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TELL THE WOLVES I'M HOME

Carol Rifka Brunt

TELL THE WOLVES I'M HOME is the story of an unlikely friendship between two lost souls--a lonely girl and a mysterious stranger--and the ways in which their lives become intertwined as they each try to come to terms with their grief.
There's only one person who has ever truly understood fourteen-year-old June Elbus, and that's her uncle, the renowned painter Finn Weiss. So when he dies far too young of a mysterious illness that her mother can barely bring herself to discuss, June's world is turned upside down. At the funeral, she notices a strange man lingering just beyond the edges of the crowd, and a few days later, June receives a package in the mail. Inside is a beautiful teapot she recognizes from Finn's apartment, and a note from Toby, the stranger, inviting her to meet up with him at a local train station. As it turns out, June isn't the only one who desperately misses Finn, and the unlikely friendship that springs up between these two lost souls will break your heart, even as it heals theirs.
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Published 2012-06-01 by Dial Press

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"TELL THE WOLVES I'M HOME is a charming, sure-handed, and deeply sympathetic debut. Brunt writes about family, adolescence, and the human heart with great candor, insight, and pathos."

Tremendously moving…Ms. Brunt's treatment of complicated sibling love adds a powerful emotional layer to a novel that has several. Read more...

Foreign Sales: Britain: Macmillan; Brazil: Novo Conceito; China: Beijing HepingYahua Cultural Communications Co, Ltd; France: Editions Buchet Chastel; Israel: Achuzat Bayit; Italy: Piemme; Russia: Exmo; Spain: Maeva; Sweden: X Publishing; Taiwan: Ecus; Turkey: Marti; Thailand: Amarin

Teens will identify with June, her awkwardness and self-doubt, her need for escape, her conflicts with her sister and mother, and her sadness at losing the one adult who truly understood her Read more...

Favorite Reads of 2012

- Fall 2012 Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers - “Most Buzzed About” debut of 2012 on BookPage blog - Amazon Best Book of the Month for June - Selected for Flavorwire’s 10 New Must-Reads for June Read more...

TELL THE WOLVES I’M HOME made the “Top Ten First Novels 2012” list in Booklist.

Not since To Kill A Mockingbird have I read a piece of fiction that so beautifully captures the point of view of a young person, especially one so inspiringly unable to accept the prejudices of others.

Brunt's debut novel is both a painful reminder of the ill-informed responses to a once little-known disease and a delightful romp through an earlier decade. The relationship issues with parents and siblings should appeal to YA audiences, but adult readers will enjoy the suspenseful plot and quirky characters.

“Brunt weaves a terrific coming-of-age story, painting a vibrant picture of June’s dreams and insecurities as she teeters on the border between childhood and maturity.” Read more...

There is much to admire in this novel. The subtle insight on sibling rivalry and the examination of love make for a poignant debut.

Peopled by characters who will live in readers’ imaginations long after the final page is turned, Brunt’s novel is a beautifully bittersweet mix of heartbreak and hope.

Selected by Goodreads Readers Choice Awards in the fiction category.

“TELL THE WOLVES I'M HOME is a tale as charming and magnetic as the missing character at its heart. It's a love story of the most unusual kind -- several love stories, really -- vivid and madly relatable, heartening as well as heartbreaking. Brunt is a captivating storyteller and a wonderful new voice.”

chosen for the B&N Discover Great New Writers program

“In this lovely debut novel set in the 1980s, Carol Rifka Brunt takes us under the skin and inside the tumultuous heart of June Elbus…Distracted parents, tussling adolescents, the awful ghost-world of the AIDS-afflicted before AZT—all of it springs to life in Brunt’s touching and ultimately hopeful book.”