhaps I am not the target audience or this is a book that should be read in physical form.

Thank you to NetGalley and MacMillian Audio for this copy of Once There Were Wolves in exchange for an honest review.

This is an incredible novel!! It touches upon so many important issues including, rape, physical and verbal abuse of women, toxic relationships and sisterhood. Climate change is discussed along with man’s increasing interference with the cycle of life and ecosystems of our planet.

Inti is a young biologist and the novel is told from her POV. She has a twin sister, Aggie and the girls grew up living sometimes with their dad in the forest and other times with their mother in Australia. Inti has a condition called mirror-touch synesthesia. When she is close to someone she can, literally, feel their pain if they are injured or hurt. It’s not an easy thing to live with.

Their dad lives a simple life in the forests of Canada. He once worked for a lumber company and now lives an almost solo existence in the forest, hunts, fishes and grows his food. He has taught the girls all he knows.

Their mother is a detective in Australia. She sees the terrible crimes that people commit and is always cautioning the girls not to trust anyone. She teaches them to be cautious and prepared should they be attacked, they learn self defense.

Now a young biologist, Inti has come to the Scottish Highlands for a project to reintroduce the wolf into the ecosystem. She is the head researcher coordinating a small group of biologists. The wolves were hunted to extinction with much negative impact on the environment. Deer have over-populated the area and eat the shoots of young plants and trees so that the Highlands are now devoid of some of the native trees, etc. It is used mostly for sheep farming.

As was expected, there is much anxiety among the farmers who are afraid that the wolves will attack their livestock.

Inti and Aggie live together, Aggie has some mental problems. This is all a bit hazy but is explained later in the book.

The novel moves between the present, their lives growing up, and Alaska, the last place where Inti worked, but then chose to leave. The reasons for the move are revealed later in the novel.

We are led through months of careful observation and sometimes intervention with their group of wolves. It’s thrilling when the wolves start to mate and form packs. They are collared and released into the wild.

There are a host of other interesting characters, some you will like, some you will loathe. There is even a romance to add to the mix, but totally believable!!

There is some very graphic violence in this novel, both upon animals and humans.

At one point I felt as Inti did when she states “I SINK BACK THE FLOOR SO I WON’T SEE WHAT HAPPENS . . . .I HAVE TRULY HAD ENOUGH VIOLENCE FOR A THOUSAND LIFETIMES”.

The descriptions of the forests and Highlands are exquisite!! This novel had me glued to the web looking for articles on wolves, Scottish Highlands, mirror-touch synesthesia, etc.

Note: I listened to the audiobook for a large part of the novel but when my anxiety was getting high I switched to the physical ARC to finish the book. The violence can be hard to read about and even harder to listen to the narration.

I received an ARC of this novel from the publisher through NetGalley. I received the audiobook from MacMillan audio through NetGalley. I highly recommend both!

This novel is set to publish on August 3, 2021

Will post to Amazon upon publication

I'm pretty sure that 75 novels into my reading list this year, Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy is going to be my favorite book this year, audio or regular. This novel is so beautifully written, the imagery so clear that you can feel the cold air of Scotland in your lungs and on your skin, can see the silvery hair of the wolves as it shimmers with their movements, can feel the pain Inti feels when someone else is hurt...this book is the whole package.

Inti works with wolves, returning them to the wild in Scotland where the farmers are afraid of them, afraid for their livestock and afraid for their lives. Inti lives with her twin Aggie, who was so severely traumatized by her abusive husband that she hasn't spoken, except in a shorthand using hand signals, for years. As Inti strives to understand the community's fear and to teach them the ways of the wolves, a man is killed in what appears to be a wolf attack. The uproar that follows makes Inti question all she knows about wolves and their habits and why she does what she does. There is much more to this novel, please read or listen to the audio book! I highly recommend the audiobook, which I listened to. Saskia Maarleveld is an extremely talented voice actor, slipping from a female Australian accent to broad male and female Scots accents so smoothly I was convinced there were multiple readers for this novel. She is unbelieveably talented!

Thank you to the author, Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for an audio ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

Inti Flynn and her twin sister Aggie grew up living one life and lifestyle with their father, a life surrounded by nature, and lessons to be shared about the beauty, and hazards, found within. When they were with their mother, it was a completely different life, and the lessons learned were darker ones about the hazards of life, and the darker nature of man. When she was too young to really understand, her mother explained that she needed to be more careful than most, as she suffers from mirror-touch synesthesia, which causes her to feel the sensations of another being touched. Or hurt.

These lessons would serve her well in their new life, as Inti and Aggie have left Alaska and arrived in Scotland, where Inti will be working with a group of biologists. Their goal is to reintroduce gray wolves into the outlying Highlands in order to bring back the necessary combination of wildlife which will improve the ecology of the land. Land which has suffered under man’s abuse.

Inti has been taught about the nature of man to abuse, her mother worked with victims of abuse, and shared some of her wisdom on the topic. She’s also seen enough to be cautious of the nature of humans, their desire to destroy the world around them without regard for the repercussions, as well as their need to dominate. In this area largely dominated by farms and farmers, there are many members who aren’t happy, worried about their sheep, their farms, their livelihood. Meetings in town let her know that she and the wolves aren’t welcome.

And then, she witnesses a miracle, a pair of the wolves have mated. The first in hundreds of years in Scotland. Hope fills her, and she begins to allow herself to open up and have hope, believe in herself and this journey she is on.

I fell into this story all over again, listening to audiobook version of Charlotte McConaghy's <i>Once There Were Wolves</i>, perfectly narrated by Saskia Maarleveld, added another element to the story for me. Listening to her share this story really brought it to life for me in the best way.

As in her <i>Migrations,</i> the writing is gorgeous, the setting atmospheric, the story is one that will haunt you - enchanting at times, gripping at others. It will undoubtedly tug at your emotions, and ultimately leave you wishing you could stay inside these pages just a little longer.


Pub Date: 03 Aug 2021

Many thanks for the Audio ARC provided by Macmillan Audio

Thank you NetGalley for an audio-ARC of Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy.
Once There Were Wolves is a murder mystery that takes place in the Scottish Highlands. Saskia Maarleveld's voice is the perfect narration for this story. McConaghy weaves in details about the wolves and their importance for the ecosystem seamlessly contrasting against the murder and violence of the plot. She creates a mystery that keeps the reader guessing until the end.

Family tragedy and nature collide. The story seems to come out of the box too soon with relationships of the main character. It needs to develop more before she sleeps with some one

Yassss! Completely enthralled with Charlotte McConaghy’s Once There Were Wolves. The conflict between conservationists and farmers was well portrayed. The twisty-turny plot was great fun, if somewhat predictable. Absolutely fabulous narration with a variety of voices and accents well performed. TW: sexual and physical violence.

I was excited to find Once There Were Wolves after being a huge huge fan of Charlotte McConaghy's Migrations last year. McConaghy is a master storyteller, weaving timelines together effortlessly and keeping the reader guessing the whole way along.
I felt so connected to Inti's descriptions of nature and the wolves, her unique condition, and ultimately her immense love for all things. The healing, forgiveness, fierce loyalty, and fight were inspiring. I was hooked early on and kept interested the whole way along.

I can say I’m much smarter after reading this book. There’s a lot of great information about wolves and their beneficial effect on climate/forests woven through the story and that’s the real strong point of this book. But the human story wasn’t that compelling. Twin sisters, Inti and Aggie, are tied together very closely and there’s a mystery about why Aggie is the messed-up way she is in the present that eventually gets revealed with flashbacks. Inti is the wolf specialist, working on a project to reintroduce wolves into the Highlands of Scotland, and she has an unusual condition whereby she feels pain that others endure, both humans and animals. This makes for many difficult situations for Inti. I enjoyed the various members of the small Scottish town but the love interest and an arduous trek in the woods near the end (can’t say more without spoilers) were not very believable.

Once again, Saskia Maarleveld proves that she’s a supremely talented narrator. She portrayed both men and women and a variety of accents (Australian and Scottish in particular) so beautifully.

Warning: domestic abuse and sexual violence

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the opportunity to listen to an advance readers copy of this audiobook. All opinions are my own.

3 strong stars
McConaghy’s writing about nature, conservation and the wolves is strong and magical.

I didn’t care for the human characters quite as much. Inti Flynn is on a mission to reintegrate wolves back into the Scottish Highlands. Inti has a condition called mirror touch synesthesia. She feels physical pain when animals or people near her are hurt. Unfortunately, the condition is inconsistent throughout the story, and I felt it distracted. Inti’s twin sister, Aggie, is a hollow mess. Finding out about their background is one of several mysteries and plenty of nature adventure that keep the story moving along quickly. The romantic interest in the story just did not ring true. In the end, Inti’s wilderness ‘adventure’ becomes a bit over the top unbelievable.

Trigger warning: domestic abuse and sexual violence. While not overly graphic, it was definitely disturbing.

Narrator, Saskia Maarev, was fabulous. Her voice intonations for different characters with different accents added to the story.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I must not have read the synopsis very well because this book wasn’t what I was expecting. This isn’t a genre that I am particularly interested in or enjoy. That being said, the narrator completely made this book for me…wonderful, ear catching voice!

This book was not a great read for me and I know exactly why. There were a lot of threads running in the plot and they were not woven together well. There was the story of the wolves and I would have been happy to see that one plot point developed fully on it's own (which it wasn't).There was also the complex relationship with Inti's sister, and the issue of abuse and a murder mystery all dropped into the plot, none of which was fully developed. As well there was the issue of her condition called mirror-touch synesthesia which was just thrown into the story as though it were a common everyday thing. There were other things as well, that I will not mention for spoiler reasons. All summed up - just way too much going on with very little cohesion. This story lacked depth, both in the plot and in the characters. The idea appealed to me. I would have enjoyed a well written book about the re-introduction of a wolf pack, but it seems this book wasn't for me.

The summary of this book sounded intriguing, so I decided to request it, and while I was entertained, I had some issues with the book. Inti and Aggie are sisters living in the Scottish Highlands for Inti’s research on reintroducing wolves to the area. I enjoyed the parts focused on the wolves and their behavior. The book goes back and forth between the past and present in an effort to explain why the sisters left Alaska suddenly and why Aggie will only communicate through home signs. For some reason, I wasn’t as interested in the sections about the past. My main complaint was how the author managed the passage of time. I don’t want to include any spoilers, but some sections in the last part of the book went absurdly fast to the point of being unbelievable. Overall, this wasn’t a bad book, but it does have some flaws.

I listened to this on audio, and the narrator was fantastic. Inti and Aggie were born in Australia, so I appreciated having a narrator with an Australian accent.

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for an advance copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Inti is a scientist who works to repopulate forests with wolves. Apparently, the ecosystems are thrown into chaos and disaster if the wolves are exterminated. Inti is starting a new project in the Scottish Highlands. The local population have primarily been sheep farmers for several generations. They see wolves as a threat. Inti is maybe not so great with people and that doesn’t help with what is already a tough sell to the community. Behind the scenes Inti is caring for her twin sister who has become a recluse. There is conflict almost immediately between the scientists and the farmers. Someone dies and everyone’s first impulse is to blame the wolves. Inti takes it upon herself to find out what happened before the locals go after the wolves.
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The book is really good. The narration is fantastic. The science/conservationist backdrop to the story is so interesting. The ecosystems of the planet depend on humans not disrupting things. Historically speaking, we don’t know that we’ve done that until it’s too late. The murder mystery aspect is engaging and keeps the reader guessing until the end.
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Thanks to @netgalley and @macmillan.audio for an advanced audiobook copy of this book. It will be released on 8/3/21.

I listened to the audiobook of Once There Were Wolves, and I quite enjoyed the narrator. She did a wonderful job navigating various accents and using her voice to denote characters consistently. At first, it felt a little silly to me when she would do the father's voice, but it grew on me in a way that then felt tender, childish and purposeful.

This novel is a tribute to the natural world and an emotional, provocative look at the way in which we humans affect and interact with it. McConaghy’s words paint a beautiful, detailed picture of the forests and wildlife that populate them. Her prose quickly pulled me in to the characters' world and purpose: To reintroduce wolves to the Scottish Highlands despite the adverse opinions of the locals in the community. A battle between those opposing human sides ensues, and our narrator Inti Flynn must take a stand and make a sacrifice.

I've not yet encountered a main character like Inti, who has mirror touch synesthesia, which causes her to feel what others experience. In the same way as those who suffer a catastrophic injury and can still feel phantom pains in a limb that is no longer a part of their body, Inti would feel your pain if you cut yourself. And it is not just limited to humans, a very important note to this story. "If I see it, I feel it,' she says. A very unique and interesting dimension I found totally engrossing.

Meandering between Inti's present day and her early childhood, this story weaves together the complex life of Inti as well as her twin sister Aggie—who endured a trauma that has left her unable to speak--and the lessons learned from her gruff, naturalist father. This dual timeline device is used very successfully by the author to give the reader a truly whole picture understanding of Inti; how she got here; and why she does the work she does so passionately. It is through the unfolding relationship with Aggie that we realize this book is not just about how humans interact with their environment, but also with each other--predators and prey. This book is just as much about being a woman surviving men as it is about wolves surviving humans.

This audiobook was like the evening's cup of tea before bed--a soothing and dreamy tale of the wild. I look forward to checking out McConaghy’s other work, Migrations.

Charlotte McConaghy has written an homage to nature with Once There Were Wolves. A gorgeously written story set in the Scottish Highlands, Inty Flynn leads a team of biologists in the reintroduction of wolves into the ecosystem. She faces opposition from the local farmers and the challenges of allowing wolves into the forests after hundreds of years is no easy feat. Meanwhile Aggie, Inty’s twin sister, stays hidden in their cottage working through a horrendous trauma dealt to her by someone from their past.

Inty suffers from a rare form of synesthesia which causes her to feel what she sees, introduced by way of watching her father prepare to skin a rabbit only for Inty to feel the resulting cuts. As such, she became adept at tracking while relying on Aggie to make the actual kill. She held tightly to her sister as they grew older, all too aware that people tended to prefer Aggie over her. When they arrive in Scotland, no one knows that Aggie exists, let alone lives with Inty.

Scotland introduces Inty to Duncan, the local police chief and against all of her initial plans, they begin a sexual relationship only for things to get rocky real quick. Inty is there for her wolves and supposedly nothing else. The woman has emotional walls thicker than a levy.
When a number of livestock are attacked, the wolves are quickly to blame. When a local farmer goes missing the entire town practically calls for the wolves’ destruction entirely and it’s all Inty can manage to keep them as placid as possible. She could prove that it wasn’t a wolf that did it, she just had to figure out how. Her worry now was trying to avoid looking like she murdered a man.

I was able to draw several parallels between Inty and several of the wolves she monitored, oftentimes noting how her abrasive manner rubbed the locals just as raw as the idea of the wolves did. It wasn’t until she began ingratiating herself with the townspeople did she notice that there were more than a few people interested and intrigued by the wolves. I felt the casualties as viscerally as she did. Ultimately, the deaths of the wolves were unnecessary—Number 10 might have made sense since she’d attacked livestock, but the others were completely avoidable. I too would have broken a man’s kneecap for murdering a wolf under my care.

Inty by no means is a perfect character. She met ignorance with an aggression that seemed over the top at times and she clearly didn’t want to even consider that one of the wolves was at fault with the problems cropping up in the area. She ignored help from Duncan and her coworkers, often going out on her own to make sure the wolves were safe. Villagers were showing her kindness, but she was at odds with a few of the loudest voices so she never saw their gestures for what they were. So fiercely protective she is of herself, Aggie, and her wolves that she tried to keep everyone else at arm’s length. Ma’am, I get it, but chill for a minute and look at your decisions. You are not making them to the best of your abilities.

This is a pretty long winded way of me saying I want Inty’s job. Maybe not her life because she and Aggie went through some SHIT, but the ‘I would die for these animals’ vibe is 100% relatable. Having a partner like Duncan doesn’t seem so bad either. That man is so well written it’s incredible.