SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2017 MAN BOOKER PRIZE
'One of the most poetic novels of the year' NEW STATESMAN
How far would you go to belong? Fourteen-year-old Linda lives with her parents in an ex-commune beside a lake in the beautiful, austere backwoods of northern Minnesota. The other girls at school call Linda 'Freak', or 'Commie'. Her parents mostly leave her to her own devices, whilst the other inhabitants have grown up and moved on.
So when the perfect family - mother, father and their little boy, Paul - move into the cabin across the lake, Linda insinuates her way into their orbit. She begins to babysit Paul and feels welcome, that she finally has a place to belong.
Yet something isn't right. Drawn into secrets she doesn't understand, Linda must make a choice. But how can a girl with no real knowledge of the world understand what the consequences will be?
Emily Fridlund grew up in Minnesota. She holds an MFA from Washington University in St. Louis and a PhD in Literature and Creative Writing from the University of Southern California. Her collection of stories, Catapult, was chosen by Ben Marcus for the Mary McCarthy Prize. She lives in the Finger Lakes region of New York. History of Wolves is her first novel.
Title: History of Wolves
Author: Fridlund, Emily
ISBN: 9781474602945
Binding:
Publisher: Orion Publishing Co
Publication Date: 2017-02-23
Number of Pages: 288
Weight: 0.4220 kg
Beautifully written * LITERARY REVIEW *
Compelling ... History of Wolves stands out. * SUNDAY TELEGRAPH *
think Winter's Bone with less crime and more lyricism.. Fridlund is a fine writer and her work is cut through with moments of sparse beauty. * FINANCIAL TIMES *
one of the most intelligent and poetic novels of the year * NEW STATESMAN *
Fridlund's writing is vivid: her natural descriptions elicit a superb sense of place * DAILY MAIL *
this is a top-notch thriller: suspicion drips like icicles in the thaw * THE TIMES *
Fridlund is a fine writer and her work is cut through with moments of sparse beauty. * FINANCIAL TIMES *
Haunting and compelling * i NEWSPAPER *
Reminds me of Curtis Sittenfeld...so original, a beautiful literary work (Viv Groskop); A writer with a great future ahead of her...her prose is exquisite (Louise Doughty) * BBC RADIO 4: SATURDAY REVIEW *
The chilling plot is only part of the mesmerising power of this assured and striking debut from this American novelist * PRESS ASSOCIATION *
Reminds me of Curtis Sittenfeld...so original, a beautiful literary work -- Viv Groskop
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 -- Aimee Bender, author of The Color Master and The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake
As exquisite a first novel as I've ever encountered. Poetic, complex and utterly, heartbreakingly beautiful -- T. C. Boyle, author of The Harder They Come
First thing you see is the bracing intelligence of the book's young narrator - no big-eyed sentiments for Linda, raised amid blighted ideals in the ceaseless winters and vast swamps of northern Minnesota. So observant is Linda that you trust her instantly, but it's her own search for trust, for connection even at enormous cost, that will hold you to the final hour. Emily Fridlund's language is generous and precise, her story grief-tempered and forcefully moving. History of Wolves is the loneliest thing I've read in years, and it's gorgeous. These are haunted pages -- Leif Enger
A writer with a great future ahead of her...her prose is exquisite -- Louise Doughty
The chilling plot is only part of the mesmerising power of this assured and striking debut from this American novelist * PRESS ASSOCIATION *
Life offers Linda two simultaneous chances to fit in, although both, as we know from the start, go terribly wrong * GUARDIAN *
Every page in this first novel echoes with grief and loneliness, yet there's a great beauty to it. * COUNTRY LIFE *
