Wolfish - The stories we tell about fear, ferocity and freedom

Both vilified and venerated, wolves abound through cultural folklore and literature. In this hauntingly lyrical and unflinching inquiry, Erica Berry untangles these depictions – alongside her own research of the wolf and experience as a woman – to try to understand how we navigate terror, vulnerability and violence in our fragile, often dangerous world.

Luminously wise and unusually brave, Wolfish will stay with you long into the night.

Praise:

“Berry draws on a huge, rich depository of lupine literature. Wolfish is more than just an interesting exercise in cultural anthropology, though. The book’s most obvious ancestor is Helen Macdonald’s megahit of 2014, H Is for Hawk; it has that same intellectual range and a prose style that pushes […] towards the poetic” - Sunday Times

“A singular book. Reading this will invite you to examine your own walk through the world — hungry, afraid, brave” - Katherine May

“Startling in its scope, covering everything from fairy tales to domestic violence. This book should be required reading” - LA Times

“Ranging far and wide culturally in the company of wolves … Berry segues effortlessly from the reintroduction of wolves at Yellowstone national park to Pliny the Elder’s belief that wolves held pharmacological benefits for women’s bodies” - Guardian