THE WOLF'S CURSE

A soul-ferrying Wolf tries to convince a boy to take up her mantle.

In the France-inspired town of Bouge-by-the-Sea, 12-year-old White boy Gauge is the only person able to see the Great White Wolf, a supernatural canine who ferries souls to the afterlife. Ostracized by his community, whose members suspect him of witchery, Gauge is wary of the Wolf, who is pursuing him in order, readers learn, to persuade him to replace her. When Bastien the Carpenter—Gauge’s grandfather and sole caregiver—dies, Gauge is accused by the Lord Mayor of being a dangerous Voyant who will bring death to the village. Fleeing his pursuers, Gauge stumbles upon unlikely allies in the form of a sickly blacksmith, who suffers from a lung ailment brought about by his occupation, and his daughter, Roux, both of whom are cued as Black. As Roux and Gauge become friends and bond over their experiences with grief, they begin to suspect that neither the Wolf nor their town’s death rituals are quite what they seem—and they are determined to unearth some answers. The Wolf’s present-tense, first-person omniscient narration is filled with snark (as well as parenthetical asides and occasional footnotes directly addressing readers) that provides a grim sort of levity. Accessible and intriguing worldbuilding, particularly around the Wolf’s backstory, will pique readers’ interests, as will larger questions about life, death, truth, and tradition.

Thoughtful, creative, and engaging.