Series Info/Source: This is stand alone book. I borrowed this audiobook from my library.

Thoughts: I liked this. It has a good balance of survival/conservationist themes paired with thriller/drama themes. There is a lot in here about domestic abuse as well and the trauma that can leave behind it. Prior to this I had read "Migrations" and also really enjoyed that book.

Inti comes to Scotland with her twin sister Aggie and a team of biologists that are going to reintroduce wolves to the Scottish Highlands. The farmers in the area aren't keen on this plan. When a farmer is found dead, they want to blame the wolves or maybe even Inti herself for his death. Inti was hoping this would be a new start for her sister (Aggie) who is struggling to recover from a brutal event and for herself as well. The story jumps between present and past, and we slowly learn what happened to Inti and Aggie in the past.

There are a number of intriguing elements in this story. I enjoyed learning about the wolves and about how programs to reintegrate them into the wild work. I also enjoyed learning about Inti's condition of mirror-touch synesthesia (a real condition where the affected feel the sensations on their body that others are feeling). This added a particular horror to some of the abuse experienced and was just really intriguing and something I didn't even know existed. There is also a heavy theme of abuse here; both characters in present and past are dealing with abusive spouses.

There are a few things that really drive this story forward. You are constantly wondering if the wolves will be able to survive their reintroduction and what the townspeople will do. You are constantly wondering what happened to Aggie in the past as that story unfolds. Then you are drawn in to the mystery of the farmer's death and wondering who or what is responsible for that. It is all very well done and well woven together to make for an engaging and intriguing story. McConaghy does an amazing job of taking real conservation issues and adding human elements that create an engaging, fast-paced story that really keeps the reader engrossed.

I listened to this on audiobook and the audiobook was very well done. I would definitely recommend listening to this on audiobook if you enjoy audiobooks.

My Summary (4/5): Overall I really enjoyed this. I liked learning about a lot of new things (introduction of wolves, mirror-touch synesthesia, Scotland) and enjoyed the way the story was unwound. This is a good balance of conservation thriller, murder mystery, and discussion around abuse. While this isn't the most comfortable read (it does get gory and I never like reading about abuse), I think it did an amazing job of weaving together all of these story elements into an intriguing and engaging story. I plan on reading McConaghy's future books; they are different from what I normally read and very well done. I always learn something from them and am entertained along the way. ( )

https://youtube.com/@ChanelChapters?si=zvFjEpb4CeRBwx0u

4.5
Thick as thieves sisters, bad men & wild wolves.
This was legitimately a good thriller.
I wasn’t expecting the amount of SA though.
Loved every bit about the wolves (except the animal deaths) ( )

Inti bring her traumatised sister Aggie with her to the Scottish highlands. Inti is a wolf biologist, working on a rewilding project, trying to re-establish top order predators to the land in order to mitigate against the disastrous effects of anthropogenic climate change. Aggie, once a force of nature, is broken. The local community are set against Inti and her team, fearing the wolves will seek out easy prey in the form of their sheep and cattle, or their children. Then a local man goes missing. Was it a wolf attack? Or is Inti right, and are humans the ones we should really fear?

I finished this in just two days. The descriptions of the natural world were so beautiful, it made me long to be in the Cairngorms, or Denali, or Yellowstone. The story was really compelling. Definitely recommend this one. ( )

Once There Were Wolves is a jam-packed novel about, among many other things, passivity in contrast to direct action; it’s about how a single person’s response to massively overwhelming obstacles, obstacles that seem impossible to overcome—whether it be correcting climate change or stopping abusive relationships or altering a familial cycle—can make a lasting difference.

Inti, a biologist who moves to the rural highlands of Scotland for work, is devoted to conservation and wolves and her twin sister, Aggie. Inti doesn’t trust easily, believing the worst in human nature, and the Scottish locals and sheep farmers are equally distrusting of Inti—an outsider who they feel is threatening their livelihood and community as she works to fight climate change by rewilding wolves in their highlands. This conflict between Inti and the locals steadily builds, especially when one of the locals mysteriously disappears after Inti antagonizes this man. Through the mystery of Stuart’s disappearance, the flashback and flash forward of Inti’s life across Australian cityscapes and Canadian forests and Scottish highlands, we learn about how and why Inti has changed from the gentle, “need to toughen up” optimist to the aggressive, closed-off skeptic. And she learns to respond to a community she defensively made an enemy because “‘when you open your heart to rewilding a landscape, the truth is, you’re opening your heart to rewilding yourself’” (189).

From beginning to end, the book seemed to have two speeds—either quick-paced, violent action or long, meandering descriptions—so that by the end of this story, I honestly felt conflicted, unsure of my feelings. So much happens in the last third of the book. It felt like emotional whiplash: I was constantly questioning the narrator’s state of mind (slipping in and out of consciousness, dreamlands, hallucinations, and mirror-synesthesia) and questioning the author’s choices in the resolution. Still, I’m unsure. Or, more accurately, I’d say: it’s complicated. But, still, this is a worthwhile read—one about cruelty and gentleness, empathy and compassion, trust and forgiveness—maybe even because of all the gritty complications.


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Bordering on unreadable. ( )