Stunning. Debut author. Need time to digest it. Review to come.

Thanks to Netgalley.

I gobbled Tell the Wolves I'm Home by debut author Carol Rifka Brunt like a child with an icecream sundae. And then I sat and let it digest. It's the kind of book that you have to think about, let percolate in your mind and soul until you can literally speak again. It's that thought provoking.

I'm really not sure where to begin. The setting is the freaked out, paranoia-driven period of the 1980's when AIDS was literally a four letter word. People lived in fear of "catching" the disease through an innocent peck on cheek. Ryan White was enduring discrimination and Nancy Reagan was advocating safe sex by just "saying no."

Fourteen year old June loves her famous but reclusive artist Uncle Finn with all of her heart. He's her one touchstone in a world she feels misunderstands her. Shocked when she learns of his AIDS diagnosis, she clings to him with a loyalty worthy of an episode of Lassie. June is thrown for a loop when she learns of Finn's AIDS diagnosis. He wants to leave his nieces a piece of himself when he passes, so she and her older, brighter sister, Greta, sit for a portrait that Finn meticulously paints in his artist's apartment in New York City.

Fast forward to the mysterious phone call June receives by an anoymous caller informing her of Finn's tragic death and the plot takes off. You see, the British bloke on the other end of the line is the only other person in the world who grieves Finn's death as much as June does. Toby, Finn's longtime companion, seeks June out secretly. The two develop a bond and learn to heal in a world that forces their friendship undercover. Can Toby heal his heart before it's too late? Can June and Toby learn to trust each other and allow a family, albeit an unconventional one, to grow?

The development of the plot, the intricate details about the innermost thinking of June and her troubled relationship with her sister, Greta helped to catapult the story forward. The honest way in which the progression of an insidious disease progresses is gut wrenching, the pain palpable in any reader's heart. But I think what I most liked about Tell the Wolves I'm Home, besides the fluid writing, was the beautiful relationship that Finn and Toby shared as evidenced in Toby's recollections for June's benefit. Too often a loving relationship between same sex partners is quietly ignored. Toby and Finn were committed to each other until the very end. Finn showed his devotion towards Toby even before their relationship actually got going in England. Yes, love can exist in manner forms and between many different kinds of people. And June's and Toby's adoration for a man gone cements their relationship and provides them company in a dark filled time.

And isn't that why we are here in the first place?

Highly, highly recommended for YA and adults.