Review - When the Wild Calls

When the Wild Calls by Nicola Penfold, cover art by Júlia Moscardó, published by Little Tiger

I absolutely loved Where the World Turns Wild, so I was beyond excited when I heard there was going to be a sequel, knowing we'd be able to catch up with Juniper and Bear again. I was even more thrilled when I started it and realised we were going to return to Etienne's story too, I loved Etienne as a character and my heart broke for him as we left him in book one.

Because we did, Where the World Turns Wild sees Juniper and Bear sneaking out of the increasingly dangerous and dystopian walled city they live in with Etienne's help, but without him on their journey, as they set out to search for their parents in The Wild outside the city. 

It's one of my absolute favourite books and if you haven't yet read it, I'd urge you to start there (although When the Wild Calls could definitely be read as a stand alone too). My review of it is here and much of what I said about this book is equally true of When the Wild Calls, which sees us return to Juniper and Bear as they prepare to return to the city to get Annie Rose, their grandmother, and their beloved friend Etienne out too.

 

Meanwhile, back in the city things are worse than ever. Disease is rife; authorities are claiming it's the ticks again, but many are beginning to suspect it's cholera and other similar illnesses being spread through the poor conditions people are being forced to live and work in, and the lack of clean, uncontaminated water and air. Rebellion is in the air and more and more people are being raided and sent to The Institute. Many of the sanctuaries we saw in book one - Barney's Emporium, Ms Endo and her stick insects, Annie Rose's glasshouse, April's drawings (I was so thrilled when Etienne met April) - these sanctuaries are being raided, closed, destroyed, and rounded up. The terrifying fate that is The Institute is becoming a reality for so many now. It is a time of fear, of civil unrest, of danger... but, of course - if you know Nicola's books -  also of hope.

Because rebellion is in the air, and as dangerous as that feels, it also feels like the first signs of spring after a long, hard winter, with change and rebirth and reclamation suddenly possible. I loved Etienne's role in this as a guerilla gardener planting illegal seeds, it felt so very real; this could be now, in our towns and cities as we fight to reclaim some green spaces, to let nature back in in even just the smallest ways.

 

And in many ways, although the story here alternates between Etienne and Juniper and Bear on their way to him, this feels like Etienne's book, his story, his moment. 

 

That said though, I loved seeing how Juniper and Bear were doing, and there's some really interesting and thought-provoking scenes at Ennerdale, the camp they sought as their parent's last-known dwelling, which go a long way to shaking the idea of The Wild as an idyll, as somewhere perfect; where there are humans there will always be imperfection and there will always be issues of trust, power, control and ownership. 

And the two narratives slowly draw together to collide at the end in a brilliantly tense and dramatic way, with the sense of danger and something huge around the corner gradually building until we're there in the midst of this explosive final showdown. I loved Abbott's reappearance and the twist here - it felt daringly dark for a children's book, but was perfect and felt just right for that character and what we knew had led to where we are here.

This, like Where the World Turns Wild before it, is a stunning book which feels both cautionary and hugely relevant, whilst retaining its sense of natural awe and wonder and a never-ending supply of hope. It balances this terribly bleak, dystopian city (which nevertheless feels like it could be just around the corner if we don't start fighting for nature now) with joyous descriptions of the natural world, the names of flora and fauna which feel like a magic sort of poetry to list and read and speak aloud, the awe of children experiencing them for the first time (which despite these being much older children is redolent of the immense sense of wonder toddlers have for the world; if you've ever seen a pre-schooler marvel at a worm or tried to walk anywhere with a small child stopping to examine every leaf and flower, witnessed a rainbow or, indeed a rainstorm, with an under 5 you'll recognise the sense of the miraculous nature holds here)

I said in my review of book one that I couldn't do it justice, and this feels much the same. This is a book which - for me - was all about so many little details. It's a book which walks that fine line of balance and doesn't dumb anything down, it respects its readers and credits them with the immense belief and passion that children have. It is an incredibly written book, both lyrical and clever, riffing on society as we know it, taking it somewhere unimaginably dark but with the hope of nature and art to save it.

 

Because nature and art can save us. If we, and the powers that be, let them.