This is the first of Katherine Rundell's books I've read so I had no expectations or pre conceived ideas about the author's style. This book thoroughly entranced me from the first chapter, Feo and her mother are wolf wilders; they teach unwanted pets how to reintegrate into their natural environment. They live a solitary but happy life until everything changes when Feo's mother is taken away by soldiers. Feo sets off with her wolf friends (& some human ones she makes on the way) to save her mother. Beautifully written, the book had me in tears of heartbreak at one particular moment and made my heart race in fear at others. Ilya, Feo's soldier friend who desires nothing more than to be a ballet dancer is finely drawn and his sexuality is only hinted at but it's heartening to see diversity appearing in MY books without differences being painted as 'issues'.