The Wolf Hour in Aussie Readers

Aug 31, 2018 Brenda rated it really liked it

Shelves: suspense, aussie-authors, sent-by-publisher, reviewing-by-request, 5000-books, uncorrected-proof, 2018-release, crime, own-read, arc

Tess Lowell was both fascinated and somewhat repulsed as she watched the ritual. In Uganda to help the children who had been abducted and coerced into fighting for the rebel forces, Tess had a PhD in psychology and was sure it would give her certain insights into the culture of Africa. But when Tess joined soldiers, against their express wishes, to travel deep into the African bush and across the Congolese border to meet the rebel leader for peace talks, she had no idea how big the mistake was t ...more

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Dec 27, 2018 Kim rated it liked it

Shelves: act-library, 2018-read

A fairly quick read. Fairly compelling. I've taken a bit of an interest in children abducted and brutalised to become soldiers in Kony's LRA so the main protagonist annoyed me a bit, at first, as she was setting it up to put herself in harms way. Of course, she then was faced with some fairly predictable repercussions. This struck me as fairly reasonable for a YA audience, I'm not sure that is the book's original target audience. Being a quick read it satisfied my curiosity about it without taki ...more

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Sep 06, 2018 Bree T rated it really liked it

Shelves: crime, arc, thriller, african-fiction, cultural

I knew that I had to read this as soon as soon as I read the description. I absolutely love books set anywhere in Africa and I’m pretty certain I’d never read one set in Uganda before. I was really interested to get a glimpse into that country and this had the promise of potentially being quite a frightening read, given the main character is kidnapped by rebels.

Tessa Lowell is 30, from Melbourne and she’s in Uganda researching the effects of PTSD on child soldiers kidnapped and turned into soldi I knew that I had to read this as soon as soon as I read the description. I absolutely love books set anywhere in Africa and I’m pretty certain I’d never read one set in Uganda before. I was really interested to get a glimpse into that country and this had the promise of potentially being quite a frightening read, given the main character is kidnapped by rebels.

Tessa Lowell is 30, from Melbourne and she’s in Uganda researching the effects of PTSD on child soldiers kidnapped and turned into soldiers. Everyone hears about how rebel groups sweep through villages, taking all the available male children, raping and killing the women and then burning what’s left behind. These children are indoctrinated into killing at heartbreakingly young ages, given machetes and machine guns and are taught to dehumanise others. For Tessa, the interest for her is in how they cope in the aftermath. She’s working in a refuge centre observing children who have escaped this life and how it impacts their emotional wellbeing. She’s confused that some seem to cope better than others and she’s trying to find a reason why.

I wasn’t sure what to think of Tessa’s decision to insert herself into the group going to meet for peace talks with Joseph Kony, because it seemed incredibly foolish. She’s told that her safety cannot be guaranteed, that she’s both white and a woman and this is incredibly dangerous but she’s determined to go anyway. When she strikes up a conversation with a young rebel named Francis, she mentions that she’s a doctor – she has a PhD, she’s not a medical doctor but Francis doesn’t know the difference and Tessa finds herself kidnapped and taken to a rebel camp and ordered to treat a man dying of gunshot wounds.

Back in Melbourne are Tessa’s parents, Neil and Leigh, who are devastated and terrified to learn of their daughter’s kidnapping. So far no demands have been made so there can be no negotiations and they don’t even know where she is. So they call on their son Stephen, living in South Africa and running a business that seems dubious at best, begging him to do what it takes to get Tessa back. This will open up their eyes to what their son is really doing over there.

I felt for Neil and Leigh. I think it’s very hard to be a world away from your children, be they grown and living their own lives, especially when they are living and working in places where there are different sorts of dangers to the ones familiar at home. Australia is a long way from anywhere and early investigation is crucial so they beg Stephen to go to Uganda and try and find Tessa, knowing that it’s going to take them probably two days to get there. I found their struggle to accept what Stephen was doing very realistic and the questioning that Leigh in particular did, was very well done. There was a lot of that internal debate, was this their fault? Had they contributed to this being the path that Stephen had decided to take? Was there something in his character that they’d fostered or nurtured? That sort of parental struggle was also handled in different ways – Neil’s at first reluctance and then complete capitulation into fury versus Leigh’s emotional look for answers. They had a lot to deal with in a very short time with both their children and it places real strain on their marriage.

It’s hard for me to imagine children being swept up in this sort of world. My oldest son is 10 and my younger son will turn 7 next week. They are probably right at the age that kids are taken and it’s heartbreaking. They are exposed to such horrifying violence and will also commit it themselves and I understand Tessa’s desire to study the after effects of such a life. It’s not easy to imagine people who have been soldiers in an army from such a young age just settling back into village life again and that’s made quite clear at the end of the book. I wanted to read a little more about Tessa’s work, see what she was coming up with and what she might be working towards in the future.

This book was not really the type of read that I expected – I thought the kidnapping might actually take up a greater portion of the story but it’s a relatively small part to be honest. There’s a lot of focus on family relationships and the connections that bind people together through blood even though they might not be connecting in other ways. Tessa and Stephen seemed to have a very fractious sibling relationship – periods of camaraderie but also antagonism. Most of that appeared to be Stephen, who wasn’t a particularly enjoyable character to read. He seemed to have quite a large sense of entitlement and was willing to exploit what he could in order to get himself ahead in terms of money and wealth. Tessa is almost the opposite, wanting to help these communities heal from the ravages of war and destruction. I also felt that I was left with more questions than answers at the end, so I’m not sure if that was intentional (because life is messy and full of answered questions) or perhaps this will be addressed in a further book.

I found that this was a really fast, engrossing read – it took me no time at all to tear through it and I couldn’t put it down. It’s a thoughtful exploration of family strain during a difficult time, of secrets coming to light and a place far removed from what I’m used to. I enjoyed the insight.

***A copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review*** ...more

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Oct 14, 2019 Magdalena added it

The Wolf Hour opens in 2008, with 30 year old Tessa Lowell, an idealistic PhD student who has been studying the impact of PTSD on child soldiers in Uganda for several months. Tessa works with Dominic Oculi, a former abductee and child soldier himself, now rehabilitated and working to negotiate a peace deal with the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), and its volatile leader Joseph Kony. When Tessa insists, against Dominic’s advice, that she tag along with his peace delegation, she is kidnapped over a The Wolf Hour opens in 2008, with 30 year old Tessa Lowell, an idealistic PhD student who has been studying the impact of PTSD on child soldiers in Uganda for several months. Tessa works with Dominic Oculi, a former abductee and child soldier himself, now rehabilitated and working to negotiate a peace deal with the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), and its volatile leader Joseph Kony. When Tessa insists, against Dominic’s advice, that she tag along with his peace delegation, she is kidnapped over a misunderstanding of what kind of doctor she is. The result is devastating, not only for Tessa, but for the delegation and for her family. The story is richly rooted in time and place, and Myles does a superb job of conveying both the beauty of Uganda, and the strange, sometimes horror, of what Tessa carefully observes. The book opens with a ceremonial purging seen through Tessa’s eyes that tells us more about the protagonist than any description of Tessa could:

The boy’s father nodded and Oraako sat down on the branch-swept earth. Placing the bowl at his son’s feet, the man dipped his gnarled hand into it and sprinkled water on Oraako’s wounded foot, then took the chicken from his wife and with one deft spin broke its neck. Tessa watched. She would record the details later, noting the way the boy’s father laid the bird on the ground, how he used the panga to leave it in two, then wiped its blood and faeces onto Oraako’s hands and infected foot. (3)

The story progresses at a rapid pace, driven forward by the unfolding danger of Tessa’s position, her growing sense of the blindness and protections her privilege and easy upbringing in Melbourne has afforded her, the sense of helplessness felt by Tessa’s parents, Leigh, a (medical) doctor and Neil, a documentary maker, and her brother Stephen, a “businessman” living in Cape Town. When Neil and Leigh are notified of Tessa’s abduction, they call upon Stephen to help rescue Tessa. As Tessa’s dangerous situation plays out, Stephen’s nefarious and covert business dealings begin to unfold, unhinging the relationship between Leigh and Neil and forcing them to question their own beliefs.

Myles builds the story in alternating chapters that explore the parents growing awareness of their adult childrens’ activities, as well as Stephen’s perspective - one that highlights the privileged upbringing that Tessa and Stephen had, but also opens a range of questions about the interconnectedness of the events that unfold. Throughout the novel, Myles’ writing is exquisite, walking a careful line between the psychological introspectiveness of her characters, and the unfolding events of the Ugandan Civil War and its impact on the lives of people living there. Tessa’s observations in particular are poetic and careful, illuminating Africa’s beauty against her own frailty:

A steady rain began to fall, producing the faint arc of an opaque moonbow. It shone iridescent, if diluted, but when the moon went behind a cloud its extraordinary beauty was lost and the night became a vast black ocean. They found a sheltered place and stopped to rest, drinking rainwater from the waxy drip-tips of broad leaves and waiting for what had become a downpour to ease. (225)

The link between Tessa and thirteen year old Francis, an abductee and soldier who she meets at the talks and later a the LRA camp, is both moving and disturbing. Through Francis, Tessa learns about the shocking violence that Francis endured and participated in, and gets a far more in-depth awareness of PTSD than she ever wanted. Though the plot develops around Tessa’s kidnapping, The Wolf Hour covers a lot of other ground, exploring the family dynamics between Tessa, Stephen, Leigh and Neil, and the broader, but paralleled relationship between Uganda and those who continue to profit from war and the pain it creates.

As parents, Leigh and Neil are credible and rational, and Leigh’s narrative in particular is compelling as she begins to suspect that her intrepid, high-achieving children are not quite as they appear. As the antagonist, Stephen is the least appealing character, with an icy, slightly exaggerated greed that is unfortunately familiar. However, he makes it clear to Tessa that there is no such thing as unfettered innocence, and that we are all, in some way, connected, and culpable:

she had come all this way only for Stephen to show her what she most feared about herself, and there was a flicker in his eye that told her he understood: You’re the problem; you should think more about yourself before judging me. (252)

The Wolf Hour is a powerful and subtle novel that raises big questions and doesn’t shirk from depicting the ugliest aspect of the Ugandan Civil War, including its impact on the people of central Africa, especially the children, nor does the book shirk from exploring the way in which Neocolonialism feeds and supports these wars. Myles’ depiction of Uganda is well-researched and engrossing. The Wolf Hour is an important work of fiction that continues to be timely, thought-provoking, engaging and impactful. ...more

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Nov 16, 2018 Christy marked it as to-read

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Apr 19, 2021 Elisabeth Rose rated it really liked it

Shelves: my-uno-2021

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