Love - between sisters, siblings, niece and uncle, and gay men. Rivalries that occur when we wrongly perceive each other's lives. Secrets kept to protect others. So many intertwined themes that continually keep you, the reader, enthralled by Ms. Brunt's novel.
My heart strings were continually pulled as I read of the meanness between Greta and June, the two teen sisters. Yet there were glimpses of love wanting to be renewed between them. A diminished love was also present in the relationship between adult siblings Finn, a gay man and renowned artist, and his sister Danielle, the girls' mother. June and Finn, niece and uncle, shared a most special love intensified by the knowledge that he was dying of AIDS.
Tell the Wolves I'm Home takes place in 1987 as AIDS was beginning to be understood yet feared. Once contracted, there were no cures. People were blamed for infecting others because of the certain death. That scenario is the backdrop which the author uses to show the power of love to forgive and transform lives.
It is one of the 10 titles chosen for the 2013 Alex Award - books originally written for adult readers but suited for teens as well. I highly recommend that you set aside some of your summertime reading time for this debut novel. Beach reading? Yes it is!
Reviewed by Mrs. Boehm
