Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy: instinct and monsters

About this episode

Neha and Shruti discuss the themes of instinct and monsters in 'Once There Were Wolves' by Charlotte McConaghy.

Shruti and Neha discuss Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy, a story of a young woman trying to reintroduce wolves into the wild in the Scottish Highlands, only to find a darker side of the town that has troubling echoes with her own past. We discuss the story through the themes of instinct, villainy, and monsters. We also share some context on real-world conservation efforts, and get into the subgenre of tragedy porn (or misery lit). Links: Interview with Charlotte McConaghy Shelf Discovery & Books Mentioned Popular Trauma Culture by Anne Roth It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover Island of the Sea Wolves [Netflix] Miracle Creek by Angie Kim The Women by Kristin Hannah A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara Stolen by Ann-Helén Laestadius If you would like to get additional recommendations, analyses, and behind-the-scenes content related to this and all of our episodes, subscribe to our free email newsletter on Substack. We love to hear from listeners about the books we discuss - you can connect with us on Instagram or by emailing us at thenovelteapod@gmail.com. This episode description contains links to Bookshop.org, a website that supports independent bookstores. If you…

People in this episode

Hosts: Neha, Shruti

Guest: Charlotte McConaghy

Topics covered

• conservation
• instinct
• villainy
• tragedy porn
• Scottish Highlands
• wolves
• personal past

Keywords

• wolves
• Scottish Highlands
• conservation efforts
• tragedy porn
• misery lit
• Charlotte McConaghy
• book discussion

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Once There Were Wolves, Popular Trauma Culture, It Ends with Us, Island of the Sea Wolves, Miracle Creek, The Women, A Little Life, Stolen

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