The Wilderness of Girls

April 22, 2024
In Franklin’s contemporary fairy tale, a group of teen girls struggle to acclimate to society following years living in the wild. After a period of familial trauma and parental neglect, 16-year-old Eden moves in with her kind uncle and reinvents herself as Rhi. While working at a wildlife preserve, Rhi comes across a quartet of teen girls exhibiting wolf-like behavior, the smallest of whom is caught in a bear trap. During the transpiring media spiral, the world eagerly waits to learn the girls’ mysterious identities. As Rhi earns the teens’ trust, she learns that they were raised by a man they call Mother, who believed they were the long-lost princesses of a mythical land called Leutheria, and that they must return there to save their home. The group also believes that Rhi is their prophesied fifth sister, prompting her to wonder whether the girls are victims of a kidnapper’s lifelong deceit, or if they speak the truth—and Leutheria is where she belongs. Shallow character development and caricature-like villains hamper deeper examinations of themes surrounding identity, sexual
violence, truth, and trauma, which are explored via multiple alternating POVs
in this jam-packed debut. Characters are racially diverse. Ages 14–up. Agent: Danielle Burby, Mad Woman Literary.

April 15, 2024
A teenager must discover her role in the lives of four wild girls. When 16-year-old Rhi moves to Happy Valley in upstate New York to live with her uncle, she's still raw from the neglect and abuse of her childhood and is hiding from a secret she can't face. Eager for a distraction, she starts working with her uncle at the local nature preserve, where she stumbles across a shocking sight: a group of four seemingly feral girls who are protected by wolves. Once rescued, they reveal that they believe they're princesses from a kingdom called Leutheria and were raised in the wilderness by a mysterious man named Mother ("our prophet, our protector, our teacher"). The girls believe that Rhi is the fifth sister, and she, feeling a connection to them, takes an interest in their well-being and is determined to help them. Together, the girls begin to question Mother's identity and the truth of his stories, while Rhi feels a tug toward the possibilities of their magical origins. Told through varying formats and from different perspectives, the novel's storylines paint a compelling portrait of the power of teenage girls despite constant mistreatment. The Wild Girls' integration into society may require some suspension of disbelief, but overall, the story is satisfyingly executed. Rhi has some Jewish ancestry and reads white, like most of the Wild Girls; one of the girls is Black. A compelling, thoughtful, and original debut. (Fiction. 14-18)

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July 1, 2024

Gr 9 Up-Franklin's debut is a haunting tale where reality and fantasy intertwine in a way that will have readers questioning reality. Following the upheaval of her life due to her father's arrest, 17-year-old Rhi finds herself living in Happy Valley, NY, under the care of an unfamiliar uncle. The story may feel a touch slow initially, but it quickly takes a fantastical turn when she encounters wolves guarding four feral girls deep within the forest. Rhi is instantly drawn to them and is determined to unravel the mystery of the girls' origins. As the narrative unfolds, the girls, who claim to be princesses from another realm, become increasingly more desperate to sort truth from lies. Against the backdrop of mass media attention, Rhi and the girls travel a path to self-discovery, with poignant moments of introspection and raw revelations. This novel does not shy away from difficult topics. Mental health, sexual assault, and suicide are present with an emphasis on healing and empowerment. The overarching themes are of friendship, feminism, and the inner strength that these women share when they are together. The unforgettable characters and unique plot of this novel lingers in the mind long after the final page is turned. There is some limited diversity among the characters. VERDICT A good purchase for libraries where Rory Power or Nina LaCour are popular.-Claire Covington

Copyright 2024 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 15, 2024
Grades 9-12 Rhiannon Chase knows all about starvation, neglect, and loneliness from life with her father and stepmother. But after Rhi moves to Happy Valley in the wake of her father's sudden arrest, she stumbles across four feral girls who have lived their whole lives in the wilderness near her new home. The girls explain to Rhi that she is their fifth princess, according to the prophecies made by the mysterious man who raised them in the woods, whom they call Mother. Rhi brings them back to civilization, saving one girl's life, but she is helpless to stop the modern world from breaking down the wild, beautiful, unruly parts of them. When the group splits as one of Mother's prophecies is revealed to be untrue, Rhi struggles with the painful reality she knows and the beautiful fantasy she wants to believe in. Tender and raw, this debut isn't afraid to dig into the agonizing interior lives of teen girls, the ways our world tries to break them, and the bonds they create to survive it.

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