 | |
| Author | Charlotte McConaghy |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Literary novel |
| Publisher | Hamish Hamilton |
Publication date | 3 August 2021 |
| Publication place | Australia |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 258 pp. |
| Awards | 2022 Indie Book Awards Book of the Year – Fiction, winner; 2022 Davitt Award – Best Adult Novel, winner |
| ISBN | 9781761043222 |
Once There Were Wolves is a 2021 novel by the Australian author Charlotte McConaghy.[1]
It was the winner of the 2022 Indie Book Awards Book of the Year – Fiction.[2]
Synopsis
[edit]Inti is the head of Cairngorms National Park's Wolf Project in Scotland. The project aims to release 14 wolves into the park as a part of their rewilding project. The project is met with opposition from local farmers who worry about their sheep flocks. Then a dead body is discovered and Inti begins to suspect a local policeman of the murder.
Critical reception
[edit]Writing in The Newtown Review of Books Ann Skea was impressed with the novel: "Charlotte McConaghy draws the reader into the lives of her characters, and realistically coveys the closeness, secrets, fears and mutual support of a small community where people have grown up together and know each other well...Ecology, climate change and self-sufficiency are casually woven in as underlying themes, but it is the creatures – human and wolf – that are the heart of the story."[3]
See also
[edit]Notes
[edit]- Dedication: "For my little one"
- Epigraph: "One beast and only one howls in the woods by night." - Angela Carter
Publication history
[edit]After the novel's initial publication by Hamish Hamilton it was reprinted as follows:
- 2021 Flatiron Books, USA[4]
- 2022 Chatto and Windus, UK[4]
The novel was also translated into Swedish, German, Finnish, Dutch and Danish in 2022, Greek in 2023, and French in 2024.[4]
Awards
[edit]- 2022 Indie Book Awards Book of the Year – Fiction, winner[2]
- 2022 Davitt Award – Best Adult Novel, winner[5]
References
[edit]- ^ "Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 8 September 2025.
- ^ a b ""Indie Book Awards - Winners 2022"". Australian Independent Booksellers. Retrieved 8 September 2025.
- ^ ""CHARLOTTE McCONAGHY Once There Were Wolves. Reviewed by Ann Skea."". The Newtown Review of Books. 16 September 2021. Retrieved 8 September 2025.
- ^ a b c "Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy". Austlit. Retrieved 8 September 2025.
- ^ "Davitt Awards 2022 winners announced". Books+Publishing. 29 August 2022. Retrieved 8 September 2025.