WAKE THE WILD CREATURES, By Nova Ren Suma, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, May 6, 2025, Hardcover, $18.99 (young adult, ages 14 and up)
A young woman plots her way back to her hidden mountaintop home after her mother’s arrest for murder in Wake the Wild Creatures, by Nova Ren Suma.
Three years ago, Talia lived happily in the ruins of the Neves, a once-grand hotel in the wilds of the Catskill Mountains, with her mother Pola and their community of like-minded women. Some came to the Neves to escape cruel men, others to hide from the law, but all found safety and connection in their haven high above civilization, cloaked by a mysterious mist that kept intruders away. But as their numbers grew, complications followed, and everything came crashing down the night electric lights pierced the forest. Uniformed men arrested Pola, calling her a murderer and a fugitive, and Talia was taken away.
Now sixteen, Talia has been forced to live with family she barely knows and fit into a world scarred by misogyny, capitalism, disconnection from nature . . . everything the women of the Neves stood against. She has one goal: to return to the Neves. But as Talia awaits a signal from her mother, questions arise. Who betrayed her community, and what is she avoiding about her own role in its collapse? Is it truly magic that keeps the hotel so hidden? And what does it mean to embrace being her mother’s daughter? With the help of an unexpected ally, Talia must find her way to answers, face a mother who’s often kept her at arm’s length, and try to reach the refuge she lost—if the mist hasn’t swallowed her path home. —Synopsis provided by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Wake the Wild Creatures is a juxtaposition of life inside and outside a community made by women for women.
At the center of the story is Talia, a girl who has never known life outside the small mountain community her mother created after getting in trouble with the law. When her mother is captured, Talia is sent to live with her aunt’s family in the city. The once confident and sure Talia is biding her time until she can return to the mountains, and until then, she tries to keep quiet and out of the spotlight.
Author Nova Ren Suma deftly weaves together these two worlds through immersive prose. Told from Talia’s first-person point of view, Wake the Wild Creatures is an inward-looking read. Her unique voice is one that resonates, especially as she starts to make sense of things.
Wake the Wild Creatures has a raw, dreamlike quality that holds your attention from beginning to end.
Sensitivity note: Wake the Wild Creatures touches on sexual abuse, abuse, murder and features a few instances of violence.
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