In the Name of the Wolf [Paperback]

John F. Deane (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 7, 2000

On the island of Achill, off the west coast of Ireland, Nora and Captain O'Higgins are troubled by their daughter's unexplained illness. Patty O'Higgins is a young woman suffering from lupus, a chronic tuberculosis of the blood disease. It's surrounded by ancient prejudice and fear because of one of its occasional side effects, a wolf-like distortion of the face. Mirroring her illness are strange events in her home community. It is during WWII; a German plane drops unused bombs on the mountain, disturbing the natural grounds, and from then on a strange presence, destructive and threatening, haunts the island and seems to concentrate its destructive forces around the life of the young girl. In the Name of the Wolf is a powerful story about human suffering and its ingrained nature in us, how we cope with it and how we survive. ""Deane neatly captures both the claustrophobic and comforting essences of village life, and his compact, supple prose has a poetic resonance.""-Publishers Weekly

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Repression and fear of the outside world mark the characters of Irish writer Deane's (Flightlines) gloomy third novel, in which he uses a character with lupus to explore the metaphoric, psychological and social paradoxes of this debilitating disease. In western Ireland, in the xenophobic atmosphere of the 1940s, Patty O'Higgins is born in a van at the side of the road. Her father reads Poe at her christening, and from this beginning, Patty's life only gets more difficult. As she comes of age, she develops a progressive and at-first unnamable illness whose onset parallels that of the mysterious disappearance and murder of sheep on the local mountain. Moreover, Patty's face becomes increasingly distorted into wolflike features. Given that some of the superstitious villagers still believe in banshees, it's not long before the more lycanthropic-minded start spinning tales: the sheep are being killed not just by ordinary wolves--in a country that hasn't had wolves in centuries--but rather by werewolves. Their rampant paranoia increasingly focuses on Patty. Deane neatly captures both the claustrophobic and comforting essences of village life, and his compact, supple prose has a poetic resonance (he won the O'Shaughnessy Prize for Irish Poetry in 1998). While acknowledging the universal human need to name things in order to put a face on fear, this strange tale with its brooding characters will not appeal to all tastes. Still, Patty's grace about her affliction and her belief in goodness and love, despite evidence to the contrary, shine a beacon on what is otherwise a grim walk in the woods. (Feb.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

As is often the case with this suspenseful novel, there is a shadow of doubt, a suspicion that the evil we fear is not out there at all but deep within ourselves. -- The New York Times Book Review, David Willis McCullough

Product Details

• Paperback: 172 pages
• Publisher: Blackstaff Pr (February 7, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0856406406
• ISBN-13: 978-0856406409
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,304,361 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #99 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Disorders & Diseases > Lupus

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Author Explains, January 6, 2001

By 

Will Kiser (Rock Hill, SC USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: In the Name of the Wolf (Paperback)

I met the author of this book when he came and talked to my College English class. He is an Irish man who lost his wife to the disease that is mentioned in the book. His wife left him and a young daughter. He told us that this book is about his village and his imagination of turning the wolf disease into a werewolf story. He said that he never wanted to show the wolf in the book because he was a fan of old black and white movies where you really never saw the werewolf only what the wolf had done during the night. Interesting man

4.0 out of 5 stars Are you sure the door is locked?, October 4, 2000

By 

Cathy "echoes327" (Coastal Connecticut) - See all my reviews

This review is from: In the Name of the Wolf (Paperback)

This story had me pretty creeped out. Is it possible to feel so frightened and yet not feel you are totally "getting it"? This story takes place in Ireland, but not the Ireland of any tourist brochures, heh-heh...The main character is a young woman who is suffering from Lupus. Her mother is perpetually depressed, her aunt is rather odd. Strange events are occuring in the village. Sheep are disappearing, the mountains are oddly quiet. The book left me feeling so uneasy yet I felt I didn't totally understand what was happening, which is a pretty disconcerting feeling to someone who loves to read. Yet, maybe that was the author's intention, to leave the reader frightened, unsure and questioning....I am going to re-read this book, I feel I must...