Wolfpack by Amelia Brunskill (review)

In a rare act of rebellion, nine girls from Havenwood—usually careful to respect the rules of their community and its leader Joseph—move out of the communal lodge to a small cabin near the woods. There they rename themselves: Daisy, Fern, Ivy, Laurel, Oleanna, Poppy, Violet, Willow, and Rose. The girls are fiercely loyal to one another, so when their de facto leader Rose goes missing, they hesitate to tell the elders, convinced they’ll be able to find her before anyone notices. What they uncover instead is a series of secrets, and their new knowledge spurs the girls to a horrific act. This novel-in-verse brilliantly develops layers of intrigue, with each answered question leading to a more disturbing one, the sum of which ultimately paints a picture of well-intentioned deceptions and the terrible tragedies they bring about. Third-person narration devotes alternating chapters to each girl, interspersed with first-person observations from an unnamed source who places herself within the group (using “we”). The text manages to be both descriptive and opaque, giving readers just enough information to know they’re missing something. The picture of Havenwood is especially compelling; it’s clearly a cult, but it truly does seem like a communal, supportive space, and even when its leaders’ less-than-noble actions are revealed, their motivations are hardly malevolent. Indeed, it seems as though the younger generation—including the leader’s protégé and the girls—is touched with a wild viciousness, perhaps because of the cult’s control, or perhaps just by their nature. There’s little closure here, only the assumption that the girls, much like the readers, will be haunted by the repercussions of their actions for some time.