The Voice of Wild Places

by Noah Hawthorne

Cornelius Sawyer is a man of many talents, but forgiveness is not one of them.

Watt Johnson is a man of his word, but not once in his life has he spoken up for himself.

Once connected by the bonds of childhood, threads now severed by the demands of life, the pair are brought together for a once in a lifetime opportunity: an all expenses paid expedition to Brazil, searching for a man the world believes to be long dead, Percy Fawcett. And perhaps, even the Lost City that he was looking for.

Under the guise of doing research work for their respective universities, a reluctant Cornelius and an exhilarated Watt accept the offer and delve into the unknown, trusting no one but themselves. Looking at a map, the route and its dangers seem to be known obstacles which can be easily conquered, a fact that Watt leans on heavily.

But Cornelius is intimately aware that the river has teeth, that the land renders a siren song to those who are desperate to become lost in its mountains and basins. To survive the journey they’ll have to face the enemies within, and trust the other to have their best interests in mind.

After all, the Voice of Wild Places is calling, beckoning the adrift homeward.

Genres: Historical, Queer, LGBT, Historical Fiction, Historical Romance, Fiction, Romance

472 pages, Paperback

First published October 28, 2025

About the author

Noah Hawthorne (he/they) is a fantasy punk author with witch vibes, endless coffee stains, and a craving for adventure and inclusive fiction.

Reviews

[Ivan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I went in with sky high expectations, so far every book by Hawthorne has made me a sobbing mess of emotions. I was almost worried that my high expectations would ruin it. But I was wrong. Once again I had tears streaming down my face at the end of his book. I wouldn't have wanted anything less.

The book pulled me in from the start with Watt trying to find his long lost friend. Watt, full of pain and struggles, wanting to reconnect to that one person he felt safe with. I couldn't do anything else than root for their reunion. That reunion doesn't go smooth though and from that moment I was thoroughly invested.

The book then continues with Watt and Cornelius dancing around each other. Cornelius is an absolutely prickly man and honestly he's quite valid in that. But he also shows his moments of softness when interacting with his friends. Watt just isn't one of them... yet. This plot progression meant that there was yearning from the start and that's a thing I absolutely love in books. Hawthorne executes this masterfully and makes them each pull and push on the bond, always in a way that feels natural.

This push and pull continues through the book, with the two men slowly growing closer together. I wanted them to come together so so bad. And the book gives you that, a slow burn romance of two troubled queer men growing closer after a long separation. It is charged with feelings, both good and bad and it takes them a long time to work through these together. When that moment of coming together finally happened, I felt like the happiest man in my own little bubble of reading this book.

When they set out to travel so much happens. Life on the road is hard and they feel this. There are people to trust, people to stay away from, and old haunts trying to get back into their lives. The land itself is just as much a danger and there is always something coming their way that complicates their travel.
This traveling part of the book I absolutely enjoyed. It was great to see so many places and learn new people. It was engaging and always made me wonder where they would end up next. A big strength of this book is that the traveling never got overwhelming. In books where the locations of the main characters stays a lot I sometimes loose track of where we are and the context around the location. Hawthorne keeps things clear and I never felt lost... up until the point the men themselves get lost and I started feeling their emotions.

This leads me towards the end of the book. I won't say much more than it made me sob. It made me play the scenes in my head for days, still so occupied with the story in my head I couldn't let go. I'm glad I had some friends around me who were able to hear my screams about the book, I don't know what I would've done without that.

A final note to add is that I listen to music in a very Autistic way. I often get a hyperfocus on songs, and when this happens while reading a book my brain will kind of link them together. The song isn't particularly in tune with the book, but it will be forever connected in my mind. https://open.spotify.com/track/7vyztr...


I received an eARC and this was my honest opinion.

[Tonya · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Voice of Wild Places begins in March of 1930, when Watt Johnson stumbles into a bar looking for an estranged friend whom he has lost contact with. Watt finds his friend, though he's transitioned since Watt knew him, and is immediately punched in the face for using his deadname. The ex-friend, now named Cornelius Sawyer, is not thrilled to have Watt back in his life, but the two are soon invited on an expedition together. They will trek deep into South America to search for a missing (presumed dead) explorer and the Lost City he was searching for.

We start before the trip with Cornelius, an archaeologist, being invited to join the expedition that Watt, an anthropologist, has already signed on to. Next, we see the two travel together by boat from New York to Brazil. I especially enjoyed these chapters as we see the two's relationship slowly begin to thaw. The actual expedition begins at around the halfway point and marks a true turning point in their relationship. They have some excellent late-night chats during this portion of the book that I really liked.

There's a lot of well-researched history entwined with the fictional story. We learn about the real missing explorer Watt and Cornelius are looking for, the politics of the region at the time, and the flora and fauna of the area.

Cornelius and Watt's slow burn is the real focus of the book, and it's excellent. It's a second-chance romance, and although it hinges on a misunderstanding, there is depth and genuine emotion between them. We learn about their early friendship and the years they spent apart as we see the two open up to each other in the present. As they resolve their anger and hurt feelings, their dynamic becomes incredibly heartfelt. These two have been through a lot, and their growth felt wholesome, healing, and so lovely!

I enjoyed this and think other fans of historical romance may too, especially if you are looking for a good, long, slow burn.



* I received an advanced copy of this book for free, thanks to the author. *

[Cayolimebooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

ARC review 5/5 ⭐️

Thank you Noah Hawthorne for the eARC of The Voice of Wild Places. You had me at Indiana Jones but make it queer.

It's the 1930s and all that comes with that era. Cornelius and Watt have history, complicated hurtful history and now years have passed and somehow they end up having to work together in search of a lost man in Brazil. What could possibly go wrong? 

I am blown away with the amount of detail written into this without it being overbearing, it's always the right amount and it's so well done that you feel a part of the scene, the history, the people and the emotions. 

I'm fully enamoured with Watt, he is soft and broken and I want only good things for him. Him collecting rocks is just, that's it for me.

Cornelius I would watch punch people all day, all night and then some more. He has the best introduction I've read in awhile and I was a sucker for him after that. 

Watching Cornelius and Watt's relationship develop, essentially even haven fallen apart and to regrow is really well done. They both have their baggage, their trauma and need to heal, yet neither doesn't think they deserve it (or each other). It is a beautiful story.  

This book is definitely one of my favourite reads of the year. I can't stress enough how much I enjoyed it. And the playlist created for it? Excellent mood setting!Only thing that upset me is that I didn't finish the book on October 3rd. That would've been perfect

The Voice of Wild Places comes out October 28th, 2025, and I personally can't wait to have a physical copy! 

[Avery · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rounded up to 4!

I received a free copy of this book. Thank you for the ARC!

I really loved Watt and Cornelius, but a lot of this book fell flat for me because so much of their motivation hinged on a promise, and we didn't learn a lot about that promise until faaaar too late in the book.
I really liked the characters, they were all fleshed out and well written, but the story itself was a little flat. Also once they got to the jungle (over halfway through the book) I hoped it would pick up but it was just bugs. Bugs and mud.
If you're looking for a wild romp through the jungle this is not it. If you want a lovely story of childhood friends learning how to be friends (with a lovely slow burn) then this is for you.

[Kat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you to the author for sending me a review copy. This does not influence my opinion.

No one does yearning quite like Noah Hawthorne does. And it gets me every single time.
If you want two explorers with a shared past being completely in love with each other and also completely oblivious to the other one feeling the same, this is the book for you. They’re adorable, I melted a few times, but I also wanted to yell at them to just kiss (which in my opinion makes a good slow burn).
Noah got their inspiration from a tumblr post about the real treasure being “the gay found along the way” and absolutely ran with that concept. This book is exactly what you would want from a story based around this concept, or at least what I would want.
So, is it plot-heavy? No. There is adventure, sure, but that’s a fairly small part of the story, it’s more about Cornelius and Watt first finding themselves (with each other’s help) and then also finding their way to each other. And it’s beautiful.
Noah talks about many important topics in this book, among them what it was like being gay and trans in the 1920s and 1930s, so there is some homophobia and transphobia in this book, but it is always challenged.
I also really enjoyed the little tidbits of history in there, like Cornelius talking about the Hirschfeld Institute (a German institute researching sexuality and gender, including performing gender-affirming surgery, before the Nazis destroyed it and burned all the research). It shows how much research went into this book.
So, all that to say, I absolutely adored this book and highly recommend reading it upon release. I know I will be rereading it.

[Nida · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received an ARC from the author/publisher.

I really enjoyed this book. I was going to wait for the physical book, but I ended up previewing the electronic version and couldn’t stop reading it until I finished. For fans of The Mummy, Indiana Jones, or really any foray into the wild where characters are tested. There is a sense of mysticism later on in the book that I think adds to this.

I really liked Cornelius and Watt. They’re both complex characters with their own stories and personalities that shine through when they’re tested (either by each other or the environment). Their friendship and romance seemed like a natural progression of their relationship. I really liked how the author included a diverse set of background characters that pop up, and even if the secondary cast is minor, you can’t help but cheer every time you see them.

There were some issues I had with what was driving the characters’ motives/the adventure in general (essentially wandering into unknown territory on a promise), but even the characters themselves recognize when they’re being a little risky (especially as academics/researchers). I also really liked how the romance was set between character in their early 30s, which I find rare sometimes in adventure-oriented queer/LGBTQIA stories.

Overall, I would really recommend giving this book a try! You’ll get hooked in the first chapter.

[ech0reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you to the author for giving me an ARC.

Wow this book was absolutely fantastic. It was so much more than what I thought it was going to be, and I already loved the premise, but it blew me away. All of the research into the history of archaeology and missionaries in South America was so in depth and absolutely fascinating. I felt like I learned so much from that alone. It was also a fantastic set-up for the story. I was instantly hooked.

I loved Watt. I really like how it was shown several times throughout the book that he wasn't as wordly as the other characters and that he had a lot to learn about other places. He came across as someone who had been sheltered a lot. It was a definite mark of his character that, instead of being embarrassed at his ignorance, he tried to learn as much as he could. He was always open to changing his opinion because of new information and it made me love him all the more.

Cornelius was also a great character. I like that he was allowed to be angry at cases of injustice and wasn't afraid to make his opinion clear. Once he realised Watt hadn't been aware of what happened, he softened to him a lot, and it was so incredibly sweet. I was rooting for their relationship from the start.

I also really liked how quernorm it felt, especially for historical fiction. I love that Cornelius carved out his own place in the world, surrounding himself with people who saw him as he is, and looked out for each other.

There were so many emotional moments and it made me connect with the characters so much. I loved all of them and it was so sweet how they came to see each other as family.

This was easily one of the best books I've read all year.

[J Aron Braide]

Some really solid writing here with great insights into what a trans person may have gone through in the days before gender-affirming care. Beyond the love story was a messy sort of archaeological excursion that went off the rails. Also some odd sort of red herring moments—if they were, in fact, red herrings; if not, then they were simply loose ends. But like I said, the writing was strong enough and engaging enough that I enjoyed going for the ride as best as I good.