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THE WOLF by Steven Herrick

THE WOLF

by Steven Herrick

Pub Date: March 1st, 2007
ISBN: 1-932425-75-6
Publisher: Front Street/Boyds Mills

Lucy Harding lives on the appropriately named Battle Farm, located in an isolated and inhospitable area of Australia. That’s an issue, but it’s not the one that concerns Lucy most. The one that weighs most heavily in Lucy’s heart is what to do about her abusive and alcoholic dad who keeps the women in the family in fear of violence. Her story alternates with that of her neighbor, 15-year-old Jake Jackson. Jake wonders about fate: Is he tied to the land as his parents are? And is his father always right? The two eventually decide to take a pilgrimage into the rocky forest in search of a wolf that they think they hear howling every night, even though wolves are not known to inhabit that terrain. Lucy thinks it’s a feral dog that was once her pet, but escaped her father’s wrath. Herrick is a skillful storyteller and a practiced hand at verse novels like this one. He skillfully intertwines the lives of the teenagers and resolves the story in a satisfying way. The exotic Australian countryside adds a layer of interest to a story that seems to be universal in the minds of young adults. (Fiction. 12-15)