The Tenderness of Wolves
Stef Penney

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Published: 2006

Longlisted for the 2007 Women's Prize for Fiction

Canada, 1867. A young murder suspect flees across the snowy wilderness. Tracking him is what passes for the law in this frontier land: trappers, sheriffs, traders and the suspect’s own mother, desperate to clear his name. As the party pushes further from civilisation, hidden purposes and old obsessions are revealed. One is seeking long-lost daughters; another a fortune in stolen furs; yet another is chasing rumours of a lost Native American culture. But where survival depends on cooperation, their fragile truce cannot afford to be broken, nor their overriding purpose – to find justice for a murdered man – forgotten.

The Tenderness of Wolves is a must-read historical epic, weaving adventure, suspense and humour into an exhilarating thriller, a panoramic romance and ultimately, one of the books of the last ten years.

“Clearly the secret of happiness...is a variation on the general principle of banging your head against a wall, and then stopping.”

The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney

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