History of Wolves - Emily Fridlund

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History of Wolves by Emily Fridlund is another beautifully written novel, poetic and intelligent and complex, and one which leaves the reader more troubled than finding a sense of resolution by the end - but this novel also left me wanting to read it all over again as life is rarely about resolution, even if we feel that's what we want. For resolution read redemption.

Don't let me put you off if you prefer a nicely-resolved / redemptive ending as this novel is so worth reading on every level. It's about something which should not have happened and it's about responsibility and guilt and secrets and desire and longing and a life's journey shaped as much by upbringing as circumstance and the decisions we make along the way.

The central character - Linda / Mattie / Madeline / the babysitter - shows how we are all known by different facets of ourselves to different people, and how we perhaps only know the true facets of ourselves through what we chose not to reveal to others. 

This is also a story of heartbreaking loneliness, and I can really say no more without giving away everything this book wants you to discover for yourself.

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