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Stef Penney’s novel, set in 1867 Canada, is a sparingly drawn portrait, resonant of the sparse frontier in which it is set. The description is understated, Penney not spending time in over-detailed portrayal, instead using nuance and subtlety to describe the era and environment. The characters are beautifully sketched, with hints of lost loves, lives and hidden secrets and depths. THE TENDERNESS OF WOLVES won the 2006 Costa book of the year award, as well as being short-listed for the Orange Prize for Fiction. The book has suspense and an air of mystery at its core, in relation to its people, environment and its central themes. The story starts with the gruesome murder of a trapper, and the disappearance of the son of the woman who found the body. The shocking event reveals cracks in the fabric of the local society as well as revealing prejudices, hatred and hidden secrets of the other townsfolk. In order to solve the murder and find her son, the woman (Mrs Ross) sets out in the tightening grip of winter through deep forest, in the company of an unlikely ally. The book meanders slowly in the beginning, resonant no doubt of the ice-laden winter rivers of Canada as well as the pace of life in the harsh, season-dependant winter of a 19th century frontier town. But once the heroine embarks on her journey, her life and that of the book take on a clear direction and a quicker pace. During the search, characters flesh out, revealing hints of their pasts, their ghosts and frailties, hitherto not revealed in the psyche of the frontier's people living and surviving in thrall of the company town. As the journey progresses, and the characters become inextricably entwined within the plot, the book reveals clashes of culture and class as well as repression of spirit, loves, loneliness and isolation of people pushed to the very margins of a pioneering but unsophisticated society. As the book progresses, the characters begin to unravel, torn apart by the violent murder of a marginalised trapper. But with each further incident and inability to find the killer, the uncertainty begins to highlight the secrets of the townsfolk. However, with the culmination of the journey, Penney subtly ties together the unravelled strands of the book and the histories of the residents. THE TENDERNESS OF WOLVES is seductively written and pulls you into it. The characters have their frailties but are written to warrant sympathy. It's positive that Penney doesn't feel the need to give the story a neatly convenient ending but that adds to the book's strength and reflects life itself.
Reviewed by J. A. Wheeler, March 2007
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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