Wake the Wild Creatures

This extraordinary, timely, and must-read novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Nova Ren Suma explores freedom and rage as a young woman plots her way back to her hidden mountaintop home after her mother’s arrest for murder.​

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. 

• "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
• "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
• "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
• "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
• "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
• "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
• 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
• “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
• “In Wake the Wild Creatures Nova Ren Suma gives us a vivid, fearless heroine with a lightning crack of a voice. This is a story unafraid to use its sharp teeth, written by one of the best in the field.”
  Kat Howard, Alex Award-winning author of An Unkindness of Magicians
• "[There is] plenty in which readers will luxuriate: the lush atmosphere and breathtaking setting of a modern fairy tale; the alluring pipe dream of this feminist community; and catharsis in the cast of antihero(ine)s’ modes of revenge and self-determination."
  Horn Book