Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2199 in Books
• Published on: 2007-02-08
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 466 pages

The Glasgow Herald
`... a highly-assured debut....Stef Penney has written an
absorbing and stylish mystery.

Birmingham Post
`... a quite remarkable debut novel.'

Birmingham Post
...a quite remarkable debut novel

Customer Reviews

A wonderful journey through the Canadian wilderness
`Tenderness of Wolves' is so well written, that for the first time in a very long time, I felt I was reading a book that richly deserved its prize (The 2006 Costa Prize, successor to the Whitbread). I was drawn in from the first page, savouring the writing and the descriptions. And for once, good writing did not get in the way of good story telling. The tale was gripping, although `Tenderness of Wolves' does not pretend to be a thriller.

That said, there was a sense of anti-climax after Mrs Ross finds her son, yet leaves him, in her search for the killer. For a while the story sags, as if Mrs Ross's new quest is a tangent or an afterthought, it simply does not seem as urgent as the quest for her son. Still, the narrative picks up again later, and even during the `slow' patch I enjoyed tramping around the Canadian wilderness, going where the author took me. It is a landscape that stayed with me well after I finished the book. Authentic or not, it certainly felt like a real place.

I liked the way that Mrs Ross's story was not the only plot-line, but that the book had multiple layers and a number of side stories (not quite sub-plots), which added texture to the book and gave it the feel of covering an entire community. I do agree with some of the other reviewers that the some characters were confusing but this was more because they were not individually distinct enough, than because there were too many of them.

The only irritant in a marvellous book was constant shifting between past and present tense. But even this could not detract from the pleasure of being in the northern wastes with Stef Penney.

Lovely description but story sags in the middle
I enjoyed the way this book was written - in the first person when focusing on the main female character and third person with everyone else which clearly brings the reader to give more empathy to Mrs Ross and enables you to more understand her way of thinking than the other characters - many who remain strangers throughout the book.
I know there was a lot of criticism at the time the book won the award that the author had never visited Canada so was not in a position to write about it. I disagree with that as I think she has captures the harsh surroundings and the immature society that built up to deal in them. I haven't lived in Canada either so more research and historical context would have added nothing.
I found that the story slowed a little in the middle and it became quite hard work for a while but everything picked up again and I enjoyed the conclusion.

one good book you certainly can judge by it's cover!

The books I enjoy most are the ones that not only tell a moving and uplifting story but take you off to stange or exotic locaions. This is certainly true of Tan Twan Eng's beautifully crafted "The Gift of Rain"The Gift of Rain - the best thing I've read for an absolute age. But this one is really good too - although the setting couldn't contrast more starkly with the tropical lushness of 1930's Malaysia. This time the landscape is 19th century Canada, the white, windswept wilderness of the Ontario frontier in the 1860's. This is one good book that you certainly can judge by it's cover. If, like me, you like stories that take the reader on a journey, then this is for you. There are also believable characters and nicel interlinked sub-plots. Turn the heating up a notch or two first mind, or have plenty of logs ready for the fire if you have one. And give 'The Gift of Rain' a go too, if you haven't already - you won't be sorry.