A mother's quest (The Tenderness of Wolves - Stef Penney)

Member Name: sunmeilan

Product:	The Tenderness of Wolves - Stef Penney
Date:	23/08/07 (311 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Beautifully written, absorbing

Disadvantages: The ending could have been better

It is 1867 in Canada. In an isolated settlement along the Dove River, a man is found brutally murdered in his cabin. There are two sets of tracks in the snow leading from the cabin - one of them must be those of the murdered man. Mrs Ross, one of the villagers, is particularly concerned, because she thinks one of the sets of footprints must belong to her son, who has not been seen since the murder. Determined to protect her son, she decides to follow the footprints wherever they may lead her. But the Canadian winters are harsh and she has little experience of travelling long-distance. Will she be able to find her son and prove his innocence? Or will she succumb to the bitter winter weather?

Having won the 2006 Costa First Book Prize, I was expecting something pretty good from this book. Fortunately, unlike so many other occasions, I wasn't disappointed. I was interested to see that, although this is the author's first book, she has written and directed films in the past. Writing a screenplay is very different from writing a book, but Penney has obviously managed to pull it off successfully in this case.

The book is written both from the point of view of Mrs Ross and from a series of other characters, including her son, the 'Company' man who believes her son is guilty of murder and characters that Mrs Ross comes across on her journey. Mrs Ross is the one that most interested me. As she tells her story, she mentions a period of time that she spent in an asylum before her marriage. Having had a breakdown myself, I am always interested in other people's experiences. Unfortunately, we are only told the bare basics - I think this character could have been more in depth than she was allowed to be. I would certainly have liked to find out more about her past.

The book is written in the present tense. On the whole, I am not a fan of books written in this tense - to me, it doesn't seem natural. However, in this case, it suits the whole tone of the book perfectly. There is a sense of immediacy about the prose that adds to the tense, cold atmosphere and the feeling that something is about to happen. The appearance of wolves from time to time in the story (hence the title) add to this beautifully.

The chapters are very short, mainly because the author has chosen to chop between telling the story from Mrs Ross' point of view and then various other characters. This is a sure fire way of keeping me involved in a book. Knowing that I am only a few pages away from the end of the next chapter encourages me to keep reading and although this book is quite a long one (in the region of 450 pages), I finished it in less than two days.

I did enjoy the story. Although it is obsensibly a murder mystery, in many ways, this is not the most important aspect of the book - it is more the story of a woman 'finding' herself whilst going on a long journey. However, the murder mystery part is intriguing and certainly adds a great deal to the book. More intrigue is added with the story of two young girls who went missing several years before and are believed to be either dead or residing with Indians. There are even a couple of love stories to keep those who like a bit of romance happy. The ending is slightly disappointing - I would have liked a bit more excitement, but then I read so much crime fiction that I am nearly always disappointed with the endings.

I really do recommend this book. The only flaws I found were the lack of more in depth characterisation on the part of the main character and the slightly disappointing ending, but the overall story and the way it is written more than make up for it. I can imagine this book being made into a film at some point - it would certainly make an eye-catching one. Highly recommended.

The book is available from play.com for £3.99. Published by Quercus, it has 466 pages. ISBN: 9781847240675

Summary: Well worth a read