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The Wildlands is another remarkable literary thriller from critically acclaimed writer Abby Geni, one that examines what happens when one family becomes trapped in the tenuous space between the human and animal worlds.
When a Category 5 tornado ravaged Mercy, Oklahoma, no family in the small town lost more than the McClouds. Their home and farm were instantly demolished, and orphaned siblings Darlene, Jane, and Cora made media headlines. This relentless national attention and the tornado's aftermath caused great tension with their brother, Tucker, who soon abandoned his sisters and disappeared.
On the three-year anniversary of the tornado, a cosmetics factory outside of Mercy is bombed, and the lab animals trapped within are released. Tucker reappears, injured from the blast, and seeks the help of nine-year-old Cora. Caught up in the thrall of her charismatic brother, whom she has desperately missed, Cora agrees to accompany Tucker on a cross-country mission to make war on human civilization.
Cora becomes her brother's unwitting accomplice, taking on a new identity while engaging in acts of escalating violence. Darlene works with Mercy police to find her siblings, leading to an unexpected showdown at a zoo in Southern California.
"Starred Review. Geni continues to create works of art with perfect voices that are simultaneously thrillers and meditations on nature. It is an incredible trick." - Kirkus Reviews
"This is a fast-paced, high-stakes novel that will keep the reader turning the pages." - Publishers Weekly
"In exquisite prose, Geni renders the ecstasy and anguish of familial love, and the ways it can lead us to the edges of who we imagine ourselves to be. A savage, glittering novel." - Megan Kruse, author of Call Me Home
"Every scene of this cleverly plotted novel is drawn with complex prose, rich detail, and an authorial voice that wisely observes the human animal. Abby Geni is my new favorite writer." - Bonnie Jo Campbell, author of Mothers, Tell Your Daughters
"Fast-paced and breathtaking, The Wildlands will transfix you from its opening natural disaster to its shocking and violent climax. In Abby Geni's hands, even a haircut becomes suspenseful. This book grabs you and won't let go." - David James Poissant, author of The Heaven of Animals
"With skillful prose, you'll sympathize with Cora, a girl who must learn how to differentiate between love and family." - Women.com, 1 of 15 Awesome Books with Strong Female Protagonists
"In a novel with a locomotive plot and an urgent political timeliness, it's a true testament to Abby Geni's authorial prowess and big heart that the most memorable thing about this book is the love and determination of a family beset by tragedy. You'll be a better, wiser person after you read this book. You'll also be thrilled, from first page to last." - Peter Geye, author of Wintering
This information about The Wildlands was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Abby Geni is the author of The Wildlands, The Lightkeepers, The Last Animal, and The Body Farm. Her books have been translated into seven languages and have won the Barnes & Noble Discover Award and the Chicago Review of Books Awards, among other honors. Her short stories have won the Glimmer Train Fiction Open and the Chautauqua Contest and have been published or reprinted in The Missouri Review, Epoch, Ninth Letter, New Stories from the Midwest, and many other journals. Geni is a faculty member at StoryStudio Chicago and frequently serves as Visiting Associate Professor of Fiction at the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop.
Name Pronunciation
Abby Geni: Pronounced like genie - jee-nee
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Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor
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