by Nicholas Evans, 1998
I got this book from a Little Free Library. It was about wolves, ranchers, and Federal biologists. Set in a fictional town called Hope, Montana. The beginning is SCARY – a big black wolf almost snatches a baby (the rancher’s grandson) out of his carriage on the front porch. The dog saves him but gets killed in the process. The war between the ranchers and the Federal biologists trying to keep the wolves alive and away from cattle begins. I liked the characters, a lot. Dan Prior – Head of the Fish and Wildlife division; Helen, 28-year old wolf biologist brought to Hope to help locate the wolves; Eleanor Calder, beautiful wife of Buck Calder – arrogant rancher who cheats on Eleanor; Luke Calder, 18-year old son of Buck and Eleanor, he stutters and has a heart of gold, very smart, very loving, very miserable in his father’s house; Kathy and Clyde Hicks and their baby boy, Buck – the daughter and son-in-law of Buck and Eleanor, Clyde is a ranch hand but not too bright, Kathy is the loving and bright daughter of Buck and Eleanor, and mother of baby boy Buck who the wolf almost snatched.
The interplay between these characters and the other ranchers near the town of Hope, and the town of Hope (bars, restaurants, gift shop, different events) seems very realistic. He seems to be pro-wolf, but then he does show the problems they create when they start to eat cattle. He doesn’t provide a solution either. In the end, Dan Prior and Helen are releasing 2 wolves, an alpha male and female, into the highest part of the wilderness, to replace the wolves the ranchers killed, and the young pups they had to remove down to Yellowstone.
The love story between Luke and Helen is really, really sweet. Luke saves Helen’s life – she tried to commit suicide when she finds out Joel, her boyfriend for the last few years, is getting married to a Belgian doctor he met while doing relief work in Africa. He nurses her back to health and they fall in love. Luke is a stutterer. He’s gentle and loving. He loves the wolves and all nature and wildlife. For a long time, he went around after Helen set her traps and sprung them, saving the wolves from being trapped and collared. They finally work together and face the ire of the ranchers together. In the end, Luke’s dad accidentally shoots Luke as he’s coming out of the wolf den with a load of pups, thinking he was a wolf (it was night and extremely tense). The bullet goes right through Luke’s neck with no damage but splinters on a rock and a splinter damages Luke’s left eye. The very end: Buck Calder is a changed man, a broken man. Eleanor has left him, Luke is going off to college, Buck is going to face trial for killing wolves, Dan Prior has resigned his position (he is “wolfed out”), and Helen and Luke are going to Minnesota where Luke is going to study biology and Helen is just going to “be” and she would “be” with the person she loved best in the world.
P.S. The Loop refers to a horrible trap that kills young pups when they first come out of the den.