Wake the Wild Creatures
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I reached the clearing with the seven white pines and stopped to get my breath back. The mist filled my lungs, peppery and also sweet, and momentum pushed me forward. Giddy, I dropped into a bed of moss, soft and slick in spots, and rolled in it, howled for no reason, felt close to an understanding of some kind, as if an eye inside me was peeling open. It was the first full moon after I turned thirteen, and I knew that whatever happened in this next stretch of hours would change me forever after.
I wasn’t wrong.
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.
Fierce and lyrical, unsettling and tender, Wake the Wild Creatures marks the long-awaited return of one of the most distinctive voices in young adult literature.
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"Wake the Wild Creatures is a ferocious expression of girlhood, of its seething potential, its most wild and secret places, from one of our greatest and most inimitably talented authors writing today. This is an urgent, important, and timely outing that must not be missed and Nova Ren Suma's particular brand of magic has earned a place alongside--and is perfect for fans of--the works of Shirley Jackson, Joyce Carol Oates, and Kelly Link."Courtney Summers, New York Times bestselling author of SADIE and THE PROJECT
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"Mesmerizing and fierce, vivid and dreamlike, WAKE THE WILD CREATURES is Nova Ren Suma's finest novel yet. I was enraptured from the first page to the last. Rarely has a novel made me think so deeply and so much about the confines of our lives and the expansive possibilities that might await us should we choose to trust our intuition and our own power to decide."Nina LaCour, bestselling author of WATCH OVER ME and WE ARE OKAY
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"A luminous, hard-eyed stare of a book, WAKE THE WILD CREATURES kicks open the cage girls are born into, and casts a powerful spell of rage and hope from which I emerged blinking and reluctant, wrapped in wistful magic, and longing for the forest. Nova Ren Suma can write."Laini Taylor, author of STRANGE THE DREAMER and DAUGHTER OF SMOKE AND BONE
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"Timely and atmospheric, WAKE THE WILD CREATURES explores the meaning of community and the places we call home. Nova Ren Suma is a master storyteller, and one of my favorite novelists. This book is one long, lyrical poem. A must read for 2025!"Shea Ernshaw, New York Times bestselling author of THE WICKED DEEP and A HISTORY OF WILD PLACES
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"Nova Ren Suma has done it again: WAKE THE WILD CREATURES is a visceral, stunningly written fever dream of a story. It wrapped itself around my throat and heart, and had me desperate for Talia to find her way home. This book is feral and magnificent and will leave you with scars."Emily X.R. Pan, author of THE ASTONISHING COLOR OF AFTER and AN ARROW TO THE MOON
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In Wake the Wild Creatures, Nova Ren Suma has created a secret and wondrous sanctuary for every girl who ever wished she could run away. A literary balm for these troubling times, this beautiful novel might make you want to wander the woods in search of the seven pine trees, and the magic and safety of the Neves.Ann Dávila Cardinal, award-winning author of YOU'VE AWOKEN HER and BREAKUP FROM HELL
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"With WAKE THE WILD CREATURES, Nova Ren Suma’s singular talent is once again on full display. Talia, Pola, and Lake practically catch fire on the page. This is an inspiring, unsettling, and absolutely essential book about girls, the agents of their confinement — both physical and emotional — and their means of escape. Nova’s a genius, and I loved this book."Samantha Mabry, author of TIGERS, NOT DAUGHTERS and CLEVER CREATURES OF THE NIGHT
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“Nova Ren Suma’s WAKE THE WILD CREATURES is raw, emotional, half-feral…but with delicate, stunning prose that tames the raging beast. A perfect balance.”April Genevieve Tucholke, New York Times bestselling author of WINK POPPY MIDNIGHT and THE BONELESS MERCIES
- On Sale
- May 6, 2025
- Page Count
- 384 pages
- Publisher
- Algonquin Young Readers
- ISBN-13
- 9781616206727
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About the Author
Nova Ren Suma is the author of the #1 New York Times bestselling The Walls Around Us and A Room Away from the Wolves, which were both finalists for the Edgar Award. She also wrote Imaginary Girls and 17 & Gone and co-edited the story & craft anthology FORESHADOW: Stories to Celebrate the Magic of Reading & Writing YA. She has an MFA in fiction from Columbia University and has taught creative writing at Columbia University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Vermont College of Fine Arts. Originally from the Hudson Valley, she spent most of her adult life in New York City and now lives in Philadelphia. Find her online at novaren.com and @novaren.
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