Once There Were Wolves

{{Short description|2021 novel by Australian author Charlotte McConaghy}} {{Use Australian English|date= September 2025}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2025}} {{Infobox book| | name = Once There Were Wolves | title_orig = | translator = | image = File:Once_There_Were_Wolves.jpg | caption = | author = Charlotte McConaghy | cover_artist = | country = Australia | language = English | series = | genre = Literary novel | publisher = Hamish Hamilton | release_date = 3 August 2021 | media_type = Print | pages = 258 pp. | isbn = 9781761043222 | preceded_by = | followed_by = | awards = 2022 Indie Book Awards Book of the Year – Fiction, winner; 2022 Davitt Award – Best Adult Novel, winner }}

'''''Once There Were Wolves''''' is a 2021 novel by the Australian author Charlotte McConaghy.<ref name="NLA">{{cite web |title=''Once There Were Wolves'' by Charlotte McConaghy |publisher=National Library of Australia |url=https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/8605993 |access-date=8 September 2025}}</ref>

It was the winner of the 2022 Indie Book Awards Book of the Year – Fiction.<ref name=IBA>{{cite web|title="Indie Book Awards - Winners 2022" |publisher= Australian Independent Booksellers|url=https://www.indiebookawards.com.au/2022-winners|access-date= 8 September 2025}}</ref>

==Synopsis== Inti is the head of Cairngorms National Park's Wolf Project in Scotland. The project aims to release 14 wolves into the park as a part of their rewilding project. The project is met with opposition from local farmers who worry about their sheep flocks. Then a dead body is discovered and Inti begins to suspect a local policeman of the murder.

==Critical reception==

Writing in ''The Newtown Review of Books'' Ann Skea was impressed with the novel: "Charlotte McConaghy draws the reader into the lives of her characters, and realistically coveys the closeness, secrets, fears and mutual support of a small community where people have grown up together and know each other well...Ecology, climate change and self-sufficiency are casually woven in as underlying themes, but it is the creatures – human and wolf – that are the heart of the story."<ref>{{cite web|title="CHARLOTTE McCONAGHY Once There Were Wolves. Reviewed by Ann Skea." |date= 16 September 2021|publisher= The Newtown Review of Books|url=https://newtownreviewofbooks.com.au/charlotte-mcconaghy-once-there-were-wolves-reviewed-by-ann-skea/|access-date= 8 September 2025}}</ref>

==See also== * 2021 in Australian literature

==Notes== * Dedication: "For my little one" * Epigraph: "One beast and only one howls in the woods by night." - Angela Carter

==Publication history==

After the novel's initial publication by Hamish Hamilton it was reprinted as follows:

* 2021 Flatiron Books, USA<ref name=Austlit>{{cite web|title= ''Once There Were Wolves'' by Charlotte McConaghy |publisher= Austlit|url=https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/22563027?mainTabTemplate=workPublicationDetails|access-date= 8 September 2025}}</ref> * 2022 Chatto and Windus, UK<ref name=Austlit />

The novel was also translated into Swedish, German, Finnish, Dutch and Danish in 2022, Greek in 2023, and French in 2024.<ref name=Austlit />

==Awards==

* 2022 Indie Book Awards Book of the Year – Fiction, winner<ref name=IBA /> * 2022 Davitt Award – Best Adult Novel, winner<ref>{{Cite web |last= |date=29 August 2022 |title=Davitt Awards 2022 winners announced |url=https://www.booksandpublishing.com.au/articles/2022/08/29/219677/davitt-awards-2022-winners-announced/ |access-date=8 September 2025 |website=Books+Publishing |language=en-AU}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Once There Were Wolves}} Category:2021 Australian novels Category:2021 English-language novels