Introduction

A tragic act of violence echoes through a small Minnesota town

Set on the Minnesota prairie in the late 1980s during a drought season that’s pushing family farms to the brink, Little Wolves features the intertwining stories of a father searching for answers after his son commits a heinous murder, and a pastor’s wife (and washed-out scholar of early Anglo-Saxon literature) who has returned to the town for mysterious reasons of her own. A penetrating look at small-town America from the award-winning author of The Night Birds, Little Wolves weaves together elements of folklore and Norse mythology while being driven by a powerful murder mystery; a page-turning literary triumph.

Editorial Review

Amazon Best Books of the Month, January 2013: What a moody, brooding, and myth-soaked thriller. Itâ??s as if Maltman dropped '50s-era Raymond Chandler characters onto the drought-wracked prairies of 1980s Minnesota, and the translation works really well. In the opening pages, Grizz Fallon learns that his son has killed the sheriff and himself, while the new pastorâ??s wife stews over her uneasy return to her former hometown and her strange, brief friendship with Fallonâ??s troubled son. Haunting and gothic, with spooky hints of mythology and the supernatural, this is more than a gritty small-town murder story. Like the best of Cormac McCarthy, Little Wolves is a deeply moving exploration of the nature of violence and the secret selves we all strive to keep hidden. --Neal Thompson

Excerpt

Book One

The Wolfing

She heard him from the mountain, a voice high and thin, breaking the night’s quiet. The cry was such as her own children made when she was gone too long searching for food to bring back to the den. It was the cry of something blind and helpless, a cry of hunger. She heard it and she could do no other thing but go toward it. ... view entire excerpt...

Discussion Questions

The little wolves of the title are a mysterious and ominous presence in the novel. What, if anything, do you think they represent?
· Throughout history, myths have been a mechanism for people to explain natural phenomena, and Little Wolves is steeped in mythology, both Norse and American. What role do natural phenomena (like snowstorms, or droughts) and the accompanying mythology play in the book?
· Why does Clara’s mother haunt her? In what ways has becoming pregnant changed her priorities and needs, if at all? In general, how does expecting a child—or losing a child—refocus and change the parents in Little Wolves? The town at large?
· Why does Sheriff Gunderson keep that hunting cabin back in the woods? In the oldest monster stories, evil came from outside, a threat from strangers. Are there monsters in this novel? How have different cultures explained evil through the ages?

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