The Wolf Road

Elka, the 17-year-old orphan who narrates this arresting, if grisly, debut from Titan Books managing editor Lewis, struggles for survival in the land once known as British Columbia, which has been laid waste by two wars that destroyed most of humankind. A stern woodsman took in Elka when she was seven. Known to her as Trapper, he’s the only parental figure she has known. On a rare visit to a distant town for supplies, Elka gets an alarmingly different picture of her protector. He’s wanted for multiple murders, in which she will soon be sought as an accomplice. Trapper’s years of tutelage have well equipped Elka with the hunting, tracking, and other skills she will need to try to elude both him and a relentless magistrate, Jennifer Lyon, who gets on his (and her) trail. But Elka is woefully ill-prepared to handle the human predators who cross her path. Lewis takes the reader on an overwhelmingly grim odyssey that highlights the striking wilderness landscape and Elka’s grit. Agent: George Lucas, Inkwell Management. (July)