Historical fiction
by
Dorris Heffron
A tale of ventures and loves, City Wolves follows Meg Wilkinson, one of Canada's first female veterinarians, from a restricting life in Nova Scotia to the wild confusion of gold rush Yukon with its fascinating characters and world of license. Amidst Mounties, dance hall girls, Klondike kings, mushers, priests and swindlers - all the mangy and magnificent people, dogs and spirits that suddenly populate raucous Dawson City - Meg finds more than most prospectors. She discovers deep satisfaction caring for the dogs that are so like the wolves who, from earliest days in Nova Scotia, inspired her into veterinary service.
Yet Meg had also learned a much older story about the wolves, the ancestors of the sled dogs, and about Ike and Piji, an Inuit couple who had been among the first to bridge the wolf-human divide. Their spirits haunt this story as they inspire and observe Meg throughout her adventures. While their story speaks to Meg and strengthens a passion for her work, it also helps stir her desire for love.
Brimming with colourful characters, drama, humour, and rich historical detail, City Wolves is lively, insightful historical fiction that brilliantly reveals the wolf-like nature of humans and the human nature of wolves.
Novelist Dorris Heffron was born in Noranda, Quebec and was raised in various Ontario communities. She has an honours B.A. and an M.A. in literature and philosophy from Queen's University. She lived in Oxford, England from 1968 to1980, where she was a tutor for Oxford University and the Open University giving courses in literature. She now lives at "Little Creek Wolf Range" near Clarksburg, Ontario.
Heffron wrote three novels about teenagers, regarded as pioneers in the genre of young adult fiction, that were translated and put on high school courses in Europe, Japan and Canada: Rain and I (Macmillan, London and Macmillan-Gage, Toronto 1982); Crusty Crossed (Macmillan, London 1976); and A Nice Fire and Some Moonpennies (Macmillan, London 1971. Atheneum, New York 1972. Penguin Peacocks, London 1979. Gyldendal, Denmark 1973. Shobunsha, Japan 1981).
She has taught creative writing at The University of Malaysia, travelled extensively in Europe, Asia and South America, and resided while writing and teaching, in Holland, France and Cape Breton Island. A Shark in the House (Key Porter Books, Toronto 1996) Heffron's first adult fiction novel continues its widespread appeal to individuals and book clubs. In City Wolves, Heffron now deftly embraces the human and the wild, legends and realities, and the primal spiritual bond that connects us beyond time and place.
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Very nice and informative book !
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