Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy

Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy

Charlotte McConaghy got her start writing paranormal and fantasy romances, but has published several literary fiction novels since 2020. Once Their Were Wolves came out in 2021 and not only became a New York Times Bestseller, but is also an Amazon Editors' pick for Best Literature and Fiction and won the Indie Book Award for Fiction in 2022. Since Once There Were Wolves, her more recent novel Wild Dark Shore was named one of Amazon's Best Books of 2025. Once There Were Wolves deals with animal cruelty and death, bullying, domestic abuse, mental illness, physical abuse, sexual abuse, violence, and rape, blood, grief, stalking, pregnancy, abandonment, injury, and death.

Inti and her twin sister Aggie have always been like two halves of a whole. Not to say that they were not whole people on their own, but they always felt more comfortable and more themselves when they were together. Especially Inti, who has struggled with a condition called mirror-touch synesthesia that can make the world too much to bear, and whose sister Aggie was her protector whenever Inti needed it. But as Inti embarks with her team on a mission to reintroduce wolves to the forests of Scotland, she does not have Aggie to protect her. She will have to protect herself, and the wolves, as best she can on her own. She finds a community that is divided and when a farmer goes missing, she will have to fight to save the things that she loves.

I can't believe how much I enjoyed this story. Keep that in mind as I say that I found the characters to be very flat and the relationships undeveloped. I tried to put that aside, as the majority of the story is really about Inti's struggle with herself and her need to save not only the wolves, but the people that she loves. So much of the relationship building happens behind the scenes, but I still feel that the relationship between Inti and Duncan in particular was too fast and surface level for me to really put much stock in. I would have preferred to have more of a foundation for the ending to really feel impactful. That being said, I really enjoyed the setting of this book and the prose was beautiful. It was a fast moving book and I wish we had slowed it down and spent more time on building the characters and their connections. But I loved the association that Inti has with the wolves, and with the woods. I love the symbolism for what they mean to her and what she is willing, in the end, to give up for something she finds more important. I didn't love the very end of the book, but I concede that it felt right.

I'm giving Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy 4.25 stars out of 5. Even though on paper, it may sound like I didn't like this book, but I really did. It's one of those hard to describe books where it simultaneously feels like nothing and everything happened. If you liked Where the Crawdads Sing, I'd give this book a try.

For more from Charlotte McConaghy, check out her website at https://www.charlottemcconaghy.com/

Pairs well with grilled peaches and learning about mirror touch synesthesia.

My favorite quotes:

"'Fear makes for danger, whether it was there to begin with or not.'"

"'...they screech away on the bagpipes. Bless them if it isn't the worst sound on Earth and drives the cheeky pests right away.' I laugh with her as Douglas straightens in his chair. 'Now I know you didn't just insult my piping, Mrs. Doyle' 'Not at all, Mr. McRae, I was quite generous, considering.'"