The Wolf in the Attic

by Paul Kearney

1920s Oxford: home to C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien... and Anna Francis, a young Greek refugee looking to escape the grim reality of her new life. The night they cross paths, none suspect the fantastic world at work around them. Anna Francis lives in a tall old house with her father and her doll Penelope. She is a refugee, a piece of flotsam washed up in England by the tides of the Great War and the chaos that trailed in its wake.

Once upon a time, she had a mother and a brother, and they all lived together in the most beautiful city in the world, by the shores of Homer's wine-dark sea. But that is all gone now, and only to her doll does she ever speak of it, because her father cannot bear to hear. She sits in the shadows of the tall house and watches the rain on the windows, creating worlds for herself to fill out the loneliness. The house becomes her own little kingdom, an island full of dreams and half-forgotten memories. And then one winter day, she finds an interloper in the topmost, dustiest attic of the house. A boy named Luca with yellow eyes, who is as alone in the world as she is. That day, she'll lose everything in her life, and find the only real friend she may ever know.

• ISBN10: 1781083622
• ISBN13: 9781781083628
• Publish Date: 10 May 2016 (first published 5 May 2016)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Solaris
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 320
• Language: English

Reviews

[gmcgregor]

The refugee experience is a major thread in Paul Kearney's The Wolf In The Attic. Young Anna Francis left behind her home, her language, whatever might remain of her family, and even her original name behind when she and her father fled Smyrna. They anglicized their name and fled to England, and although Anna's father has a hard time completely leaving Greece behind, he tries his best to raise Anna like an English girl. We get glimpses at what used to be, a happy and prosperous family of four living by the sea, making the reality of what is seem even harsher in comparison: eating nothing but bread and butter for days at a time to try to scrimp up enough money to stay current on rent, unable to afford properly fitting shoes for Anna, hardly able to keep the fireplace lit for heat in the winter.

Anna is about to become a teenager, but she's still clinging to childhood (symbolized in the form of a beloved doll, a gift from her long-gone brother, which she keeps close all the time). For me, this is a characterization that works...the experiences she's suffered through would definitely make one leery of change, of adulthood in all of its complexity. But thrown into adulthood she is when her father dies and she has nowhere to go but the workhouse. Nowhere, that is, but to a band of travelers (they're not exactly Romani, but a similar kind of idea) that she'd previously met when exploring the woods near her home. This is where the story veers away from a refugee tale and into magical realism, because Anna finds herself drawn into the centuries-long skirmish between her new friends (who are hiding some secrets) and a sect descended from the Druids. There's even the devil hisownself in the mix for her soul. Where Anna ends up with, and how, make up the balance of the story.

The back half of the story, honestly, was where it lost me. Kearney creates a compelling world for Anna in Oxford...some familiar literary giants even show up, but in a way that I thought was organic and worked naturally within the narrative. The story of Anna and her father and how they got into the circumstances they're in is well-crafted and heartfelt, and Anna is an easy character to connect with: a pre-teen who is bold and curious but not indomitable, and who finds herself just wrenchingly alone when her father is gone. Her first few encounters with the travelers set the stage well for her to flee to them in her time of need. I actually loved the way her encounters with the Devil were written...eerie and unsettling and emphasizing just how vulnerable she is. But the greater war between the travelers and the Druids, how it all plays out...it just fell totally flat for me. It felt like Kearney didn't have a great idea for his own backstory and so provided only minimal details in the hopes that the reader would infer a richer background than is there. It's a promising premise and has merit but is torpedoed by its own last third.

[Beth C.]

You're 12 years old, and an immigrant in Oxford, England. Your mother is dead, and your father? Well, part of him seems to have died when she was yanked from his arms by those same people who made sure you could not stay in your homeland. Then, one night, while wandering outside, you come across a boy with strangely shining eyes fighting for his life. And little-by-little, you learn that the world you thought you knew is populated by people and things long ago forgotten, but still wielding enormous powers.

I was struck by the elegant writing of this story. The descriptions were beautiful, and not once did I feel like I was being led around by the nose. Kearney did an excellent job in letting the reader in on the secrets without hitting him/her over the head with them. The words just flowed in such a lovely way, reminding me very much of Naomi Novik's "Uprooted". Of course, the writing can always be incredible, but if the characters are meaningless, well...so will the book be. That is absolutely not the case here. Anna, and eventually Luca, are both solid characters that evoke both the sense of being a young girl on the cusp of being a woman, and a young man - both of them in one way or another "other". Even the brief interactions with Tolkien and Lewis that Anna has are absolutely delightful, and I truly wished that there had been even just a little bit more of them in the story.
The ending of the book seemed (without giving anything away)…ambiguous. There is a definite ending, and thankfully, there is no huge cliffhanger. However, it seems like it *might* be possible for another book to follow this one should the Kearney decide to do so. I could not find any information whatsoever saying yes or no, but I can honestly say that I would love to read another book about Anna and Luca and those things that go bump in the night. However, it also is nice when an author eschews a series and just goes for a straight-up, stand-alone novel. And when said novel is written as well as this one? I’ll absolutely take it!

Overall, you really can’t go wrong with this. It’s not a fast-paced beach read by any means, but it’s certainly a lovely story to read by a fire with scones and a hot cup of tea. Just make sure you leave the lights on, and if it’s a full moon? Draw the drapes before you keep on reading…