The Tenderness of Wolves

When Laurent Jammet, a French settler, is found brutally murdered in his shack in the frontier township of Dove River a whole chain of events is set in motion.

It is 1867 and life on the edge of the Canadian wilderness is tough. It's even tougher when you decide to hunt the killer by trekking through the Arctic snow, which is what Mrs Ross, an immigrant from the Scottish Highlands, decides to do when her teenage son, Francis, is accused of the crime.

But this is more than one woman's tale. There are stories within stories in this cleverly crafted novel, which scored Stef Penney the Costa Book of the Year in 2006. We meet a whole cast of divergent characters, each of whom has their own reasons for finding the murderer.

There is Parker, a half-breed Cherokee, who is arrested for the crime but later escapes and helps Mrs Ross on her trek; John Scott, a wealthy landowner who runs a dry goods store, and is privy to local gossip; Andrew Knox, the elderly magistrate, and his two daughters, the beautiful Susannah and the plain but intelligent Maria; Donald Moody, the young somewhat green Company employee who is charged with investigating the crime, along with his colleagues Mackinley, the factor of Fort Edgar, who has a penchant for taking the law into his own hands, and Jacob, a half-breed who serves as Donald's bodyguard; and Thomas Sturrock, an old journalist, who once befriended the dead man and seems intent on finding a special bone carving that he feels should be willed to him.

To complicate matters further, there are two sub-plots running throughout this book. The first involves the mysterious disappearance of two teenage girls 15 years earlier. Amy and Eve Seton, daughters of the local doctor, went on a picnic with their friend Cathy but were never seen again. The second involves Line, a Norwegian immigrant, who lives in a religious settlement north of Dove River but wishes to escape with her children and her lover.

All these characters and storylines combine to create a rather powerful if somewhat disjointed narrative. This is further complicated by Mrs Ross telling her side of the story in first-person while everyone else takes it in turn, chapter by chapter, to have theirs narrated in the third-person. I'm not sure this narrative approach entirely works, especially when it comes to the climax which is told from so many points of view it loses its immediate impact.

The greatest failing, in my opinion, is the lack of resolution in several narrative threads, which weakens the novel and leaves the reader slightly frustrated when they finally get to the last page.

But Penney's writing style, on a whole, is confident and perfectly captures frontier life. Her descriptions of the snowy wilderness and the resultant isolation and loneliness are pitch-perfect. Perhaps that's why this book has been so lauded, as you'd be hard pressed to read another debut novel that so expertly conveys an unfamiliar world in such an immediately familiar way. But personally, I just felt The Tenderness of Wolves lacked the narrative hook to keep me reading -- and judging by all the glowing accounts online I may, just possibly, be the only person to feel this way.

A good plot, but not very gripping... (4/5 people found this helpful)

The plot is complex and intelligent, but I found it hard to keep going... very slow-paced and not so well written. The style of writing is quite disjointed and repetitive, which doesn't fully do justice to the complex plot being woven, and also unravelled, in the Canadian wilderness.

The story is full of compassion and sorrow. It is the year 1867. A 17-year-old boy, a solitary and solemn young man, is discovered to be missing about the same time that a Frenchman by the name of Jammet is found brutally murdered in his cabin. A man is wrongfully accused, jailed and beaten, whilst Francis's mother becomes so worried, she sets out on a journey to find her young son.

Inter-racial tensions are cleverly and sympathetically portrayed, as well as personal struggles of love, friendship and propriety of behaviour. However, I just couldn't find pace and the only thing kept me reading was my determined refusal to give it up for good. The last few chapters do pick up on pace and intensity, but I was disappointed not to find more of this compelling writing style throughout the rest of the novel. A good, solid, interesting read but quite lacking in the suspense I was expecting.

AN EXCELLENT READ (0/0 people found this helpful)

A very good book - well written, and compelling. The characters are believable although some of them seemed not entirely necessary to the plot, and others could have been expanded on more. I thoroughly enjoyed this and couldnt put it down! If you are the kind of person who likes a happy ending though - you aren't necessarily going to get what you want!

The Tediousness of Reading This! (0/3 people found this helpful)

I'm not sure why this was lauded as a great first novel. I found it dull and plodding, full of stereotyped characters, uninspiring and completely lacking in the expected evocative descriptions of the landscape. It was all "he said, she said", and went nowhere. The "epic journey" undertaken by the protagonist involved little more than getting a bit knackered on a walk and being a bit chilly in a tent for a few nights (across Canada!!). Oh, Ms Penney's research on wolves amounts to the fact that they don't often attack humans. The only reason I finished it was because I was on a remote Asian island and there was nothing else to read! Better suited to young teenagers - too simplistic for educated adults.

A strong first novel (2/2 people found this helpful)

As a first novel, Tenderness of Wolves is a great book. Stef Penney's prose is easy to read and evokes its setting vividly and effortlessly. Characters are interesting and believable, though I don't know enough about the era or country in which it is set (1867 and Canada, respectively) to comment on its accuracy or whether the characters have too many 'modern' values. Certainly there are plenty of stong, independent female characters, which is always welcome but possibley not a true reflection of the era.

It's a gripping, original story, and the murder mystery element gives the narrative a central drive and provides a framework for the storytelling. In the frozen north of Canada, a man is murdered, bringing together a disparate group of people with various goals. At some point, the majority of characters trek off into the snowy forest in search of the truth, and the harshness of the arctic winter is brilliantly brought to life.

As someone who knows little about this colonial era, I found it interesting to learn more about that time. Many of the central themes, such as the clash between native and colonising cultures, and the battle of humans against the elements, are relevant and topical today as well as in the past. I found the story hard to put down and not predictable.

There were some loose ends that were left untied, which was a little frustrating, and I would have liked the ending to give a little more away. But the at least two of the essential mysteries of the story are solved. I did find myself wondering if there might be potential for a sequel lurking in the author's mind... Also a couple of the characters seemed to have little point in the overall story, even as red herrings (in particular Line and her family), and I did find myself wondering why they were there. Other characters could have been better developed, such as Joseph, but many of them just seemed to vanish as the story reached its conclusion.

However, that aside, it's a highly readable and enjoyable book that will please most readers. I look forward to her next book.

The Tenderness of Wolves

Stef Penney

Reader Reviews:

Great plot but no "hook" (0/1 people found this helpful)

A good plot, but not very gripping... (4/5 people found this helpful)

AN EXCELLENT READ (0/0 people found this helpful)

The Tediousness of Reading This! (0/3 people found this helpful)

A strong first novel (2/2 people found this helpful)

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