History of Wolves

"So delicately calibrated and precisely beautiful that one might not immediately sense the sledgehammer of pain building inside this book. And I mean that in the best way. What powerful tension and depth this provides "--Aimee Bender

Fourteen-year-old Linda lives with her parents in the beautiful, austere woods of northern Minnesota, where their nearly abandoned commune stands as a last vestige of a lost counter-culture world. Isolated at home and an outlander at school, Linda is drawn to the enigmatic, attractive Lily and new history teacher Mr. Grierson. When Mr. Grierson is charged with possessing child pornography, the implications of his arrest deeply affect Linda as she wrestles with her own fledgling desires and craving to belong.

And then the young Gardner family moves in across the lake and Linda finds herself welcomed into their home as a babysitter for their little boy, Paul. It seems that her life finally has purpose but with this new sense of belonging she is also drawn into secrets she doesn't understand. Over the course of a few days, Linda makes a set of choices that reverberate throughout her life. As she struggles to find a way out of the sequestered world into which she was born, Linda confronts the life-and-death consequences of the things people do--and fail to do--for the people they love.

Winner of the McGinnis-Ritchie award for its first chapter, Emily Fridlund's propulsive and gorgeously written History of Wolves introduces a new writer of enormous range and talent.

Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press
Published: 01/03/2017
ISBN: 9780802125873
Pages: 288
Weight: 0.95lbs
Size: 8.30h x 5.80w x 1.20d

Review Citations: Library Journal Prepub Alert 09/01/2016 pg. 74
Publishers Weekly 10/03/2016
Kirkus Reviews 10/15/2016 pg. 16
Booklist 10/15/2016 pg. 32
Library Journal 11/01/2016 pg. 74
BookPage 01/01/2017
Shelf Awareness 01/17/2017
Library Journal 09/01/2016
School Library Journal 08/01/2017 pg. 111