Wolf Hollow

Lauren Wolk is a novelist, poet, visual artist, and associate director of the Cultural Center in Cape Cod. Dutton Children’s Books published Wolf Hollow, Wolk’s first children’s novel, in 2016. It was a New York Times bestseller and nominated for multiple awards, including the 2017 Newbery Honor Award.

In her New York Times review of May 5, 2016, Jennifer Donnelly praises Wolf Hollow for its unsparing treatment of “dark truths,” most potently that “doing right can go very wrong.” Donnelly compares Wolk’s presentation of the relationship between Annabelle, a “precociously perceptive girl”, and Toby, “a damaged, misunderstood recluse”, to that of the main characters in Harper Lee’s 1960 classic, To Kill a Mockingbird. However, Donnelly argues that Wolf Hollow’s most distinctive feature, is its use of “spare, simple language perfectly suited to its subject and setting.” She claims that Wolk’s adoption of first-person, past-tense, expertly balances “a mood of aching regret with an electric sense of ominousness.”

Since Wolf Hollow’s publication, Wolk has written two further novels, including, Beyond the Bright Sea (2017) and Echo Mountain (2020). In the latter book, Wolk revisits the trope of a young, female protagonist navigating the challenges of mid-twentieth-century America. The economic uncertainty, prejudice, and division that plagued the Depression and wartime eras echo those of today, enabling Wolk to explore highly contemporary scenarios in the context of an agrarian past of crammed schoolhouses and gossiping telephone operators. Wolk credits her mother’s stories of growing up on a farm in western Pennsylvania as the source material for her novels.

Plot Summary

Wolk’s novel begins in the autumn of 1943, when the 11-year-old protagonist, Annabelle, is living with her family in a farmhouse in the hills of rural Pennsylvania. Although the world is at war, Annabelle’s existence is peaceful until “incorrigible” Betty Glengarry moves to their community (5). From the outset, Betty is a vicious bully, threatening and beating Annabelle and crushing a bird to death in her bare hands. Annabelle tries to placate Betty with small sums of money and attempts to ignore her. This becomes impossible when Annabelle’s best friend, Ruth, loses her eye in an accident caused by an unknown perpetrator. While Annabelle is convinced that malicious Betty is behind the incident, Betty is keen to shift blame onto Toby, a bearded outcast who wanders the hills; he’s shell-shocked following his traumatic experiences in the First World War. As Betty appears innocent, while Toby appears eccentric, many in the community take Betty’s side.

When Betty disappears one rainy day, all the men in the community search for her. Toby is suspected to have some connection with her disappearance. Annabelle, who is certain of Toby’s innocence, hides him in the family barn. There, she feeds him, shears off his beard, and learns about his traumatic experiences. As Betty does not appear, and suspicion against Toby mounts, Annabelle has a hunch about Betty’s whereabouts. She decides that a shaven Toby, who is unrecognizable from his former self, should pose as an out-of-towner and rescue Betty from the well. Although Toby manages to rescue Betty, she has developed a severe infection, and she spreads the rumor that Toby pushed her down the well.

Meanwhile, Toby reveals the truth about his identity to Annabelle’s parents, and they agree to hide him in the barn as the hunt for him intensifies. However, Toby, who cannot stand being part of a campaign of lies, makes off into the woods. When Betty dies in the hospital, Annabelle knows that she must clear Toby’s name. She calls Andy, Betty’s partner-in-crime boyfriend, knowing that the community’s gossipy telephone operator, Annie Gribble, will be eavesdropping. Andy confesses that Betty was the one who threw the rock at Ruth, and Toby did not push Betty down the well. Still, Andy’s confession comes too late, as the search for Toby is already underway. The next morning, Annabelle learns that the police caught up with Toby near the Ohio border and shot him because he looked suspicious. Annabelle is devastated, and when Toby is buried near Wolf Hollow, she continues to visit him and tell him about her life. She determines that in the future, she will always tell the truth and fight for justice, no matter how trying the circumstances.