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History of Wolves: A Novel
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History of Wolves: A Novel
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History of Wolves: A Novel
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History of Wolves: A Novel

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

3.5/5

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About this ebook

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 doand fail to dofor 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.

Editor's Note

Deep Minnesota chill…

It’s hard to call “History of Wolves” a thriller, because it doesn’t follow the conventions of that genre. But the book plays mind games with you as you try to figure out what type of book it is and what’s going to happen and how such a haunting narrative can be so effortlessly beautiful. After all the praise, Fridlund’s novel still wasn’t what I expected — it’s been strangely better.

LanguageEnglish
Release dateJan 3, 2017
ISBN9780802189776
Unavailable
History of Wolves: A Novel
Author

Emily Fridlund

EMILY FRIDLUND’s fiction has appeared in a variety of journals. She holds a PhD in literature and creative writing from the University of Southern California. Fridlund’s collection of stories, Catapult, was a finalist for the Noemi Press Book Award for Fiction and the Tartt First Fiction Award. It won the Mary McCarthy Prize and will be published in 2017. The opening chapter of History of Wolves was published in the Southwest Review and won the McGinnis-Ritchie Award for Fiction. She grew up in Minnesota and currently resides in the Finger Lakes region of New York.

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Reviews for History of Wolves

Rating: 3.6069766627906974 out of 5 stars
3.5/5

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  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Unpopular opinion: I didn't like this book. The writing is ..fine. The plot is mostly non-existent. The stream of consciousness style doesn't bother me, but other than the bits that are clearly foreshadowing, it doesn't seem to be meandering its way to anywhere. The opening chapter, which won an award on its own, is much more compelling than the rest of the book but also entirely unrelated to 90% of the rest of the book. This was definitely a 2.5 star read for me.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This book started out very strongly for me. Linda is a teenage girl living in what amounts to a shack in the Minnesota woods with her (mostly) benignly neglectful parents when she meets the family across the lake and starts baby-sitting their young son. She only gradually realizes something is off with the family; they are Christian Scientists, and the son is sick but not being treated. This plot line caught me and pulled me in, but there is also a subplot involving Linda's teacher and another girl who first accuses the teacher of rape, then takes it back. Linda is weirdly obsessed with these two people, and the final scene of the book, which involves the other girl, I found strange and unsatisfying. Also toward the end, the narrative jumps back and forth between teenage and adult Linda. Although the writing was good and the sense of place was very strong, the story didn't quite gel in the end.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    In her Booker Prize-shortlisted first novel, History of Wolves, Emily Fridlund has written an emotionally restrained yet poignant and wistful coming-of-age story that demonstrates that adults don’t always know best and that some situations can’t be salvaged no matter how good everyone’s intentions are. Madeline Furston, who prefers the name Linda (though she is also called ‘Freak’ by her classmates), is fourteen and lives in the lake district of northern Minnesota with her distracted and idealistic parents. The Furstons are the last remaining occupants of a remote, lake-front commune that her parents helped establish years earlier, when Linda was very young. Linda, who disdains the company of children her own age, is portrayed by Fridlund as a solitary, independent thinker (an inclination inherited from and unintentionally encouraged by her parents), fearless, a good student, and analytical beyond her years, particularly when it concerns the actions of the adults in her life. Linda relates her account in two narrative threads and after the passage of many years, from the perspective of someone looking back on a formative period in her life. In the first, when a new history teacher, Mr. Grierson, arrives at the school, the children are not sure what to make of an earnest young man trying hard to fit in and be liked. He seems harmless, a bit of a klutz, easily mocked, and in a wilful and impetuous moment Linda tries her hand at flirting with him, a move she later regrets. In the novel’s main thread, Linda is intrigued when a young family moves into the cottage across the lake from her house: a young man and woman and their toddler son. Curious and seeking companionship, she approaches the Gardner family and is quickly accepted into the fold, entrusted by the mother, Patra, to babysit her son Paul. It is spring. Leo Gardner, Patra’s husband and Paul’s father, a research scientist, is away working. A close and trusting bond quickly forms between Linda and Paul, but Patra, an anxious child-like woman who lacks confidence and seems lost without her husband, is incapable of committing to a genuine friendship. Upon Leo’s return, Linda is dismayed by the deferential and subservient turn in Patra’s behaviour, and in Leo’s company Linda remains guarded and subtly hostile, never sure where she stands with him. Throughout the narrative, from time to time, Linda hints at a momentous event and ensuing trial, but leaves the details vague until the latter sections of the novel. Fridlund imbues her story with great foreboding, each mention of the trial whetting the reader’s appetite for a tense and riveting courtroom drama. That the story does not really deliver on this promise is somewhat of a disappointment, though Fridlund does resolve Linda’s story in an emotionally satisfying manner. In the end, the reader of History of Wolves is left with the impression of a complex and exquisitely written novel that succeeds on many levels, but which might be trying to do too many things at once.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This felt like two halves of two different good stories that inexplicably got merged together, but never really fit. While this wasn't completely convincing, I do think the author has promise and will look forward to seeing what she writes next.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Right from the title one knows this novel is gonna be studious and layered. Seen as brilliant by the great (T C Boyle!), earning a place on the short list of the Booker, receiving plenty of prizes for the first chapter alone, it is the kind of novel that eludes me or put differently - makes me feel dumb. Yes I can see this is terse, sophisticated writing – concise, layered, full of natural metaphors (dark woods, isolated, winds, water, hunts, fish, snow, ice), and from a vantage point of a teenage girl growing up in a weird world. In fact, looking back, her first chapter contains all the threads that she will spin out in the novel. There is the frustration and utter desolation of a commune that failed – an experience that is translated into parents that have no time for a child that started out as part of communal troupe of children. There is the high school teacher who can’t resist the temptation of young flesh, singling out Mattie for her brains, whilst crossing the line with the pin up girl in class (who ends up pregnant, and the teacher ends up in jail). Linked to the latter there is the failed history project (on Wolves) that Mattie (also known as Linda) pursues under this teacher’s wing. Mattie wants to be seen, but not for her brain power. She wants what the pin-up girl got in the end. Mattie has fantasized about it so often. And finally there is the main theme of the book, Mattie taking care of Paul, a four year old toddler, who is the only child of a Christian Scientology family that comes to stay in the cottage across the lake from Mattie. Paul’s mom Patra is overly impressed, almost slavishly so, by her husband Leo, the scientist. Mattie takes Paul on outings to give some relieve to Patra. Slowly Mattie gets emotionally attached to Patra, and over-awed by Leo. In the end she joins the couple to Duluth for a family outing. Paul falls ill, but nobody acts. Leo performs a suspenseful act, whereby more or less nobody is allowed to act (God is the only one who will, or will not, act… And thoughts are more real than acts…). Everybody realises this is a test. Only Mattie manages to break the spell (by going out getting aspirin), but when she returns, getting an unexpected lift from a helpful holidaying family, she also fails to take responsibility, and the inevitable happens. In the aftermath the family is let off the hook, on religious belief grounds. This novel is an indictment. Subtle, yet harrowing.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    ** spoiler alert ** What are we without a moral compass? How does a person whose compass is bent or broken through no fault of their own, decide right from wrong? Linda is such a person. Raised poorly for the first five years in a commune, she was more a random kid than someone's child. When the group fell apart, leaving her parents as the remaining inhabitants, Mom went religion crazy while Dad stayed aloof from the world, while teaching his daughter survival skills.When a new family moves into a recently constructed home across the lake, Linda is soon pulled into their world. Told in back and forth fashion from her late 30s and her growing up from the time the commune dissolved through her teen years, this is an extremely interesting story of how a person can and does look at events in very different ways as they mature and are influenced by other peoples' experiences. Dark, sad, insightful and a really good read.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I was finding it hard to put into words why I loved this book so I read all the reviews, disparate as they were. I'm not sure anyone really "got" it, nor did I, but that did not interfere with my enjoyment. I loved the writing, the sense of place, the distance one feels from Linda (as she feels from herself), and even the seemingly unrelated story lines. Reading it again would really help, but there is too much else to read!Fridlund should rewrite it! What she was trying to say is important: Linda's identification with wolves and with Lily, who was possibly abused by her teacher; the destructive power of religious (or cult) belief; Linda's kindness to Paul, making up for her own mother's distance; the inability of a girl that age with that background to understand or express what she feels or believes.And perhaps she would change the ending to unite all the threads in a more satisfying way.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Mattie/Linda is a young girl growing up in a cabin in the woods formerly housing a commune. Things got uncomfortable with that venue, and everyone moved away except for Mattie and her parents. There are problems with the heat, an outhouse instead of a bathroom. Mattie lives most of her life searching and learning the woods.Soon a family moves in across the lake in a house that is more like a mansion than a home. A couple and their young son. Mattie becomes the babysitter for this couple. The father, Leo, is not there too much, so Mattie becomes close to the mother, Patra, and the young boy, Paul.Paul seems to have mental issues and is just a little bit protected. He is sometimes a little alarming in his behavior.While Mattie is attending school, a classmate, Lily, claims that their teacher, Mr. Grierson, attacked her and she has become pregnant. This seems to fascinate Mattie. It is almost as if she wishes this could be her.I almost gave up on the book 6 chapters in. That is usually my cut-off point if a book hasn't captured my interest. I kept reading, though, and was taken with the loneliness you feel in Mattie and her yearning to be something, to feel important. I thought the book skipped around a little too much, with no real understanding of what was really going on. There was a lot of switching the story from one point to another, without a clear understanding of why.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    I don't even know what to say about this book. I was really looking forward to reading this book that takes place in my home state because not many are... but reading about things and places I recognize was the only good thing about this book. It was really confusing with lots of constant back and forth with flashbacks and things made up in the mind of the main character. Really disappointing.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    There is some brilliant imagery in this book, and I love the voice of Linda (Madeline, Mattie - does the ambiguity over her name reflect her confused identity? - cos it's a bit annoying). She is very believably the product of a commune, with poor attachments and such a lack of supervision that it amounts to lack of care, skating very near to abuse. However, the folk she knows as her mother and father may not even be her biological parents, and they are very believably doing the best they can for her. No surprises that she can't let herself love and be loved, or actually grow up. For too long, she's been a child with adult expectations of her, and no credible, practical role models. Her own story is chilling enough, without the death of the neighbour's child. And Linda's reactions to that death are predictably confused - is it tragic? criminal? whose fault is it? - and the acquittal of the parents kind of absolves her own parents from responsibility of care for her. The whole story, seems to me, is about the lack of emotional connection between parents and children - children treated as things - children upon whom we visit our sometimes crazy ideals.
    I believe that Linda thinks about wolves because their behaviour shows so much more care for each other, so much more community and family spirit, than she sees around her. There's not one happy family in this book, and no contented, cared for children. In a way it's a frightening portrait of middle America. Not a cheerful read, but enthralling. Try it! See what you think. There's masses to ponder.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I enjoyed this book very much.
    This novel made me sad in a lot of places and I think it is because it is about something that we all have felt at one time or another.....loneliness.
    I was especially moved by the relationship between the main character and her mother. Two people that skirt around and never really connect with each other.
    Fridlund is a writer to be reckoned with.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Indiespensable 64. The woods and lakes of Northeastern Minnesota were almost a character in this debut. The novel builds and threatens like a mid-summer evening thunderstorm. Ominous foreshadowings as distant thunder. I typically dislike the disjointed approach that seems to have infected most modern novels, but Fridlund pulls it off. There are several feints and gyres that sort of fizzle out, but finally the story/storm breaks - I was eager to see how it all ended up but disappointed that it was over. A fine effort.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Fridlund knows her setting and she describes the environment in a manner that, whether it be canoeing on quiet lakes in the dark or traipsing through the woods of northern Minnesota, places you in the heart of her story. The story. What exactly is the story? The author's story seems a bit ambiguous in that it is far reaching and the reader has to stretch it a bit to find some connections in the novel's threads. Here's my take, the weak and vulnerable are exploited, sometimes, unintentionally, by those in a powerful position. In one of these instances we have 4 year old Paul. He is adorable and precocious and well defined. The other is Lily. Her character is not so well defined and detached. Linda, a high schooler and outdoors woman, plays a part in both their lives. Her undeveloped view of the world has tragic consequences. So, if you love reading of flora and fauna and, maybe, are a little interested in cults, yes that's in this far reaching story too, then give it a try.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Centered on the summer she was fourteen, this is the coming-of-age story of Madeline, who is being raised by her parents in an isolated former commune among the lakes of Minnesota. She's an outcast at school, but at home in the woods with her dogs. When a family builds a lake house on the other side of the lake, Madeline is drawn into their lives, fascinated by Patra, who is spending the summer in the lake house with her toddler son while her husband works out of state. To Madeline, their home seems charmed, but even as a young and naive teenager, she can feel that things aren't as they should be. I was excited to see History of Wolves on the Man Booker longlist. I do like that specific kind of coming-of-age story, but by the end of the book I was less charmed than I had been at the beginning. In part it's that I've just read too many of this specific kind of book lately, and it's not the best of the genre. Emily Fridlund's writing is fine, but it's easy to see that this is her first novel in the pacing and the obviousness of the construction. I suspect I'd have enjoyed this novel more had it not had the expectations of being a Man Booker nominee added to it. I'll certainly be interested in seeing what Fridlund writes as she develops as an author.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Told from the perspective of a 14-year-old girl growing up with hippy parents in the north woods of Minnesota, this novel's main story line is that of a young Christian Scientist family with a very sick four-year-old boy. Madeline's young life becomes intertwined with that of Paul and his parents, Leo and Patra, as she herself is struggling with coming of age issues: sexuality, attachment, ambivalence about her peers, a hunger for adult role models who don't let her down.... We learn early on that Paul dies, but the story of how and when this happens, and Madeline's involvement and the internal chaos this creates for her, emerge slowly through the second half of the novel. This isn't a morality play and the question of parental ethics in the face of an ailing child is not Fridlund's concern. Rather, Fridlund is interested in the impact of this ethical ambiguity on the emerging consciousness of a young girl. It's a great premise delivered by a promising author. The descriptions of the woods are memorable and Madeline herself is an unforgettable character. But the storytelling is uneven and the side-plot involving a teacher accused of sexual misconduct with a student never cements, never feels compelling or true (and I don't mean true as in "did he do it?" -- in some ways, that is irrelevant to the thread or the meaning, but true in its emergence in Madeline's consciousness). Madeline is satisfyingly complex; her character development is the cornerstone of the novel and it deserves critical praise and attention. But this novel is not Booker short-list worthy, in my opinion.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Hmm. I liked the writing quite a bit, and for the first half or so of the novel, I was drawn in and eager to see what would happen. But I found the second half quite dissatisfying. I didn't feel like any of the plotlines (about Paul, about Lily, about the parents/commune) wrapped up in any meaningful way. Nor did I feel like the flash-forwards seeing Mattie/Linda as an adult illuminating. I would be willing to read more by this author, but frankly I'm surprised it made the Booker long list. It has an obvious first-novel feel and ultimately doesn't deliver on the plotlines it develops.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I really loved this book. The oppressive sense of foreboding just grew and grew until you could hardly stand it and HAD to know what was going to happen. Though of course it had been pretty clear all along what was going to happen, just not why or how. I enjoyed reading about the lifestyle in a place so different from my own home too. Just a great read.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Gee, three 3 and 1/2 star books in a row, that never happens for me. But, for a third time, the writing is truly wonderful but, the story kept getting bogged down (for me anyway). Our main character, Linda is a teenager living in the remnants of an old hippie commune. She spends too much time alone, that's for sure. A young family moves into a new large house across the lake and Linda becomes the babysitter to the four year old Paul. There is a lot happening in this book and it seems to take a very long time for it to happen. I think this is a good debut novel, but not one of my favorites this year.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Well, I'm kind-of at a loss about this book. I liked it ok in the beginning, then I liked it more in the middle, then I liked it less at the end.Linda is a ninth grader living with her parents in the woods of Minnesota. Former commune members, Linda and her family keep themselves isolated from society, and, although Linda does attend school in town, she is an outcast. Then the Gardner family moves into the house across the lake from Linda's family's home. Linda becomes the babysitter for the young family's four-year-old son Paul, and the Gardners become a second family to her, although there is always an odd sense of discomfort.Throughout the first half of the book, there is a palpable sense of dread, an ominous feeling that something bad is eventually going to happen. This feeling of dread is what kept me reading the book, as I was interested in finding out what was going to happen. Linda is the book's narrator, but the narration cuts back and forth between Linda the teenager and Linda the current middle-aged woman, and it includes some chapters narrated by Linda the young adult. The back-and-forth jumps in time got a little confusing because it wasn't always clear what time frame was being represented, until I read a little bit into the chapter.There is also a separate plot line (set during Linda's high school days) about a classmate named Lily and the school's new history teacher Mr. Grierson. I just didn't get how this plot line fit in. Linda's obsession with Lily is bizarre; not only did I not understand it, I didn't like it.The book was, on the whole, well written. Some parts did drag, and I would skim those slower parts to get to more of the plot. I just found the book very strange. It didn't sit well with me. The ending completely confused me. I guess it just wasn't my cup of tea.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I just kept waiting for something exciting to happen. And it never did. Yeah a kid died from neglect but it’s so drawn out that that wasn’t enough of a shocker.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This book was not my cup of tea but others might like it. The sense of place was beautiful, I just didn’t really get what the point of the book was. I felt like I worked hard to read it all and then nothing.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Thought provoking and well written, evoking a world I knew nothing. Sensitive and intense.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This book reads like a hot knife through butter, a perfect note on an old record, like new paint smeared between fingers. It’s a real work of art, and I wish it never ended. Such a genuine coming of age tale- I would highly recommend.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Madeline, who refers to herself as Linda, is a fourteen year old girl living in Minnesota with her family. She's drawn to one of her classmates, Lily, and the new history teacher Mr. Grierson, who gets charged with child pornography. When a new family moves in, Linda babysits for their little boy, Paul. Early on we learn that Paul has "gone from living to dead" and the story alternates between finding out what happened to Paul and Mr. Grierson/Lily. I really wanted to love this book but it just didn't do it for me. The story is slow and not much happened even though the premise seems otherwise. I found the main character to be unlikeable. The writing is beautiful but not enough to save the book.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Well-written, slow-burning plot. Coming of age story - a young girl who's family is the last remnant of a failed commune in the woods. As a teenager Madeleine or Mattie or Linda (she goes by several names) becomes involved with a mother and son who are living alone in a summer house across the lake.

    The setting should be idyllic. A lake in the woods in the summer. A place where people go (or dream of going) on vacation. Instead the whole area has a feeling of menace.

    Madeleine/Mattie/Linda is witness to some terrible things, but we also learn she's not always a reliable witness even to herself - not sure what she's seeing or what to even do or where to turn.

    It seems as though her whole life turns on this summer, but it also seems like all the outcomes were inevitable all along.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Some parts were a little strange and didn't feel as if they quite fit in, yet overall I still enjoyed reading the book. I came in expecting great detail on wilderness and northern rural life, and while there was some of that nonfiction seems like a better source for it. Anyways, once I was past the realization that this book wasn't what I was expecting, I still read through the whole thing and was glad for it. One thing is that the main character is rather bland, so if you're looking for a book for a character study I wouldn't recommend this. However, if you're just looking for something to read, go ahead.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Well written indeed. Interesting rural Minnesota setting.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is the story of Linda/Mattie, a high-school student in rural Minnesota. It is a story of being an outsider. Mattie and her parents are last remaining members of a commune, the others having all moved away. It isn't even 100% clear that the adults with her are her biological parents. Kids at school are leery of Mattie's strange upbringing. At the time of the story, two important events take place in Mattie's life. Her teacher is charged with possession of child pornography and rumours abound that he assaulted one of Mattie's classmates. Mattie finds she is drawn to to this classmate (Lily). She is also drawn to a family who moves into a newly constructed home across the lake. Patra and her son, Paul, are living there while the husband/father, Leo is away for work. Mattie begins babysitting Paul, but is drawn more to Patra. When Leo returns, it becomes clear that the family are Christian Scientists and Leo is the strong ruler of the family and its decisions.This is a coming-of-age story for Mattie and shows the impact of growing up without a strong moral compass to guide you. Mattie's early years were spent being raised communally. As an older child and teen, her mother is largely absent, spending most of her time at church, and her father teaches her how to survive in the wild, but not in the real world. She sees a mixture of truths and lies in the lives of her teacher and Lily. And she tries to deal with the faith vs science nature of Patra's family as it becomes clear that Paul is ill. She is poorly equipped to deal with any of it.The writing is very good and sets an atmosphere while telling the story. There's a lot to this book.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This book is set in the cold, wet part of North America (Northern Minnesota, apparently), and that backdrop gives the book a strong sense of a grim encounter in a harsh and potentially unforgiving environment. I found the book very disturbing in many ways, with a constant foreboding feeling which was never fully resolved. There are two stories (well, more really, but two are explicit). One is the story of a teacher who is accused and indeed convicted, of paedophilia. The other is a story of a family in which the parents (mostly the father) have a strong belief in Christian Science. The family relationships of the girl narrator is a third major element. The time jumps around a little and that confused me a bit, but the power of the story was so great that I forgave the author. In fact I think she wanted me to feel a bit disoriented. It's an emotionally complex novel with deliberate ambiguity but an overall theme which unites the disparate elements. It's really hard to summarise the novel in a way that does it any justice, but at its heart is the question of what relationships and belonging mean to us. There's no definitive answer here, but lots of really good questions. I suppose many will see the book as a challenge to the validity of Christian Science, but to focus on that aspect too much would not do justice to its universality.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    History of Wolves has an interesting and well depicted setting in the lakes of rural Minnesota. A young teenage girl struggles to find her place amongst her peers after a childhood spent largely in the company of adults in a now defunct commune, followed by an impoverished existence in an isolated backwoods cabin. When an out of town family builds a cabin across the lake, Linda becomes drawn into their lives as she becomes a regular babysitter for their four year old son, but despite outward appearances of devoted family life it soon becomes clear that all is not as it seems. I'm a little torn on this novel, and feel somewhat disappointed with it in the end. The first three quarters of the book - a first novel for Fridlund - were very strong. There was a great sense of place amongst the woods and the lakes, and the tension and sense of foreboding was gradually cranked up at a pace that really worked. However, much too early on in the journey Fridlund discloses all the story's secrets, and as readers we're left waiting for another twist that sadly never comes. As a result, what was a really strong and enjoyably tense novel for a good 200 pages becomes disappointingly deflated in the last 70. Fridlund seemed to reach her story's conclusion far too early and then desperately tried to let it linger on when she'd already shown her hand and the game was finished. Bizarrely, the novel ends around a very much secondary plot in the book which all along never felt like it properly worked, and given that it had nothing to do with the main plot seemed a strange and lacklustre way to conclude the novel. Whilst much of the early writing in the novel read like that of an experienced writer, this attempt to use a secondary plot device that never quite worked showed Fridlund's inexperience. It felt like she was ticking the creative writing box of having a sub-story going on but failed to weave the point of it effectively into the main plot. Also, the occasional forays into the protagonist's life when she was some years older seemed misplaced and an unnecessary interruption into the flow of the narrative. We learn little from her hindsight reflections which don't supply any missing puzzle to the story. Rather, they make the narrative feel disjointed and meandering.Given that I thoroughly enjoyed 75% of History of Wolves, I hope that Emily Fridlund irons out these mistakes in whatever shape her next novel takes. She can definitely tell a good story, but the fundamental mistakes in this one left the story flagging after a very strong start from the stalls. Certainly she feels like a novelist with great potential; I just hope she gets a better editor to guide her for her next book (although given that she was Man Booker shortlisted with this, both she and her editor would strongly argue on that point I'm guessing).3.5 stars - enjoyable, but given the critical flaws mentioned I don't think this deserved to be Man Booker longlisted, never mind shortlisted.