Talking to the Wolf: A Novel

by Rebecca Chace

"Love, first periods, last periods, bullying mothers, disappeared fathers, crazy sisters, children unborn, found, or gone, parents dying too fast or too slow, this apartment, that apartment, an eyebrow raised across a crowded room.” Four women are steeling themselves for their 35th high school reunion dinner. Lifelong friends, they have seen each other through They are a failed rock star, an awarded scientist, a work-obsessed misanthrope -- and one of them is a deeply grieved ghost, whose untimely death has ruptured the once-solid quartet. Set over the course of one day running up to the reunion as a surprise snowstorm falls over New York City, and moving amongst the four perspectives, TALKING TO THE WOLF is like a Meg Wolitzer novel shot by filmmaker Nicole Holofcenerand blessed by Virginia Woolf. (It pole-vaults over the Bechdel Test.)

216 pages, Paperback

Expected publication May 19, 2026

About the author

Rebecca Chace’s fifth book, Talking to the Wolf, is forthcoming from Red Hen Press in 2026. She is the author of Leaving Rock Harbor (New York Times, "Editors Choice" and New England Book Award Finalist); Capture the Flag, Chautauqua Summer (New York Times Notable Book and Picks of Summer); June Sparrow and The Million Dollar Penny (middle-grade). Chace adapted her novel "Capture the Flag" into a short film with director, Lisanne Skyler. The film was awarded the Showtime Tony Cox Best Screenplay short film award at the Nantucket Film Festival. She is a contributor to The New York Times and has written nonfiction essays and reviews for The Yale Review, LA Review of Books, Guernica, Lit Hub, The Brooklyn Rail, Bookpost, and many other publications. Fellowships include Civitella Ranieri, MacDowell, Yaddo, Dora Maar House, American Academy in Rome (visiting artist), and others. She is a Faculty Associate at the Bard College Institute for Writing and Thinking.

Reviews

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 Had the pleasure of reading this early! Rebecca Chace wrote the exact book I dream of writing.