witchbuns

Charlotte McConaghy, 2021

5 stars of absolute perfection. McConaghy builds increasing tension between the scientist team rewilding wolves, the resistant agricultural Scottish society, Inti’s growing attraction to local sheriff Duncan, and her estrangement and intimacy with her twin sister Aggie. It’s an absolute fire between each of the tension points and the character development of Inti is finely honed as she discovers truths of herself and her social contacts. 

This story has a beautiful theme of rewilding bringing tension between conservatives and conservationists, asking questions of how we lead the public and sway opinion in ecological initiatives, and we see how the scientists who are working for the good of the natural world may be unqualified to apply their studies to the humans who block their progression. 

This is masterful writing and I came to this after reading Charlotte McConaghy’s latest book Wild Dark Shore. This one is stronger to me, a total five stars, because the relationship with Aggie is pulled out in the right beats of the story. What McConaghy does so well is building nature as a character, here with the wolves, and it’s absolutely mesmerizing. Read this, share this, and commit the author’s name to memory. She’s a phenomenal talent who tackles our relationship to nature with a strong position on how we can and should act on behalf of the ecology around us.