Book Review: Autumn In Wolf Valley

Reviewed by Haley Perry

An emotionally wrought tale about lost love and learning to move on

One year after the untimely death of his wife Amber, Howard Lynch is caught in a flood alongside his dog Coby. As the town’s river rises, Howard must decide whether to escape his home to safety or risk his life to remain with the last physical link to his relationship with Amber.

The novel is told in alternating timelines, so the author fills in the gaps of Howard’s life as the narrative progresses. The 2001 timeline begins two weeks after Amber’s death and follows 47-year-old Howard through the initial stages of his grief. It then skips a year to the time of the flood, where Howard reckons with life without Amber and the concept of moving on. 

The other timeline begins in 1962 when Howard is eight years old and living with his violent father after his mother walks out. While about a third of the earlier timeline is devoted to Howard’s childhood and adolescence, the remainder of this timeline is dedicated to his complex relationship with Amber. 

Howard and Amber’s relationship is beautifully intense yet tragic at every turn. From the moment Howard first sees Amber at a bar and spends the night with her, he knows he is meant to be with her. Yet unexpected events keep him from returning for a few weeks, and, in that time, she moves away. 

For the next five years, Howard recalls Amber as the one who got away, until he stumbles upon her book signing and the pair is reunited. Throughout their twenties and thirties, the couple dances around one another, breaking hearts and realizing that what they’ve found might have come too late. And yet once they do finally end up together, their tragedy unfolds a final time as Amber passes.

Murray’s writing style is clear and dynamic. While not all of the characters are likable, they are exceptionally real and always three-dimensional. Even the smallest characters have clear motives and strong personalities. Howard’s story is heart-wrenching and engaging throughout, and, kudos to the author for this one, Autumn In Wolf Valley skips forward in time effortlessly without ever feeling rushed. The pace is spot on.

The first forty or so pages include a near-continual depiction of animal and child abuse and neglect, so it can be difficult to get too close to. However, this does decrease in frequency as the novel progresses, and it is relevant to understanding Howard’s character growth. While the novel is inherently sad in nature—it centers around grief for a lost partner after all—the moments sometimes feel so melancholic that it could bring readers down a few notches. Have your tissues ready.

This is a sorrowful, heartfelt novel about reckoning with guilt, death, and lost love. But from this sadness emerges a message about moving on and recognizing the love you had.

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