‘22 Word of the Year
mur•mur•a•tion *noun*
1) a flock of starlings
2) <literary> the action of murmuring: the murmuration of a flock of warblers

“As she counted to seven, the stars didn’t look like stars anymore. They were a flock of birds flitting through space on wings made of luminescent dust, a murmuration of starlight.”
~The Wilderwomen by Ruth Emmie Lang

Five years prior, Norah Wilder disappears in the night leaving her daughters, Zadie & Finn to navigate their teen years separately while constantly wondering why their mother would leave them behind. When the sisters make plans to celebrate Finn’s graduation on a beach holiday, Finn coerces Zadie to embark on a journey to find their long-lost mother with the use of their extraordinary abilities.

That’s right. Extraordinary abilities. It’s a sister road-trip story with nods to magical realism that made me want to grab a tent & pack a bag and try to find Constellation Camp. The sisters with their differing personalities caused some laugh out loud moments, and with beautiful lines like then one I quoted above make this a dreamy read. It’s also a difficult read in that it’s hard to reckon with the idea that their mother abandons them in the beginning, but the moments shared in the sisters’ reminisces make this a worthwhile family journey to behold.

I highly recommend the newest from author Ruth Emmie Lang.
Thank you to the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read the e-arc, and I had to grab the physical book from BOTM.

Ruth Emmie Lang's novel about a mother obsessed with birds and having two daughters searching for her across the country felt like the story that came at the exact right time. While we live in a pandemic world (that's not mentioned in the book), a lot of people took up bird watching in their backyards since we weren't allowed to travel for a while. I've been watching and feeding our backyard birds for years. Maybe you don't like birds at all or have a phobia of them, but you feel drawn to some other part of the animal kingdom, the planet, or the universe. Lang's main characters end up meeting people with all kinds of connections to the universe.

Zadie is in her 20's and her little sister, Finn, is just graduating high school. Unfortunately, Nora walked away from her daughters and their Texas home five years ago. Finn was only 12. She ended up in a foster home that was loving, kind, and financially secure. Zadie, however, goes on an arc of resentment towards her mother, jealousy perhaps of Finn, abandonment, and into a long span of learning how to bond with people again. Finn is a delightful free spirit, but a bit too much like her mother, Nora.

What makes the Wilder women special is their psychic abilities. Reading through Lang's chapters doesn't feel like speculative fiction or fantasy or superheroes. Finn's psychic episodes, called echoes, involve picking up memories that can overtake control of her. Zadie is the type of psychic who gets random premonitions, but since the day her mother abandoned them, she worked hard to repress the power from rearing up. Though having psychic abilities like these sound like they can fun and amusing for parlor tricks, Lang introduces deeply unsettling effects mostly with Finn who has less and less control over her echoes.

Lang's secondary characters are likeable and unique. Each one pops up as the girls travel from Texas to Washington state at precisely the moment help is needed. There are times when that kindness of strangers feels too easy, but since Finn keeps landing herself in dangerous situations, the respite from peril is welcome.

This story brings up various themes about family and relationships. Finn's foster family wants to adopt her. Zadie feels like she's all alone even with an unplanned pregnancy. Finn's foster parents show that family can be chosen not always biological. The campground residents who share their love of the stars with the girls, broaden the focus from personal problems to community to the life of stars. Then there's Joel, Zadie's ex-boyfriend who ends up tagging along for a chunk of their journey. Joel is an interesting sort of character. He's simple. Maybe he's supposed to have a low IQ or something else; he can't hold down a job but his heart is full of compassion and kindness. Joel is one of Zadie's biggest conflicts: she appreciates him, but she's not in love with him.

A widower father and three little spunky girls end up taking on a temporary family role for Zadie, Joel, and Finn for a couple of days. The father, Myron, goes through a lot of what Zadie has been through. It takes getting to know Finn and Zadie that gets through to Myron and helps him in a special way.

As Finn's condition gets worse, Zadie learns to forgive more. She wants to hold onto to her sister and other people they discover for the sake her baby having a chance at a family.

Many thanks to Netgalley and publishers for providing my review copy.

I feel like I have waited decades for another REL book. I loved Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance so so much and I thoroughly enjoyed The Wilderwomen just as much. I love the touch of sparkle and magic REL manages to incorporate into her stories and writing. I need more!

This book hooked me after the first chapter, but soon slowed down. It took me a lot longer to get through this book than I would have thought, though I am not 100% sure why. The characters are engaging, the writing is beautiful. I think its that very little happens to push the story along, and there is an uncertainty about why the mother left that was drawn out too long without enough clues to keep me fully invested in the story. I did love the organic relationship between Zadie and Finn, and the magical realism woven throughout the story. If I were to reread this story, I would want to try it on audiobook.

Bummer. "The Wilderwomen" may be my biggest book disappointment of the year.

After hearing nothing but the highest of praise for Ruth Emmie Lang’s debut novel, "Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance," I absolutely could not wait to read "The Wilderwomen." Those who peruse my reviews know I love magical realism, and I was thrilled to read Lang’s story of two psychic women embarking on a road trip to find their missing mom.

But the novel’s execution isn’t the best. Even though I enjoyed the sisters, Zadie and Finn, and all the wonderful moments of magical realism, I found the story a little bland. Never was I fully engrossed, and emotionally, I felt zilch while reading it, other than hollow.

The ending, too, misses the mark. The explanation given for the mother’s disappearance just seems silly, and I was wholly unsatisfied with it.

I think this calls for a second BUMMER, don’t you?

Despite my disappointment, I will still read Lang’s "Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance" one of these days, along with whatever else she decides to write next. My hunch is that "The Wilderwomen" is nothing but a fluke, and there is still literary greatness to come from Ruth Emmie Lang.


My sincerest appreciation to Ruth Emmie Lang, St. Martin's Press, and NetGalley for the Advance Review Copy. All opinions included herein are my own.

I loved how the two sisters gradually came together despite their hardships. And I loved how they came together to find their mother. The concept of the novel was an interesting one but I found myself intrigued to find out more about each of their specialties and to discover why their mother truly left. I think it was very well written!

What if our world had just a little more magic in it?

In The Wilderwomen, we the readers ride along in a journey of two sisters traveling through America. In addition to being immersed in the sumptuous landscapes they find, we have the sisters' unique backgrounds and magic shaping their views of this world.

As someone that read a lot of more ‘traditional’ fantasy genre reads this year, The Wilderwomen was a bit of fresh air. And it’s not just that it falls more into the ‘magic realism’ category either, though that is certainly the case. Here is a story that manages to be totally unique. Lang uses this to her advantage as well, creating a sense of mystery by slowly unspooling details about the characters’ magic instead of sharing it with us all at once.

I should note that despite its aura of mystery, the book’s tone isn’t face-paced and suspenseful, nor does it aim for this. It’s a more emotionally-driven story, with lyrical prose that succeeds in putting readers right alongside the sisters on their meandering road-trip. I ended up forgetting about the outside world for much of the day as I just kept reading through the story.

If there was any issue that I had with this novel, it would likely be the ending. The explanations and information revealed did make sense to me. However, knowing the reason for certain events in the story didn’t feel like full resolution in such a character-driven story. I wanted more reflection, perhaps more confrontation, or just something more that dealt with the reveal and the huge impacts it had on the family. For all this time this book took with the journey, the ending felt relatively rushed.

So while it may not have stuck the landing, so to speak, it was still an overall solid routine. I had a lovely time along the way, getting to know our leading sisters and their slightly extra special world. I would recommend it to readers of magical realism and plan to pick up Ruth’s earlier work, Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance.

After reading Beasts last year and falling head over heels for the writing of Lang I knew I needed my hands on this one. The Wilderwomen has secured Lang a spot on my auto buy author list. As with her first novel this is not a story to devour it’s something you have to take your time a savor. I love the world building here, from Texas to Washington the landscape is turned into a lush mystical representation of itself. The characters are where Lang really shines. These are some of the most complex, most beautifully written characters. Zadie and Finn both had past trauma and that paired with their abilities opened their characters up to a wonderfully written emotional depth. Their developmental arc was smooth and clean. There was no lingering things that I felt were unresolved with them at the end. The side characters introduced are some that will stay with me always. I do want to also touch point on the magic system used in this book. Summing it up for me it was simply “wow”. The abilities that were presented were so unique and so beautiful. This story will live rent free in my head right next to Beasts for a long long time.

Let me start by saying Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance was one of my favorite reads of 2021. Unfortunately that meant this one was a massive letdown. It wasn’t anywhere close to as engaging as Beasts was & I kept finding myself unable to read more than 10 or 15 pages at a time. The characters also weren’t interesting enough or charming enough to hold my interest.

I was a huge fan of Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstances by this author. It was my first exposure to magical realism and I immediately fell in love with this author's writing. I knew when I saw she was releasing another book that I HAD to read it.

I'm a sucker for books about sisters. My little sister is my hero and my favorite person so I love books that make me think of her.

The Wilderwomen felt similar to Beasts. It was sentimental, touching, insightful, and emotional. My mom took care of my sister and me. It causes a special sort of bond to form. Nora, has a special "sixth sense". Although her two daughters have unique gifts as well, she doesn't share information about her abilities with them. Zadie, has premonitions about future events. She is guided by an internal voice giving her glimpses into the future. Finn can hear and see other people's memories.

The story is told through older sister Zadie's perspective. She grapples with her feelings of abandonment and her desire to have a relationship with younger sister Finn while guarding herself from heartbreak. When Finn asks to change their scheduled vacation to a cross-country trip to search for their mother, Zadie struggles with disappoinment and feelings of rejection and inadequacy. As they use Finn's gift to track Nora, the girls begin to explore their conflicting feelings about why their mother left.

I loved the concept behind Nora's disappearance. I also appreciated Zadie's anger and resentment toward her mother. The way she loved her mother and hoped that their relationship would change. Her fierce loyalty and protective instincts toward her little sister, made my heart squeeze.

Although I didn't love this one as much as Beasts (because, come on, it's Beasts), this was definitely a 4.5⭐ read for me. I would recommend this one for magical realism fans and people who love to break their own heart with deeply emotional stories about family, freedom, and coming together after falling apart. Thanks for the early copy, NetGalley!

Ruth Emmie Lang tells such magical stories, and The Wilderwomen is no different.

Zadie and Finn’s mom disappeared into thin air five years ago, leaving Zadie on her own and Finn in foster care. Both girls have psychic powers: Finn can read memories and Zadie has premonitions. Finn wants to start looking for their mom, and convinces Zadie to go with her.

The Wilderwomen is ultimately a story and mothers and daughters and sisters wrapped up in a story about magic. Zadie and Finn have such a dynamic relationship. Both girls motivated by their mother for completely different reasons.

Thank you to the publishers for an arc of this book in exchange for my honest review. Let me start by saying I don’t loveeee fantasy/sci-fi/magical realism BUT I’m willing to try anything. I enjoyed a lot of things about this book but ultimately parts fell flat for me. I liked the relationship between the sisters but the magical aspects left me feeling unsatisfied. I wanted more. I do like her writing though and the way she words things.

The Wilderwomen by Ruth Emmie Lang follows Zadie and Finn, two sisters who possess unique magical gifts. Zadie is able to see into the future and sense things that are coming, while Finn is able to somehow detect echoes of memories of others who have been wherever she happens to be at the moment. Somehow, even with these abilities, both sisters are blindsided when their mother, Nora, abruptly leaves their home and disappears.

Fast forward five years and Zadie and Finn have become estranged from one another and there’s still no sign of their mother, that is, until Finn stumbles across a memory echo that she is convinced belongs to her mother. She reaches out to Zadie and after some coaxing, convinces Zadie that she can retrace their mother’s steps using her memories and finally figure out what happened to her. The sisters embark on a road trip that will change their lives in more ways than they can possibly imagine.

The relationship between Zadie and Finn was by far the highlight of the book for me. It’s clear they need each other in spite of having grown so far apart without their mother there for guidance. And it’s also clear that the absence of their mother and the constant wondering about why she just left them has really kept them from truly moving on and living their lives to the fullest. I loved watching Zadie and Finn reconnect as they worked together to retrace their mother’s steps. No matter how far apart they’ve grown, the bond of sisterhood is still there. Similarly, I also enjoyed the coming of age aspect of the story as we watch each sister grow and figure out their place in the world as they’re on this journey.

Another highlight for me was Lang’s beautiful writing. It reminded so much of Alice Hoffman’s writing, very lyrical and atmospheric, almost weaving a spell around me as I was reading. Her descriptions of the girls’ abilities were so vivid that it was easy to picture exactly what the girls were sensing every step of the way.

The only thing that didn’t quite work for me was the ending. For me it felt a bit rushed and like all of the loose ends were tied up a bit too neatly. In some ways I was content with how it ended, but in others, not so much. I found myself with unanswered questions, particularly with respect to the why behind Nora’s disappearance and the why behind the sister’s abilities. I found myself flipping back through the pages to see if I had missed something.

Even with my issues with the ending, however, I still found The Wilderwomen to be a lovely read overall. It’s a wonderful story for readers who enjoy stories about family, sisterhood, and magic.

When Finn and Zadie's mom vanishes, their worlds are shattered. Both sisters possess magical abilities, Zadie is a psychic, and Finn gets visions of memories left behind. On Finn's birthday, she is slammed with an echo memory of her long-lost mother. The sisters go in search of their mother, following Finn's echos and coming across some very unusual people along the way. Time is limited because the more Finn spends time in her mother's echos, the more she loses touch with reality. Can their mom be found before it's too late? This was a very unique take on magical realism, and I enjoyed it very much. Thank you, NetGalley for the eARC.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the advanced copy of The Wilderwomen by Ruth Emmie Lang. This was my first read by this author.

I thought the writing style was great. However, I thought the story itself was sort of boring. For a book that had elements of magical realism, I thought that there wasn't enough adventure or excitement. It felt like we went through half of the book before things really started to pick up and get interesting.

Also for some reason having to read the name Zadie over and over again started to get on my nerves, really for no reason. I would be willing to read another book by this author.

Zadie and Finn had the life that you would never want to experience, one second your mother's there and the next she's not. These characters were so out of this world that this didn't necessarily feel like you were reading about a girl who just happened to graduate high school. I liked the imagery that Lang was able to provide.

Unfortunately I found that this was a slow mover. I was waiting for things to happen and it just felt as if it wasn't ever going to happen. The girls relationship was hard to get into at first but as you see Zadie actually care for Finn you realize that their relationship is complicated.

I appreciated the great writing style here, but just could not fly through this like I initially thought I could.

I had high expectations going into this book since I was a big fan of Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstances. The Wilderwomen just didn’t keep my interest the same way. I felt pretty bored most of the time I was reading it. It seemed too coincidental that everywhere the girls went, they met someone with special abilities like them. I also hated Nora and felt angry at her the whole time. All of the flashbacks and memories of her just made me wonder why they would bother looking for a mom who frequently abandoned them and was totally self involved. I would not recommend this book but it was a pretty quick read.

A gentle exploration of a family's love and its scars. The author does a good job balancing the heavy reality of her story with the girls' magic, which is restrained and effective. A lovely, moving novel.

My thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Wilderwomen, by Ruth Emmie Lang, is a complex tapestry that weaves together relationships between mothers and daughters, coming of age, and magic. It took me a bit of time to connect to the two main characters: sisters who had been abandoned by their mother and drifted apart. Once I did, I was fully engaged. The story begins as they embark on a journey to find their mother, guided by the very different sixth senses that each possess. It is a story of love, forgiveness, discovery, and acceptance. Lang’s narrative moves back and forth between past and present and point of view. Her characters, even minor ones, are very well developed, multi-dimensional, and believable. Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an unusual and heartwarming read.

The Wilderwoman by Ruth Emmie Lang was a heartwarming book with quirky characters. It starts off a little slow until you get to know everyone, and then it becomes a wonderful mystery coming of age story. I recommend this intriguing journey about sisters finding their way and loving every minute of it!