Tenderness of Wolves

The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney

I read this book over the summer, but it seems to me much more of a winter book. Thinking back to an old Booking-through-Thursday question… The Tenderness of Wolves is a book that almost embodies winter for me.

Set in the winter of 1867, it is the story of an isolated community in the Northern Territory (Canada). The Tenderness of Wolves is a murder mystery tempered scope and attention to historical detail. Atmospheric and evocative, The Tenderness of Wolves is also a meditation on "the sickness of long thinking" (154).

A fantastic debut novel, The Tenderness of Wolves won the 2006 Costa First Novel Award. This is such a promising start that I can't wait to see what Penney writes in future.