The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney
Mar. 18th, 2015 07:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
1867, Canada.
As winter tightens its grip on the isolated settlement of Dove River, a woman steels herself for the journey of a lifetime. A man has been brutally murdered and her seventeen-year-old son has disappeared. The violence has re-opened old wounds and inflamed deep-running tensions in the frontier township – some want to solve the crime; others seek only to exploit it.
To clear her son’s name, she has no choice but to follow the tracks leaving the dead man’s cabin and head north into the forest and the desolate landscape that lies beyond it …
It’s 1867 in Canada. Mrs Ross lives with her husband and adopted son, Francis in the frontier town of Dove River. When she finds her neighbour, the trapper Laurent Jammet, brutally murdered in his cabin at the same time as Francis disappears, she fears the worst. The local magistrate, Andrew Knox, asks the local branch of the Hudson Bay Company for assistance and they send the brutal Mackinley (who sees the case as an opportunity for advancement) and the clerk, Donald Moody (a recent émigré from Scotland) to investigate.
But Dove River is a town full of secrets and not everyone wants to see Jammet’s killer brought to justice. Mrs Ross’s only chance is to strike out and follow the killer’s trail herself, no matter where it takes her …
Stef Penney’s debut novel is a gripping and assured historical thriller that deservedly won the Costa First Novel Award in 2006. Penney alternates between first person, third person limited and third person omniscient points of view throughout the text to great effect, although my favourite sections are those told by the enigmatic Mrs Ross as she recounts her life in Scotland (where she spent time in an asylum), her marriage to Mr Ross and her love for Francis. I particularly admired the way she weaves in a historic tragedy that’s still gossiped about in Dove River, namely the disappearance of the Seton sisters and the pall its cast over the lives of some of the cast together with the details she gives about the lives of the main cast. There’s an overriding sadness to the text, each of the characters has suffered loss and each has hopes and ambitions for the future, whether it’s Donald’s love for the beautiful Susannah, Mr Sturrock’s hopes to prove an Indian written culture or Mrs Ross’s desire to exonerate her son. Also great is the description Penney gives of the Canadian wilderness and its effects on her characters and the historical detail she gives to bring life to the period. My only gripes are that one of the revelations is telegraphed a little too heavily and feels out of keeping for the time (especially the reaction of one of the characters to it) and the ending is open, but these are small issues given that the book had me gripped from beginning to end and I can’t wait to read Penney’s next book.
The Verdict:
Stef Penney’s debut novel is a gripping and assured historical thriller that deservedly won the Costa First Novel Award in 2006. Penney alternates between first person, third person limited and third person omniscient points of view throughout the text to great effect, although my favourite sections are those told by the enigmatic Mrs Ross as she recounts her life in Scotland (where she spent time in an asylum), her marriage to Mr Ross and her love for Francis. I particularly admired the way she weaves in a historic tragedy that’s still gossiped about in Dove River, namely the disappearance of the Seton sisters and the pall its cast over the lives of some of the cast together with the details she gives about the lives of the main cast. There’s an overriding sadness to the text, each of the characters has suffered loss and each has hopes and ambitions for the future, whether it’s Donald’s love for the beautiful Susannah, Mr Sturrock’s hopes to prove an Indian written culture or Mrs Ross’s desire to exonerate her son. Also great is the description Penney gives of the Canadian wilderness and its effects on her characters and the historical detail she gives to bring life to the period. My only gripes are that one of the revelations is telegraphed a little too heavily and feels out of keeping for the time (especially the reaction of one of the characters to it) and the ending is open, but these are small issues given that the book had me gripped from beginning to end and I can’t wait to read Penney’s next book.
As winter tightens its grip on the isolated settlement of Dove River, a woman steels herself for the journey of a lifetime. A man has been brutally murdered and her seventeen-year-old son has disappeared. The violence has re-opened old wounds and inflamed deep-running tensions in the frontier township – some want to solve the crime; others seek only to exploit it.
To clear her son’s name, she has no choice but to follow the tracks leaving the dead man’s cabin and head north into the forest and the desolate landscape that lies beyond it …
It’s 1867 in Canada. Mrs Ross lives with her husband and adopted son, Francis in the frontier town of Dove River. When she finds her neighbour, the trapper Laurent Jammet, brutally murdered in his cabin at the same time as Francis disappears, she fears the worst. The local magistrate, Andrew Knox, asks the local branch of the Hudson Bay Company for assistance and they send the brutal Mackinley (who sees the case as an opportunity for advancement) and the clerk, Donald Moody (a recent émigré from Scotland) to investigate.
But Dove River is a town full of secrets and not everyone wants to see Jammet’s killer brought to justice. Mrs Ross’s only chance is to strike out and follow the killer’s trail herself, no matter where it takes her …
Stef Penney’s debut novel is a gripping and assured historical thriller that deservedly won the Costa First Novel Award in 2006. Penney alternates between first person, third person limited and third person omniscient points of view throughout the text to great effect, although my favourite sections are those told by the enigmatic Mrs Ross as she recounts her life in Scotland (where she spent time in an asylum), her marriage to Mr Ross and her love for Francis. I particularly admired the way she weaves in a historic tragedy that’s still gossiped about in Dove River, namely the disappearance of the Seton sisters and the pall its cast over the lives of some of the cast together with the details she gives about the lives of the main cast. There’s an overriding sadness to the text, each of the characters has suffered loss and each has hopes and ambitions for the future, whether it’s Donald’s love for the beautiful Susannah, Mr Sturrock’s hopes to prove an Indian written culture or Mrs Ross’s desire to exonerate her son. Also great is the description Penney gives of the Canadian wilderness and its effects on her characters and the historical detail she gives to bring life to the period. My only gripes are that one of the revelations is telegraphed a little too heavily and feels out of keeping for the time (especially the reaction of one of the characters to it) and the ending is open, but these are small issues given that the book had me gripped from beginning to end and I can’t wait to read Penney’s next book.
The Verdict:
Stef Penney’s debut novel is a gripping and assured historical thriller that deservedly won the Costa First Novel Award in 2006. Penney alternates between first person, third person limited and third person omniscient points of view throughout the text to great effect, although my favourite sections are those told by the enigmatic Mrs Ross as she recounts her life in Scotland (where she spent time in an asylum), her marriage to Mr Ross and her love for Francis. I particularly admired the way she weaves in a historic tragedy that’s still gossiped about in Dove River, namely the disappearance of the Seton sisters and the pall its cast over the lives of some of the cast together with the details she gives about the lives of the main cast. There’s an overriding sadness to the text, each of the characters has suffered loss and each has hopes and ambitions for the future, whether it’s Donald’s love for the beautiful Susannah, Mr Sturrock’s hopes to prove an Indian written culture or Mrs Ross’s desire to exonerate her son. Also great is the description Penney gives of the Canadian wilderness and its effects on her characters and the historical detail she gives to bring life to the period. My only gripes are that one of the revelations is telegraphed a little too heavily and feels out of keeping for the time (especially the reaction of one of the characters to it) and the ending is open, but these are small issues given that the book had me gripped from beginning to end and I can’t wait to read Penney’s next book.
