" My father used to say the world turned wrong when we started separating ourselves from the wild, when we stopped being one with the rest of nature, and sat apart. He said we might survive this mistake if we found a way to rewild ourselves. But I don’t know how to do that when our existence frightens the creatures we must reconnect with."

Inti is in Scotland with her team to reintroduce several wolves into the wild, hoping to "rewild" Scotland and save the forests that are dying. The locals are against her and Inti knows that the wolves must not only survive the wild but also the farmers who do not welcome the idea of predators.

This book captivated me. Not only is the writing very atmospheric and poetic but the story had a surprisingly gritty darkness to it. Things unfold slowly but build to a perfect fever pitch towards the end. It makes the reader face the question of how violence changes us and how far we are willing to go for the things we love.

This is a story about Inti, a story about her sister, a story about the wolves, and a story about nature and the planet we are set on destroying and a story that looks at the darkness of humans. And there is also a romance. (Not the focus, but not a side note either).

"This is how the world dies, he said, with laziness."

I just fell in love with how McConaghy slowly showed us who Inti was and didn't hold back from the darker side of this story. I did not see if coming at all. And honestly, these characters are flawed and messy and they make mistakes but they also learn to find a lifeline and pull themselves out of the darkness of their past. I fell in love with Inti. If you like a gritty murder mystery and if you like nature you should really give this a read. TW: domestic violence.

This is, and I imagine it will remain, one of my favorite reads this year.

"We all have that choice, and most of us make it. There is cruelty to survive, to fight against, but there is gentleness more than anything, our roots deep and entangled. That is what we hold inside, what we take with us, the way we look after each other. "