Inti Flynn leads a team of biologists who have released 14 grey wolves into the remote Scottish Highlands as part of a rewilding project to help slow climate change. The team hopes to replicate the success of a similar project undertaken in Yellowstone National Park but the locals are opposed, worried the wolves will eat their livestock and destroy their way of life.

Angry at the locals’ resistance, Inti struggles to settle into the area. She has her own demons to deal with, including caring for her twin sister, Aggie, scarred by an unnamed trauma that took place in their previous home in Alaska.

As the wolves, against all odds, start to thrive in their new home, Inti lets down her guard and allows herself the possibility of love. But danger lurks: first stock, then a local farmer, are killed. Unable to accept her wolves could be responsible, Inti makes a reckless decision that could jeopardise everything. But if the wolves didn’t make the kill, who did? Inti knows the threat posed by wild wolves is nothing compared to the violence and cruelties humans can inflict on each other.

This haunting and poetic novel highlights the intricate relationship between humans, animals and nature. It explores the trauma of violence and the power of hope.

Part thriller, part redemptive love story, I couldn’t put it down.

Reviewed by Melinda Woledge