Wolf Hollow by Lauren Wolk (review)

Even World War II has failed to significantly disturb eleven-year-old Annabelle McBride’s peaceful countryside town, but the arrival of Betty Glengarry, who has been sent by her mother to live with grandparents, disrupts Annabelle’s idyll. Betty is a bully of the worst order, waylaying Annabelle along a secluded route to the small schoolhouse, shaking her down for money or trinkets, threatening physical harm to Annabelle and her brothers, and even beating Annabelle with a stick. Annabelle is determined to tough it out, convinced she can protect herself and her brothers, but the menace escalates when Annabelle’s best friend Ruth is blinded by a rock thrown by an unseen assailant, and her little brother is seriously cut by a wire drawn taut between two trees. Betty denies involvement; neighbors suspect the intended target was a German man and the perpetrator is Toby, a recluse who squats in an abandoned shack and is rumored to be emotionally damaged by past war experiences. Annabelle isn’t buying Betty’s innocent act or Toby’s guilt, and when Betty goes missing, Annabelle musters her best behind-the-scene effort to solve the mystery. Adult Annabelle relates the tale, and the air of melancholy and sad lessons learned that suffuses her narration portends an ending with much sorrow and little justice. Readers accustomed to happy endings that arrive on the heels of climactic vindication may not find the pat conclusion they expect, but they will, with Annabelle, find peace and comfort in the knowledge that being a true friend to Toby in his time of need carries its own reward.