Wolf, Moon, Dog: A Novel

by Thomas Wharton

A witty, charming and heartfelt novel from acclaimed author Thomas Wharton about the many fabled lives of a dog named Wolf—hunter, guardian, guide, healer, friend.

In a hard and hungry season thousands of years ago, a young wolf is turfed out of his pack and left to fend for himself among strange, clever new animals who walk on two legs, hunt with detachable claws and teeth, eat meat but wastefully discard the bones and tend fire as part of their pack.

Eventually, one of these young animals carefully approaches Wolf. He explains that he’s a human, and that his kind and Wolf’s kind aren’t so they hunt the same prey, they're hunted by the same predators and they need help surviving. The boy proposes a Wolf will stand watch at night and alert the humans if danger approaches, and in exchange the humans will reward him with one meaty bone a day. Wolf agrees to the arrangement on a trial basis and over time grows closer to the boy, giving into an inexplicable urge to seek companionship with humans. And so, Wolf becomes dog.

In Wolf, Moon, Dog the award-winning author of The Book of Rain follows Wolf as he reincarnates through the ages, from Ancient Egypt to Alexandrian Greece to the Space Race and all the way to a dark future beset by climate change. Indeed, Wolf dies many times over, but each of his lives is uniquely meaningful, unleashing different aspects of humankind’s best friend. In Wharton's novel and fable, dogs are deeply empathetic creatures who experience a breadth of emotions and a desire for self-determination much the way we do, and who, also like us, struggle to reconcile conflicting instincts.

Dancing across genres and cultures, space and time, Wolf, Moon, Dog is as insightful about human nature as it is about canine behaviour, sure to delight dog lovers and show even listeners immune to a dog's charm how much there is to learn from our canine counterparts.

272 pages, Hardcover

Expected publication May 5, 2026

About the author

I live near Edmonton, Alberta, Canada and write for grown-ups and children. My newest novel, The Book of Rain, will be published by Random House Canada in 2023.

Reviews

[Kieran · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wolf Moon Dog by Thomas Wharton is less a book about wolves in the wild and more a quiet, thoughtful meditation on the transformation of a wolf into a dog through domestication. Wolves are the starting point the ancient, wary animals living alongside early human but the emotional heart of the story follows a single lineage as trust, proximity, and mutual need slowly reshape that wildness into something new.

What Wharton captures beautifully is that domestication isn’t a single act or moment of control. It’s a long, generational process built on observation, caution, and tentative cooperation. The relationship between humans and wolves develops gradually, moving from fear and distance toward understanding and partnership, laying the groundwork for the bond we now recognize as dog and human.

Importantly, the book never suggests the wolf is erased. The dog that emerges still carries that wild past within it, reminding us that our closest animal companions come from a history of coexistence rather than conquest. By framing domestication as a shared evolution, Wharton turns the story into a reflection on humanity itself—our capacity to fear the wild, to soften toward it, and to be changed by it in return.

Subtle, poetic, and lingering, Wolf Moon Dog is a small book with a deep sense of time and connection.

[Dave White · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book for dog lovers every where.