Once and Future Wolves
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The newest novel from climate-conscious novelist Charlotte McConaghy imagines what reintroducing the gray wolf to the Scottish Highlands would really look like on the ground.
Review by Sophie Burk
In her 2021 follow-up to the critically acclaimed Migrations, novelist Charlotte McConaghy once again weaves real environmental issues into an engaging plot with interesting, relatable characters. Once There Were Wolves tells the story of Inti and her team of scientists who are working to re-introduce the gray wolf to the Scottish Highlands, where they were once the keystone species. The wolves were hunted down between the 16th and 18th centuries to make room for a more prosperous agricultural community and eliminate the threat they posed to livestock. Echoing a real current concern, many of the area locals in the novel strenuously object to their restoration. Once There Were Wolves approaches the issue of wildlife conservation in a personal, passionate manner, imagining the potential struggles and complications inherent in just one attempt at conserving a singular ecosystem.
The novel moves back and forth from Inti’s present work with the wolves to her childhood spent moving between homes on opposite ends of the world. We learn that she spent her early life coming to terms with the evil present in the world and then watch as Inti’s hope and trust are rebuilt along with the gray wolf population. Inti’s “restoration” is thus linked to that of the wolf population, a symbiotic relationship perhaps most overtly suggested in her “mirror-touch synesthesia,” an extremely rare condition frequently invoked throughout the novel to explain her unique connection to the natural world. This condition causes Inti to feel the physical sensations of any creature that she sees, which allows her to develop a deeper understanding of the plight of the wolves, since she is able, literally, to feel the pain inflicted upon them by those that wish them harm.
As in her previous novels, McConaghy manages to weave real environmental issues into the novel’s captivating narrative of familial relationship, thrilling murder-mystery, romance, and resilience. Though it is fictionalized in the novel, the possibility of reintroducing gray wolves is a real discussion currently under debate in Scotland. McConaghy uses the reintroduction of gray wolves to Yellowstone National Park in 1995—a venture which brought significant change and flourishing to the park’s ecosystem—as one of Inti’s strongest arguments in favor of the project.
As Inti and her colleagues explain over the course of the novel, there are multiple potential environmental benefits to the wolves’ return. Deer numbers have grown substantially with no major predator to quell them, resulting in significant over-grazing of the highlands and a severe loss of tree stands. In turn, this causes a reduction in other plant, bird, and small mammal populations as their habitat becomes scarcer. In fact, the loss of woodland all over the world has had severe effects on the planet as a whole. One of Inti’s colleagues explains the potential benefits:
We urgently need to rewild. If we can extend woodland cover by a hundred thousand hectares by 2026 then we can dramatically reduce CO2 emissions that contribute to climate change and we can provide habitats for native species… the most effective way to do that is to reintroduce a keystone predator species that was here a long time before we were.
The team believes that the reintroduction of wolves will help to restore the Scottish Highlands to their original flourishing, and consequently will improve the life of the local ecosystem, as well as the whole planet and all of its inhabitants.
Even so, Inti’s drive for ecological healing seems rooted in a deeper understanding of purpose, an empathy for all living things, flora and fauna alike. Throughout the story the words of her father ring constantly in her memory: As a naturalist and proponent of sustainable living, he raised his daughters to respect and preserve the natural world around them. In one flashback to her childhood, Inti recalls her father telling her, “We’re not here to consume until everything’s gone–we are custodians, not owners.”
In fighting to right the wrongs humanity has done to the planet, we cannot ignore the well-being of our fellow man.
Still, in every environmental debate, there are those who do see themselves as “owners,” often those for whom the land is livelihood. One of the central themes in this novel is the conflict between Inti’s team and the local farmers. The Scottish people in the story (just as in the actual debate over this issue) are concerned for the safety of their families, communities, and the livestock on which they depend for income. One of the key characters is a local farmer, Red McCrae, who particularly opposes Inti and her methods, and presents a serious and violent conflict to Inti and her team. Like many of the townspeople, Red feels that Inti is more concerned with the lives of the wolves than with those of the locals, and her actions as an outsider leave him feeling bitter and angry. The team, on the other hand, feels an emotional connection to their project, looking beyond daily life to the long-term ecological benefits the wolves would bring by making the Highlands their habitat once again.
We find this same tension and even impasse in today’s environmental issues and arguments. Frequently, these differences of priorities create a strain between the scientific community and the general public. The imperative to work together and find solutions addressing both ecological and human safety is only growing, and as this novel so eloquently illustrates, this cooperation is likely the only way to effect real environmental change. In fighting to right the wrongs humanity has done to the planet, we cannot ignore the well-being of our fellow man. This is a delicate balance, but as Inti learns, even approaching the conversation with the goal of compromise can change the way people view the real issue.
Though the character Inti would likely be comfortable living out her life entirely in the remote wilderness, that is not the case for most of us—and not what the custodial view of nature necessarily calls on us to do. The truth is, we don’t need to be entirely immersed in untouched nature to appreciate the beauty and value of the Earth, nor do we need to ignore its usefulness and forgo the gift we have been given. By adjusting our view of the natural environment we rely on to see ourselves as custodians rather than owners, there is opportunity for working in partnership with creation, reaping its reward while acknowledging its value and preserving it for future generations. This story’s characters may have a more purely scientific backing for their conservation mindset, but the result is arguably the same: care of Creation.
Though McConaghy’s novel does not invoke religious themes specifically, the discussion of a “custodial” life in relation to the natural world is important for people of faith to consider. In Genesis 1, man is given dominion over all that is in the earth. Though this word “dominion” has been interpreted in different ways, I believe it is the duty of the Christian to care for the natural world in a way that reflects the love we have been given by the One who created it. We can see nature as a living gift, something that we rely on but also something that deserves respect and care. To do so requires living with intention, seeking out small ways and practices of sustainability in our daily lives that we can exercise to show love toward the natural world. In giving of ourselves—sacrificing certain privileges for the sake of bettering the natural world—we give back to not only the earth, but each other, and to those who will come after us.
Sophie Burk is a third year student at the University of Virginia. She is pursuing degrees in Environmental Science and Religious Studies, and enjoys writing and reading about topics of faith and the natural world.
Once There Were Wolves was published by Flatiron Books on August 3, 2021. You can purchase it from the publisher here.
