The Wolf's Curse
by Jessica Vitalis (Author)
Gauge's life has been cursed since the day he cried Wolf and was accused of witchcraft. The Great White Wolf brings only death, Gauge's superstitious village believes. If Gauge can see the Wolf, then he must be in league with it. So instead of playing with friends in the streets or becoming his grandpapa's partner in the carpentry shop, Gauge must hide and pretend he doesn't exist. But then the Wolf comes for his grandpapa. And for the first time, Gauge is left all alone, with a bounty on his head and the Wolf at his heels.
A young feather collector named Roux offers Gauge assistance, and he is eager for the help. But soon the two--both recently orphaned--are questioning everything they have ever believed about their village, about the Wolf, and about death itself. Narrated by the sly, crafty Wolf, Jessica Vitalis's debut novel is a vivid and literary tale about family, friendship, belonging, and grief.
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Publisher's Weekly
In a thought-provoking debut, Vitalis considers grief, the end of life, and the industry of death through the eyes of an otherworldly, psychopompic wolf. Twelve-year-old, light-skinned Gauge, apprentice to and grandson of Bastien the Carpenter, lives a shadow life in Bouge-by-the-Sea as a suspected Voyant-a witch able to summon the Wolf, a harbinger of death. Accused of causing the passing of the Lord Mayor’s wife five years earlier, Gauge avoids attention until the death of his beloved grandfather forces him out of hiding. Desperate to avoid capture, Gauge finds an unexpected ally in Roux, a blacksmith’s brown-skinned daughter and a collector of bird feathers, who helps him try to clear his name. But the absolutely real Wolf-whom Gauge can see but not summon-has come to persuade him to take up her vital role, and his decision may doom the entire country. Through the Wolf’s archly omniscient first-person narration, Vitalis relates the affecting stories of Gauge and Roux, whose raw mourning provides a revealing contrast to the Lord Mayor’s simmering, unprocessed grief. Well developed nautical funereal rites, including coffin-like wooden boats and a Sea-in-the-Sky afterlife, give depth and specificity to this contemplative story.
Copyright 2021 Publisher’s Weekly, LLC Used with permission.
Review quotes
JUV039030 - Juvenile Fiction | Social Themes | Death & Dying
JUV037000 - Juvenile Fiction | Fantasy & Magic
