Tell the Wolves I’m Home

A Novel

By: Carol Rifka Brunt

Narrated by: Amy Rubinate

Length: 11 hrs and 46 mins

Publisher's summary

In this striking literary debut, Carol Rifka Brunt unfolds a moving story of love, grief, and renewal as two lonely people become the unlikeliest of friends and find that sometimes you don’t know you’ve lost someone until you’ve found them.

1987. 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. Shy at school and distant from her older sister, June can only be herself in Finn’s company; he is her godfather, confidant, and best friend. So when he dies, far too young, of a mysterious illness her mother can barely speak about, June’s world is turned upside down. But Finn’s death brings a surprise acquaintance into June’s life - someone who will help her to heal and to question what she thinks she knows about Finn, her family, and even her own heart.

At Finn’s funeral, June notices a strange man lingering just beyond the crowd. A few days later, she receives a package in the mail. Inside is a beautiful teapot she recognizes from Finn’s apartment and a note from Toby, the stranger, asking for an opportunity to meet. As the two begin to spend time together, June realizes she’s not the only one who misses Finn, and if she can bring herself to trust this unexpected friend, he just might be the one she needs the most.

An emotionally charged coming-of-age novel, Tell the Wolves I’m Home is a tender story of love lost and found, an unforgettable portrait of the way compassion can make us whole again.

Carol Rifka Brunt’s work has appeared in several literary journals, including the North American Review and the Sun. In 2006 she was one of three fiction writers who received a New Writing Ventures Award, and in 2007 she received a generous Arts Council England grant to write Tell the Wolves I’m Home, her first novel. Originally from New York, she currently lives in England with her husband and three children.

©2012 Carol Silverman (P)2012 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“A gorgeously evocative novel about love, loss, and the ragged mysteries of the human heart, all filtered through the achingly real voice of a remarkable young heroine. How can you not fall in love with a book that shows you how hope can make a difference?” (Caroline Leavitt, New York Times bestselling author)

“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.” (Jonathan Evison, New York Times bestselling author)

“Tremendously moving…Brunt strikes a difficult balance, imbuing June with the disarming candor of a child and the melancholy wisdom of a heart-scarred adult.” ( Wall Street Journal)

Loved title so had to listen...

If you could sum up Tell the Wolves I’m Home in three words, what would they be?

non-judgemental, coming-of-age, seventies

What did you like best about this story?

the setting of this story, 70's suburbia and NYC, and the release of taboo, AIDS and forbidden love, from an adolescent's view point that is not too loaded with other baggage to cloud the issues and themes makes it a fresh read, alarming too, in that a girl is heading into the unknown in the city....

What does Amy Rubinate bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

She does flesh out the main character nicely.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

a teen dealing with death is especially hard, not that it's ever easy. Emotions then are so amplified then it seems.

Any additional comments?

an enjoyable listen, that seemed to fit the changing of seasons, now to cooler, darker fall.

Lovely. I was sad to hear it end.

This book is beautifully written. The grace, tact, and understanding with which the author uses to write about a taboo and, in some cases uncomfortable, subject is masterful. The story will break your heart while simultaneously making you smile. I have nothing put praise for this author and her work. "Tell The Wolves I'm Home" is wonderfully heartbreaking, and utterly romantic; it reminds us that we are all people, and we all deserve to give and receive love and respect.

Worth it, but dull at times

I found the beginning to be slow and didn't especially care for the audio narrator. I did enjoy the story as a whole and the last third of the book.

Wonderful book, awful narration

This book is wonderful! It is beautifully written and I enjoyed it very much. However, the narration made me cringe. Truly hard to listen to. I wish I’d read the hard copy instead. I won’t be getting anything else that has the same narrator.

Heartbreakingly sweet.

I could not stop listening to this book. Well written and read. Easy to feel like you were a part of young Juney's world. Learning how to cope and grow is something everyone can relate to. The journey was sad yet wonderful from start to finish. The harsh realities of a disease like AIDS (even though a major part of the story) took a backseat to the relationships in the story. Would recommend to anyone and everyone.

A must read!!

This book changed the way I look at the human race.. in a good way.

Have you ever been a 14-year-old girl?

Where does Tell the Wolves I’m Home rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

It's definitely in my top ten. Probably in my top six.

Who was your favorite character and why?

June. I know some listeners don't like her because she seems...well, kind of insipid, but she's not. She's just so incredibly naive and sheltered that she has no "bigger picture" of how the world is. She can operate only on her own point of view, which is still quite childlike despite her age. She has a slight awareness at times that the way she thinks might be off base but seems reluctant to delve into that idea in any depth most of the time - which in itself shows some self-awareness, but let's not go down that rabbit hole. Overall, I like her because I feel like she is a true, cringe-worthy example of an awkward and - I'll say it again - naive teenage girl, the kind I think I was too at that age. So I relate to her in a lot of ways.

What about Amy Rubinate’s performance did you like?

I'll tell you honestly, I didn't like her at all - at first. I thought she was too dramatic; her tone of voice and inflections actually sounded to me like some sort of Saturday Night Live caricature of a teenage girl. But as the story went on, and I got to know June better, I saw how much this voice fit her. Because she IS too dramatic. She's a tremendously naive 14-year-old girl with far too much alone time, leaving her to make lots of bad choices. She lives in her own little fantasy world, to an extent, and as such Amy Rubinate's sort of overdone narration fits her perfectly. Hers is truly the inner voice of a 14-year-old girl - or at least the kind of 14-year-old girl June is. Which, as I've already mentioned, is sort of the kind of 14-year-old girl I was, too. I probably sounded just like her.

If you could take any character from Tell the Wolves I’m Home out to dinner, who would it be and why?

Greta, June's sister. I feel like she's got some good secrets she might share. She's messed up, but I like her ferocity.

Coming of age, but unique

This book kept me interested through to the end. Foreshadowing gives clues without being obvious, and the plot is very unusual. Lonely people make real connections as the story unfolds. The writing style is literary without being in-your-face. Only downside to the narration was the lack of an accent in the person who was supposed to have one. Better not to attempt it if you can't do it right, though. I would like to read more from this author. Appropriate for young teens.

Not what I expected, but excellent nevertheless

Well, I thought this was an excellent book! I had thought, because of the title, that it was going to be a funny book. I could not have been more wrong! This is very much a story of love and loss and learning to deal with loss. It made me cry.

June Elbus is a fourteen-year-old girl. A very naïve fourteen year-old-girl. She is a very shy, introverted type of person who likes to read and is obsessed with the Middle Ages. Most of her friends and family think she is weird – or at least that’s what she thinks they think of her. The only person in her life who she feels understands her is her uncle Finn, who is also her godfather. Unfortunately, Finn is dying of AIDS.

After Finn’s death, June begins to learn just how much she didn’t know about him. Things she had never bothered to think about. Things that had been deliberately been kept from her. Things, some of them, that she doesn’t really want to know. And it’s not just Finn she doesn’t know about. As she begins to discover some of the mysteries of her uncle’s life, she also finds that there are things she didn’t know about her mother. And things she may have misunderstood about her sister.

Some of the other reviewers have commented that they think June’s family is horrible. I disagree. Certainly, they are not perfect. (Is your family perfect?) They did not turn their backs on Finn even though he had AIDS and was obviously gay. But they shunned his lover, Toby, going so far as to indicate he was not welcome at Finn’s funeral. And they had made it a condition of Finn’s becoming June’s godfather and her being allowed to visit him that she should never meet or even see Toby. And after June did meet Toby and begin to become friends with him, she was able to go into the city by herself to see him repeatedly without them ever suspecting. (This boggles my mind because where I live nobody without access to a car can travel any distance without spending half the day walking or waiting on a bus.)

Some people have even complained that June is a horrible person because she had sexual feelings for her uncle. June herself worries that this may be true after her sister accuses her of it. But I don’t think it’s that big a deal. June’s relationship with Finn may have a touch of something like a schoolgirl crush about it, but there is no real sexual content there. June has apparently led a very sheltered life up to this point – maybe a little too sheltered – and even though she is fourteen, it is a very young fourteen, as witness her ability to spend most of her time hiding out in the middle ages.

As with so many people in books as well as in real life, many of this family’s problems could be solved, or at least reduced, if they would just talk more openly with each other instead of having to keep so many secrets and maintain all these polite fictions.

Good Story

I loved the story! I found myself talking out loud when unexpected things happen. There was some patchy spots when the voiceover over laps but it doesn’t make you lose focus.