The Spectator

A further selection of books of the year — the best and most overrated of 2015

Among regular reviewers choosing their favourite books are Craig Raine, Graham Robb, Hilary Spurling, Nicky Haslam, David Crane, Frances Wilson and Matthew Parris

issue 21 November 2015

Daniel Hahn

 
I suspect many people won’t bother to read Katherine Rundell’s The Wolf Wilder (Bloomsbury, £12.99) because it’s a children’s book. Don’t be one of those people. You’d be depriving yourself of a ferociously paced, brilliantly imagined piece of gorgeous, immersive storytelling — and really, why would you want to do that? Set in Russia a century ago, it’s the story of a girl and her friends (some of whom are wolves) forced to be brave, and to right some great wrongs.

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