Once There Were Wolves

I picked this book because it was nominated, and ranked fourth, in the Goodreads Choice Awards for fiction of 2021.
I don't typically read mystery books, neither with such brutal content, but I must admit I really enjoyed this one. The writing is beautiful, and I was so immersed in the story that I just skipped sleeping.

The story follows the life of Inti Flynn and her twin sister Aggie. The events are told combining the present, set in Scotland where Inti is reintroducing wolves to their natural habitat to restore the landscape and ecosystem, and the past set in Alaska.

I enjoyed the parallels between animal and human life and the demonstration that humans are often the most cruel of animals.

The natural aspects of the book are one of its main assets and I loved that it was based on replicating the reintroduction of wolves in Yellowstone, an experiment that had a cascade of impacts on the ecosystem, namely:
- Elk started moving on the winters
- willow stands recovered from intense browsing
- beaver rediscovered an abundant food source, contributing to its population increase
- beavers spread and built new dams and ponds which provide cold, shaded water for fish, while the now robust willow stands provide habitat for songbirds.

TW: This book is very dark and I would not recommend it to anyone who cannot read acts of violence, either to humans or animals.