Once There Were Wolves, Charlotte McConaghy

Enjoyed her first novel so much that I was pleased to see she’d had another. She writes her novels as movies on the written page. Inti and Aggie are twins and have stuck by each other for a lifetime. The main, Inti, has a neurological condition called mirror-touch synesthesia where her brain re-creates the sensory experiences of living creatures – is she sees it, she feels it, and for a moment experiences the same pain or pleasure. Her father is a conservationist trying to halt its degradation, reducing impact, living lightly, and trying to teach his children the same. The mom is a lawyer who’s not too fond of men, and distrusts society for good reason--- she’s seen it through the eyes of her job. Inti is at odds with the woman she once was, all while trying to reintroduce wolves to a community in the Scottish highlands that aren’t welcoming her and her team with open arms. She begins a relationship with a police officer – Duncan, the only law in the land. And once wolves begin to kill cattle the town pushes back. Mentally distressed characters the sisters are, to say the least… their past rightfully displays this as justified. How does she and her twin sister, her true other half in every way resolve the conflicts that arise? The read has twists and turns as her other novel did, nothing not too unbelievable in the story leads to a greater impact on the effect of disposition and causes which make for a splendid read.