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Wolfish

The stories we tell about fear, ferocity and freedom

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Wolfish

By: Erica Berry
Narrated by: Lessa Lamb
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A FINANCIAL TIMES NON-FICTION BOOK TO READ IN 2023
A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2023 for VULTURE, LIT HUB, GOODREADS, RUMPUS, BUSTLE, READER'S DIGEST and more

Wolves abound through cultural folklore and through literature – vilified and venerated in equal measure. In Wolfish, Erica Berry examines these depictions, alongside her own research of the wolf for nearly a decade, to get to the heart of what our stories about the wolf reveal about our relationships with one another and ourselves: ‘What does it mean to want to embody the same creature from which you are supposed to be running?’

The wolf is so often depicted as the male predator, preying on the vulnerable girl/woman who strays from the path; the she-wolf meanwhile depicts women who sit outside the accepted boundaries of feminine behaviour. Berry openly recounts her own uncomfortable and sometimes frightening experiences as a woman to try to understand how we navigate our fears when threat can seem constant.

Through it all, Berry finds new expressions for courage and survival: how to be a brave human and animal member of our fragile, often dangerous world.

 Animals Biological Sciences Customs & Traditions Gender Studies Outdoors & Nature Philosophy Science Social Sciences Inspiring Wolf Tradition
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Critic reviews

"Berry draws on a huge, rich depository of lupine literature. Wolfish is more than just an interesting exercise in cultural anthropology, though. The book’s most obvious ancestor is Helen Macdonald’s megahit of 2014, H Is for Hawk; it has that same intellectual range and a prose style that pushes [. . .] towards the poetic"
"A singular book. Reading this will invite you to examine your own walk through the world — hungry, afraid, brave" (KATHERINE MAY)
"Startling in its scope, covering everything from fairy tales to domestic violence. This book should be required reading"
"Ranging far and wide culturally in the company of wolves . . . Berry segues effortlessly from the reintroduction of wolves at Yellowstone national park to Pliny the Elder’s belief that wolves held pharmacological benefits for women’s bodies"
"Singular . . . a book entirely its own"
"Explores the contours of human relationships — and what it means to be a woman — through this most familiar yet mysterious of creatures"
"Terror propels Erica Berry’s exhilarating book . . . No matter where Berry weaves, she sniffs out fascinating insights. And she writes about it in clear, beautiful language"
"I devoured every startling, lyrical, haunting, yet all-too-familiar page of Wolfish. Such a stunning achievement, it left me feeling like one of the pack" (ELIZABETH RUSH, author of RISING, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize)
"An exhilarating book - intricate, thoughtful, and thick with connections" (MEGHA MAJUMDAR, New York Times bestselling author of A BURNING)
"Berry’s braided approach renders Wolfish both a vulnerable self-investigation and a wide-ranging exploration of fear — and, ultimately, an antidote to it. She makes a stirring case for walking alongside the symbolic wolf"
All stars
Most relevant
Heady cultural history of the wolf in the imaginary, symbolic, and real. Fascinating and engaging and really well told. I loved it.

Fantastic

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Poorly written and awfully structured. Like a sorority girls inner monologue for the majority of it. The audible narrator is the worst part - she is a pure dose.

Wouldn’t recommend

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