Annie and the Wolves

by Andromeda Romano-Lax

A modern-day historian finds her life intertwined with Annie Oakley's in an electrifying novel that explores female revenge and the allure of changing one's past.

Ruth McClintock is obsessed with Annie Oakley. For nearly a decade, she has been studying the legendary sharpshooter, convinced that a scarring childhood event was the impetus for her crusade to arm every woman in America. This search has cost Ruth her doctorate, a book deal, and her fiancé—but finally it has borne fruit. She has managed to hunt down what may be a journal of Oakley’s midlife struggles, including secret visits to a psychoanalyst and the desire for vengeance against the “Wolves,” or those who have wronged her.

With the help of Reece, a tech-savvy senior at the local high school, Ruth attempts to establish the journal’s provenance, but she’s begun to have jarring out-of-body episodes parallel to Annie’s own lived experiences. As she solves Annie’s mysteries, Ruth confronts her own truths, including the link between her teenage sister’s suicide and an impending tragedy in her Minnesota town that Ruth can still prevent.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Fantasy, Historical, Time Travel, Audiobook, Literary Fiction

432 pages, Paperback

First published February 2, 2021

About the author

Andromeda Romano-Lax worked as a freelance journalist and travel writer before turning to fiction. Her first novel, The Spanish Bow, was translated into eleven languages and was chosen as a New York Times Editors’ Choice. Her suspense novel, The Deepest Lake, was a Barnes & Noble Monthly Pick. Among her nonfiction works are a dozen travel and natural history guidebooks to the public lands of Alaska, as well as a travel narrative, Searching for Steinbeck’s Sea of Cortez. She currently lives on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada.

RECEIVE ANDROMEDA'S MONTHLY AUTHOR NEWSLETTER: https://romanolax.substack.com/

Reviews

[Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have just finished reading Annie and the Wolves, by Author Andromeda Romano-Lax

The main character Ruth McClintock is a modern-day historian, who is researching and writing a book on Annie Oakley

This is a very complex book that touches on many subjects such as women's rights, sexual abuse, and time travel to name just a few

I enjoyed the premiss of the book, however found it a bit hard to follow, and keep interested at times.

Thank You to NetGalley, Author Andromeda Romano-Lax and Soho Press for my advanced copy to read and review

#AnnieandtheWolves #NetGalley

[Karen Ferguson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is not Annie Get Your Gun - this is Way Way better! Annie Oakley is a woman way ahead of her time - she would be edgy even now. Not being a person of her time, this book's play with timelines is spot on. And the main character, Ruth, is yet another strong and complex woman. I love the way the author creates messy, complicated characters who don't always do what we want them to do - giving them life and depth that allow a dive into the dark recesses of what happens in families and in relationships. This book creates a nuanced dish of family dysfunction and revenge that pulls together so much that is timely and troubling today. Definitely NOT the old musical caricature of Annie O-- this is Annie O for today's confusing times.

[Bam cooks the books · Rating 4 out of 5]

**Mother and daughters book club read for May, 2021**

This book was really different: a mixture of historical fiction and fantasy, told in two timelines. In the present day, Dr Ruth McClintock has been writing a book about Annie Oakley, the legendary sharpshooter who wanted to arm every woman in America for their own protection. Ruth is convinced the impetus behind that desire was sexual abuse in Annie's early life but she needs to proof. Could she find that in some old letters recently submitted to her for authentication?

Coincidentally, both Annie and Ruth suffered serious physical injuries in horrific vehicles crashes and in these letters, Ruth becomes convinced Annie's injuries in some way allowed her to attempt to go back in time to seek revenge and change history.

During her own accident, Ruth had a vision of a future event involving a loved one that she would dearly love to be able to prevent. A local high-school student named Reece seeks her out because he has had a dream involving Ruth, his school and this same future event. Can the two of them prevent what is to come? Is the answer in Annie's old letters?

The common themes running through both past and present are pedophilia/sexual abuse/gun violence. Timely topics for discussion.

[Leo · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nobel with time travel discussing Annie Oakley, suicide and sexual assault amongst other things. I didn't fully get invested in the book until the last part of the book. Then things really heated up and got very interesting. I liked the way this book talked about things happening in life, and shag would happen if you could change something. Would everything change? It's really a thought provoking book and I'm interested in reading something else by Andromeda Romano-Lax

[Judy · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I discovered that Annie Oakley was a main character in this novel, I had to read it. Annie Oakley was a childhood heroine of mine. I never missed an episode of the TV series and for years when we played cowboys outside, I was Annie and my bike was my horse. I also had a cap gun and a holster.

Andromeda Romano-Lax is a trusted author for me and she maintained that trust in her latest novel. She creates wonderful flawed characters and her plots include history, mystery and a bit of psychology. In Annie and the Wolves she proved she can handle a dual timeline better than most.

The portrayal of Annie Oakley in the TV series certainly showed her as the phenomenal and fearless sharpshooter she was, but it provided little concerning the facts of her life. I was absorbed by the history Romano-Lax dug up, showing who Annie was, the abuse and trials she overcame as well as her passion for enabling women to protect themselves.

The current timeline features Ruth McClintock, an historian whose obsession with Annie nearly derailed her career and her love life. Both Annie and Ruth suffered from residual and debilitating consequences of violent accidents, including out-of-body episodes that seemed strangely like time travel.

Exciting, thought-provoking, and a deep exploration of female revenge, this novel thrilled me to the core.

[Abbie O'Hara · Rating 2 out of 5]

Definite genre bender. Thriller, historical, fantasy. That alone was a lot to handle. On top of that we get multiple themes that are really dense and emotionally packed. None of them were handled well: gun violence, sexual assault, how to tell history and why it matters, mental health/suicide etc..

I did not like the main character, Ruth. I really feel like her political takes were luke-warm and not fully fleshed out. She too often gave validity to the idea that political ideas have to be civil and polite and cater to understanding both sides of the fence. I hated this and it continuously frustrated me.

Moreover, I did not like the utilization of side-characters. Especially Reece. Why was Reece a necessary character? Every scene with him felt forced, took me out of the world, and unnecessary. For example: in one chapter after they had JUST met, he reveals his suicide attempt and she reveals her sister’s suicide. This really felt forced and not like a conversation a fully grown random adult and a teenager would have after spending 2 hours together. It also confused me why this grown woman has so many emotionally intimate moments with a teenager when another prominent theme is molestation. Are only men capable of this? Like I understand she’s not a pedo but their relationship was inappropriate.

[switterbug (Betsey) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This choice was a risk for me, since I never had a particular interest in Annie Oakley, and I only enjoy sci-fi if the human and psychological elements are not compromised and it isn’t used to fork the plot, if you know what I mean. Well, the sharply rendered and accurate/organic human elements are spot-on, and the psychological and psychoanalytical aspects were deeper than I expected. My only complaint is that the sci-fi parts were not necessary. I won’t give away what that is, but I thought it made plot turns too handy, when it would have worked as ongoing metaphor instead. But I did thoroughly enjoy the book!

The narrative covers trauma and secondary infliction that triggers the primary trauma. It also features a subject matter that is only starting to move into mainstream consciousness—intergenerational trauma. I think the author could have more deeply emphasized that aspect, rather than highlight it and then detract from its intricacy by injecting implausible elements. Romano-Lax could have been more powerful by sticking to credible actions and plot. She did such a superb job of creating a complex tale of trauma without melodrama for most of the story, which drew me in from beginning to end. The thrumming pace kept me in its groove.

The sprinkling of Annie Oakley sections shined, and contains surprises. Her trauma from a train accident ignited earlier trauma. It isn’t about her sharpshooting qualities; it’s about who she is as a person trying to reconcile her past abuse.

The main and contemporary character, Ruth McClintock, survived her mother’s death from cancer, her sister’s suicide, and a break-up with a fiancée following a terrible car accident. Her journey to normalcy is fraught by unresolved issues that obstruct her from moving forward. She’s just a young woman trying to get her head on straight after a ton of extraordinary bad shit happened to her. She’s portraying millions of others who are crippled by severe trauma.

“You can’t go forward without going back…You can’t go back without going forward.”

This is a sensitive portrayal of individual and linked trauma, and the associated feelings of confusion, desire for revenge, anger, and emotional paralysis. Moreover, the tone of the story is sincere, while the toll of trauma on the characters is scrupulous and articulate, assured and solid.

Romano-Lax weaved in the historical "faction" brilliantly. But, more importantly, she focused on the intimate connections of trauma to seemingly unconnected people, and their personal sense of disconnect. Moreover, certain secondary characters understand how trauma can be trivialized:

“You and I both know what happens to genocide that’s already been processed and monetized by Hollywood so many times that it doesn’t give modern people nightmares, when it should.” “It feels wrong to pull some of those emotional strings. It’s too easy to make people squirm and hurt. Harder to make them think.”

You can’t deal with the present until you resolve the past, and the future is dim if your present is untenable. The characters conveyed that organically. So why the tacked on magic carpet ride? It came off as twee, too cute for the grounded earth the author was on. The irony is that I think Romano-Lax underestimated herself by leaning on sci-fi elements. In a less skilled author, I’d give 3.5 at the most. But, despite its flaws, this one is a solid 4 for me.

[Lisa | Lady_Logomancer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a really gripping, page turning book. I wasn’t sure what to expect when I went in. Contemporary fiction mixed with historical fiction, family drama, teen angst, maybe some romance thrown in? I got all of that and more.

Told in a dual timeline (something I seem to be reading more and more of lately) this book mixes the modern life of historian Ruth McClintock with the past life of the dynamic Annie Oakley. It’s a nuanced, sometimes dark, sometimes hopeful story that has ties to many historically significant events with parallels to both modern day and Ruth’s own life. Add to the already stellar things I mention above is an element of the unknown in the form of premonitions and out of body experiences.

This book is wholly unique, I couldn’t put it down! I really loved how real these characters were in both word and deed, very relatable. Also, there’s elements of revenge, one of my fave tropes, and how that is handled was very satisfying.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants something really different from the usual, and a well written character driven story.

There are some content warnings for drug use, suicide. sexual abuse and gun violence.

Thank you to NetGalley and Soho Press for a review copy of this book, this review is given voluntarily.

[Heather Diamond · Rating 5 out of 5]

I stayed up way too late to read and finish this tantalizingly complex book because I needed to know how the multiple threads would converge and what would become of the protagonist. As the story gains momentum, it shifts perspectives and time frames. In the present are a historian obsessed with learning about Annie Oakley's private life and a couple of supporting characters. In the past is the historical figure herself. There are eerie parallels between them. Both the historian and the sharp-shooter have had life-altering accidents. One has a dark family secret to uncover and the other a personal one that torments and drives her. It's possible that both of them can time travel. Both will desperately want someone to believe them and both will seek revenge. This book seamlessly combines historical research, plot twists and turns, and intriguing characters. I'm not usually a mystery or thriller kind of reader, but I was hooked from the beginning.

[Marzie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Annie Oakley, born Phoebe Ann Mosey, is an American icon. A sharpshooter who toured the US and Europe along with her husband Frank Butler in Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show, Annie's early life was marred with physical abuse and neglect and what may have been child sexual abuse when she was "bound out" to work for families in her community at the age of nine. Whatever happened to her affected her for the rest of her life, and likely informed her thoughts that all women should be armed and know how to defend themselves against these "wolves" with a gun. In some ways, Oakley was the inception of a sort of gun culture among women. Nowadays we might be more interested in the "me, too" aspects of Annie's life, and how abuses that girls and women endured were minimized and denied. Her fascinating life is in part the subject of this novel, but it is a life seen, processed, endlessly reviewed by Ruth McClintock, a historian obsessed with Oakley's life. Ruth lost her chance at a doctorate, at a "serious" academic life and appointment, as a result of her obsession. When she learns of letters purportedly written to an Austrian analyst by Oakley in the early 1900's, she is stunned to find them written in Oakley's handwriting and that they seem to detail events surrounding a train accident in 1901 that spelled financial disaster for her traveling show, and which spurred thoughts of revisiting the past in order to change the future. Ruth is hooked, in no small part because of her desperate guilt over the suicide of her younger sister Kennidy, who was also a victim of sexual abuse.

This sprawling and often fascinating novel looks at causality, changing the past, the future, the evolving state of women's rights, the culture of silence surrounding child physical and sexual abuse, and child neglect. Romano-Lax manages to pull off this complex switching between past and present, and even multiple concurrent timelines in the past, in spite of little detail about how the time travel actually works, beyond seeming to begin with brain trauma. Ruth and Annie fragment themselves by stepping back and forth between past and present, trying to find justice for themselves or their loved ones, seeking vengeance against the wolves that prey on young people.

This novel- complex, layered, and thought-provoking- is not quite historical fiction and not quite science fiction. It's a genre-bending memorable read.

The audiobook is affectingly narrated by Elizabeth Wiley.

CW: child abuse, child sexual abuse, threats of violence, physical violence, suicide

I received a digital review copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

[Ronit Plank · Rating 5 out of 5]

Andromeda Romano-Lax has created a novel bustling with a combination of an imagined world as well as one that is all too real and grounded in challenges many of us read about in the news every day and experience ourselves. Annie and the Wolves is history, fantasy, time travel as well as a story about gun violence, sexual abuse of minors, trauma, and how and if people recover. Romano-Lax is so much smarter than me; I don't know how she kept track of her timelines and arcs but she did so brilliantly. Her book took my breath away for its points of view, its dialogue, and for its handling of the past, the present, and the unknown. If you like to sink your teeth into a novel that makes you think and encourages you to interrogate your beliefs about violence, intuition, and the past, you will appreciate this book as much as I do. Brava, Ms. Romano-Lax!

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was excited to read historical fiction about Annie Oakley since I did not know much about her and this was an ambitious novel. However, I felt that with so many topics in this book, there were lots of holes in the story and some things that felt disconnected. Parts of the story were a fascinating read, and this is one of the few authors that I have read who doesn’t give teenagers cliched dialogue. I think maybe if the subject matter was trimmed down to focus more deeply on a few things, or if the book were longer to flesh out some ideas- I would have enjoyed it more.

[Jaye Viner · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was everything I wanted but didn't expect from an 'Annie Oakley' book. It defies categorization, and rises above our limited ideas of what can be understood from historical characters. It explores trauma in unique, lived in ways, and its conclusions only lead to more questions, allowing readers to decide what to believe on their own.

[Staci Greason · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a child of the wilderness, I’ve always been fascinated by the tales of Annie Oakley. Not the musical theater version, or the drunken Deadwood version, but the gun-toting brave feminist, Annie. For this reason, I was delighted to discover Andromeda Romano-Lax’s new novel.

What a galloping delightful page-turner of a story it turned out to be. Weaving the pasts and presents of the two main characters, Annie and Ruth, an historian tracking the famous woman, I was completely swept up in the unexpected twists and plot turns. The other voices in the novel, two high school boys, Reece and Caleb, are well thought out and the way the author ties in their stories to the overall theme of Wolves and revenge and recovery is very well done.

I didn’t expect the plot twist and I loved it.

[Leslie Lindsay · Rating 4 out of 5]

A modern-day historian finds herself enmeshed with the life of Annie Oakley, in an dual-timeline novel exploring the concept of revenge and changing one's past/path.

Several years ago, I read and loved Andromeda Romano-Lax's BEHAVE, about Behaviorist John Watson and his wife, Rosalie Raynor Watson, their inhumane 'experiments' on children and parenting, done in what they believed was what was 'best' for the children (withholding affection, etc.). When I discovered her forthcoming ANNIE AND THE WOLVES (Soho Press, Feb 2, 2021), I knew I had to get my hands on it.

Ruth McClintock is a historian in her early thirties and completely obsessed with Annie Oakley. For nearly a decade, she has been studying the show-stopping sharpshooter, convinced a tragic past is what elevated her status as one of the best shots in the land . But Ruth sort of loses it all--her book deal, her finance, her dissertation because her own mental health gets in the way. There's a dark personal history she is wrestling with, a mystery of her younger sister's last few days/months, and more. She =b>ties both her past and her sister's experiences together in a narrative that also links in Annie Oakley.

Plus, Ruth has managed to track down and elusive journal of Annie's that suggests she was receiving psychoanalysis overseas, in Vienna, at the time Freud was working. Could this be patient notes penned by Freud himself? She's not sure, but she wants to find out. In this journal (and subsequent found letters), Ruth discovers Annie was likely sexually (and physically) abused by the farm families she was 'rented out' to as a young girl between the ages of 9-11. Annie refers to these people only as 'the wolves' and no names are actually mentioned. That won't stop Ruth from trying to find justice.

But there's also the mystery of Ruth's younger sister, and so with the help of some tech-savvy teens at the local high school, she attempts to puzzle out what exactly happened to Kennidy. Ruth begins having out-of-body experiences and premonitions (stress? mental illness? something else?) which lead her to believe she can go back in time to stop these atrocities.

ANNIE AND THE WOLVES is an ambitious novel combining genres; it's not wholly historic fiction, but a bifurcated narrative told in dual timelines, with elements of suspended belief, thriller, mystery, and more. It also has a strong #metoo theme about the plight of women trying to move beyond their dark pasts and into brighter futures. It might have the ring of a Jodi Piccoult book meets Fiona Davis.

I absolutely loved the infusion of history with psychology, the Viennese psychoanalysis, and following along with Ruth as she pieced together these historical aspects of Annie's life. Family history, memory, and dysfunction are a fascination and so this piece particularly intrigued. I failed to truly connect with the contemporary subplot of the sister's death (although my life has been touched by suicide) and felt some of those sections with the tech-savvy teens could have been trimmed. (I am reading an early edition and that may very well be the case as the final isn't released until Feb 2 2021).

ANNIE AND THE WOLVES is a complexly structured narrative, about revenge and justice, human fragility, and more. Romano-Lax's research is to be condemned.

I was reminded, in part, of Amy Shearn's UNSEEN CITY (Red Hen Press, September 2020) in terms of female historian/mystery meets the work of Fiona Davis , along with elements of Christina Baker Kline (particularly her ORPHAN TRAIN book and also A PIECE OF THE WORLD).

For all my reviews, including author interviews, please see:
www.leslielindsay.com|Always with a Book.

Special thanks to the author and Soho Press for this review copy. All thoughts are my own.

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Annie and the Wolves by Andromeda Romano-Lax is fictional look at a Annie Oakley and a historical researcher who finds new letters, that will change space and time. Annie and the Wolves is grounded yet really out there. There's a plot twist that takes this really grounded story linking Annie Oakley and Ruth the woman researching who are linked in their fight against wolves/predators, and then turns it on it's head. The twist not revealed in any synopsis or press materials materials happens less than halfway, and is used effectively at the end. I was a little confused at the beginning which feels like Ruth has ADHD as subjects get bounced around, the plot twist helped be understand this better and I throughly enjoyed it once I got used to the bouncing around narrative. The book has an exciting yet compelling finish. I was not expecting the book to go where it did but I enjoyed the unexpected ride. Thanks to Netgalley and SOHO press for letting me read Annie and the Wolves before publication. Annie and the Wolves by Andromeda Romano-Lax was published on 2-2-21.

The Plot: Ruth has spent two years recovering from a car wreck, that had her push people and her live in boyfriend away. Ruth spent this time researching Annie Oakley of the wild west from the late 1800'2 to early 1900's who had her own debilitating train crash. Ruth becomes obsessed and then she is sent letters from a psychiatrist who treated Annie, this is a time when they would just mark women hysterical who had strong feelings, this what Ruth is expecting, but she gets a whole lot more. Annie talks about dealing with her wolf, a sexual predator when she was young, that now wants to confront them. Ruth has her own wolf in a former coach at her old school, will Ruth learn from Annie how to give justice?

What I Liked: Te Annie Oakley scenes with Sitting Bull in the tent. The twist as I mentioned was unexpected but it made this novel so unique, I hate not giving it away but my rule is not to give more than the synopsis. I like the characters of Reece and Caleb, Caleb took a while to like but Reece was immediate. Te ending was pulled off really well with a couple of layers to it. I liked all the connections that Annie and Ruth had, I liked that Ruth questioned if she was giving Annie these characteristics or they were real. That this novel is low key science fiction novel, sort of.

What I Disliked: The twist was great but I still wanted more explanation on how it worked exactly. The Annie Oakley scenes were my favorite I wanted more.

Recommendation: I will recommend this totally unique novel. It is a quarter historical fiction, half a drama with a little mystery element to it and the plot twist takes it to almost science fiction level. I rated Annie and the Wolves by Andromeda Romano-Lax 4 out of 5 stars.

[Christina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like many women, I’ve been fascinated with Annie Oakley since I saw a production of Annie Get Your Gun in elementary school. So I’m devouring Andromeda Romano-Lax’s forthcoming Annie and the Wolves, which goes beyond the myths perpetuated by the musical and cultivates fiction based around information revealed by Oakley’s relatives. Romano-Lax uses a dual timeline to weave science fiction and historical fiction into one timely, suspenseful, and complicated tale, and she places the reader directly in the action right from the beginning of the novel. In the early 1900s, we meet Annie at the moment a southbound train collides with the show train she’s traveling on. She thinks to herself, Away, and she does just that, moving through time, skipping ‘like a stone across a pond.’ Meanwhile, in contemporary times, we meet Ruth, an Annie Oakley researcher who is still working through the aftereffects of a car accident and the dissolution of her relationship with her fiancé. When Ruth receives a journal thought to be written by the sharpshooter, she enlists the help of Reece, a computer-savvy teenager, to help her determine the authenticity of it. They discover that the journal concerns Oakley but was written by a third person—possibly a therapist trying to help Oakley work through past trauma and abuse inflicted by someone called The Wolf. Full disclosure: the book addresses many topics and themes, some disturbing—abuse, mental illness, suicide, the human psyche, revenge, and memory among them—but it never feels heavy. Annie and the Wolves is Romano-Lax’s fifth book; I’ve put the other four on my TBR list.

[Britt.and.Lit Book Reviews · Rating 3 out of 5]

So, in reading in the NYT Book Review about this book- I definitely thought there was some sort of psychoanalytical “time traveling” related to past trauma. If I thought it was literal time-travel, I probably would not have read it. But, I will say even after finding this while reading the book, it was still a compelling story. It goes back and forth telling Annie Oakley’s story-reliving childhood trauma and a harrowing train accident. Then it comes round to modern times with the story of Ruth McClintock, an Annie Oakley expert who is pouring over letters and journals in order to discover the famed sharpshooter’s secrets. Ruth develops a working relationship with a student named Reece, who struggles with his own psychological demons. I found the relationships and overall premise for the story compelling. But, I definitely think the author should have gotten rid of the time travel element. It really doesn’t add much to the story, and takes highly emotional issues-like sexual abuse on a minor- and adds this level of mysticism that only seems to work to diminish the humanity of the characters. The time travel element goes a step further in chipping away from the realism of the ending. It just wraps up the ending neatly with a bow. The story kind of meanders on up until the last 1/5, where it just speeds up and tries to tie up all the loose ends as quickly as possible. I really wanted to like this book, since I have always been fascinated by Annie Oakley. But, it didn’t live up to the hype for me.

[Victoria Waddle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed the creative genre bending of Annie and The Wolves. The summary of the novel in the book description does a great job of giving the reader an overview, so I won’t repeat it. In addition to it, I’d add that I loved Ruth’s tenacity in seeking the truth about Annie Oakley’s life and whether traumatic events had shaped her views, both moral and political. Exploring the aspects of Oakley’s life that are open to question is a worthwhile endeavor. The author also does a great job of getting into the minds of two teen point-of-view characters, Reece and Calib, bringing their experiences in a modern-day high school in connection to Ruth’s, Ruth’s younger sister who died by suicide, and even Oakley’s. The novel moves outside what is known about Oakley and imagines her seeking help from an early psychologist. I enjoyed this and recommended the audiobook to my husband, who had a doctorate in counseling psychology. He also enjoyed the novel. Annie and the Wolves reminded me of Daphne DuMaurier’s House on the Strand, which I read many years ago. Both combine historical atmosphere with time travel. There are so many wonderful threads in Annie and the Wolves. I highly recommend it.

[Gin Phillips · Rating 5 out of 5]

"She did believe that time itself, like many a historical script, bore faint traces and of what had come before and been effaced.”

There are so many strands woven together in this book, and the seemingly disconnected pieces overlap so beautifully: teenagers and time travel and physical pain and the line between optimism and obliviousness and a romantic relationship that feels as real and flawed and true as any I’ve read. "The Mobius strip of time"--I love that.

I'll say this obvious thing: know there's time travel. If you hate time travel, you won't like sections of the book. I DO like time travel, especially when it's done smartly, as it is here, and opens a door to think about the passing of time and the ways we affect each other's stories in a real-world, non-sci-fi sense. Beautifully written and thought-provoking.

[Kate Maruyama · Rating 5 out of 5]

Romano-Lax pulls you in with language and her main character Ruth at the kind of crux in her life we can identify with. Different points of view weave a complex, absorbing story that interlinks and bobs and weaves, but keeps you centered and anxious as the tension mounts and you arrive at the point at which it all comes together. So many good questions are raised about surviving trauma, the need for revenge, and the values of time and space. Totally wrecked me at the end in the best way. Highly recommend.

[Allison Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

A complex and beautiful tale of vengeance and self-forgiveness. I've always loved Annie Oakley, and had read about her tragic childhood, and it's fascinating to see that story (plus speculation) woven into a modern woman's own quest to sort out her past so she can have a future. I had not known how poorly the press treated adult Annie, and that's interesting to learn, too. This was a pageturner I had to read slowly, to really appreciate the plot points and feel the narrative as it skillfully unspools. Riveting.

[Leslie Lehr · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you thought you knew everything about Annie Oakley, think again. What a badass. And what a great book by a truly talented writer. She weaves two lives of women with parallel trauma in to a puzzle that you can get lost in for hours. I used to read simple biographies of women with no idea about their lives or the impact they might have on mine. Romano-Lax will changes all that and makes it a fun ride as well.

[Heather Frese · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book captured me from the first paragraph and didn't let go for the entire read. I loved the back-and-forth through time and thought the characters were compelling and well-developed. The plot was tight and kept me wanting to read just one more chapter. Ruth and Annie are going to stick with me. I'm recommending this book to all my friends!

[Alyson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Genre bending page turner about the intertwined lives of Annie Oakley and a historian obsessed with uncovering the truth of her trauma and other mysteries. Unique and deftly handled by author Romano-Lax. I learned so much about Oakley. Impressed by the depth of this book, the research and the writing. Wonderful!

[Charlotte Kaufman · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you're a fan of The Traveler's Wife, you'll like this historical fiction/fantasy book. I was transfixed with the interweaving of the modern story and Annie Oakley's story. Wonderful writing. Definitely recommend this book!

[Lindsay · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best books I've read this year, and that's really saying something.

Though I was intrigued by the book jacket summary, no synopsis can really do this novel justice. It is about Annie Oakley, yes, and a modern-day historian who becomes obsessed with uncovering the truth of Oakley's history after suffering a traumatic accident. Oakley, too, experienced something similar--a train accident, which triggered visions of the past. Before long, more parallels emerge, along with secrets the characters keep from each other and themselves, and you begin to realize that the visions aren't visions at all, but a kind of time travel.

In the end, this novel is about trauma, sexual violence, rage, and grief. And love. The past cannot be entirely undone, the world is not saved. The novel's willingness to address these issues without offering easy answers or feel-good resolutions only adds to its depth. And it is deep: there are so many layers to this story, I could go on and on. So let me just say, you must read it for yourself. Immediately.

[Lolly K Dandeneau · Rating 4 out of 5]

via my blog: https://bookstalkerblog.wordpress.com/
𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐭 𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐰𝐨𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐬.

Annie Oakley, born Phoebe Ann Moses in 1860, went on to become a legendary sharpshooter charming the world over, performing in Wild West shows and even meeting royalty. A mean feat for a girl whose early origins were brutal, whose very hunting skills provided food and money for her family at a wildly tender age. This novel, however, is not solely focused on her fame but on the wolves that haunted her mind. She was a survivor, first and foremost, and this novel takes us through the real event of a train accident she was injured in and how it derailed her life, for a time. Annie’s injuries were severe, leaving her with yet another mountain to climb in a life full of obstacles. Yet, this novel is about the wolves that haunt us all and parallel to her tale is the very woman obsessed with researching Annie, through combing through Oakley’s past she exhumes deeper truths she has been avoiding about her own sister.

Ruth McClintock has ‘lost herself in the weeds’ of her work on Annie Oakley, wanting desperately to explain what drove the icon to encourage women to arm themselves. Ruth is sure that Annie’s suffering, poverty, abuse, starvation, and other far more sinister transgressions against her during her childhood is the seed that drove her to want every female to protect herself from the wolves of the world. The pressing issue is, how can she prove it? No one wants to focus on the ugliness of the legend’s past, allowing it to dim the shine of her amazing rise and success. Ruth is coming up empty, despite her search for evidence to back her claims. With an unfinished autobiography and a bit of correspondence remaining before Annie’s death, there is very little to find. Fate may be in her favor, an antique collector is sending her photocopies from a journal that, though not authenticated, could be Annie Oakley’s. This takes her down a rabbit’s hole, desperate to find out if Annie was ever secretly being treated by a psychoanalyst. Surely such visits are evidence that Oakley was suffering mentally about what happened in her youth. Ruth is dealing with her own demons and strange episodes of ‘out of body experiences’, changes in memory, time, events not unlike those Annie experienced. Her fiancé Scott has given up on her, on their life together, blaming her obsessions, her very negative views of life gone sour for ruining everything. Her life has slipped from her hands, and it’s time to confront the wolves of her own past.

High School Senior Reece offers to fix Ruth’s laptop, a whiz at tech stuff, her ex fiancé assures her. When Reece confides he is a problem solver, she lets him in on her research of Oakley. Already she feels a comfortable familiarity between them and he aides her in her pursuit of authenticating the journal. Without knowing it yet, he may also be a link in the tragic suicide of her younger sister, a past she has chosen to lock away inside of her, refusing to confront. Strange things have been happening to Ruth, uprooting her life, making her question reality and time since she survived an accident of her own. Life no longer seems to be keeping order , events and memories aren’t quite solidified. Could it be that Annie Oakley, through her own trauma, experienced the exact same uncontrollable escapes from her body and time? Is it a simple slip of the mind, a delusion? Why is Annie’s dark past, her tormentors so important to Ruth? What truths are Ruth, herself, avoiding?

This story turned out to be richer than I imagined. It’s not your typical historical fiction at all as it plunges the reader into the low bellied monsters that hunt the young. It attempts to explain how these dark souls escape the radar, how the victim is locked away in fear of exposure. It challenges how we cope with revenge, what it costs to fight smear campaigns in all their devilish forms. How do we push the dark forces into the light, when they are so good at protecting themselves? How do we make things right without ruining our own lives in the process? How does one truly move beyond the trauma they’ve experienced, be it violence at another’s hands or any other obstacle? This is why so many people prefer to remain blind or ignore the ‘red flags’. It was a heavy read and every character matters. Time, how we experience it, what we envision or dream, imagine or conjure… it’s all personal in the end. I need to read more by this gifted author.

Available Now

Publication Date: February 2, 2021

Soho Press

[Sascha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve got to be honest with you. Except for authors I love or tropes that I adore, I don’t know what draws me to some books. What words in a blurb raise themselves to mean something in this brain of mine so much that I’d want to read this particular book? Many times that’s not an issue, but for this one, Annie and the Wolves by Andromeda Romano-Lax I actually tried to track down why I wanted to read this book. Did the publisher reach out? (That’s the usual one.) Nope. What was it then about this book with a cover that my eyes can’t always focus on?

THAT was before I read the book. Once I started reading, I decided it was serendipity.

The “Annie” from the title is Annie Oakley to whom I have little connection. I’ve never even seen the musical supposedly (based on the description from the book there seems to be little relation of Annie’s real life to the musical) based on her life, “Annie Get Your Gun.” But Romano-Lax paints a woman who has had a complex life: sold off to be a slave, molested, and then became an old West heroine. Then there was a train crash that seemingly ended everything for her.

A historian, Ruth McClintock became obsessed with Annie Oakley for reasons that aren’t even immediately clear to Ruth. After her car accident on a bridge, Ruth becomes almost reclusive. Her fiancé has become an ex-. She is living day-to-day in a house that her recently dead mother somehow bought too cheaply from the man living next door. And then, someone sends her a journal to review to see if it can be verified as Annie Oakley’s. What may seem to be the opportunity of a lifetime, becomes something far, far different, and yet the same.

With the arrival of the journal, Ruth also encounters Reece, a high school boy who can fix her computer but also one who seems to know her but hasn’t yet met her, or has he? Does the fact that she almost died in a car accident and he survived his suicide attempt mean anything?

Annie and the Wolves is told in several POVs including Annie, Ruth and Reece, and these all work, although, after a while I admit to growing tired of Annie’s chapters. They worked, mind you, but I felt that the real story was occurring in the present with Annie, Reece and the current day characters.

For me, this novel worked so well on so many levels. Romano-Lax provided such a great story filled with tension and action that I was turning pages as fast as I could. The plot ranged from time travel to psychological thriller. And the questions asked. How much can you achieve if you go back in time? What are your limits? What should you do? What happens if you achieve what you want? What happens to you if you enact the revenge you think you should take?

Annie Oakley was sexually abused during her service to couples to whom she was employed. These were the “Wolves,” the ones she wanted to hurt. More than a century later, kids are still being sexually abused and the predator gets away with it. He is asked to retire early, but no one turns him in. Like all sexual predators, his harm is far reaching but seldom inflicted on himself.

Annie and the Wolves is a sleeper hit of a book for me. I didn’t expect much, but it blew me away. Even as all of the pieces came together and I understood what was at risk, what was going to happen, things didn’t turn out that way, but entirely differently, which was a fresh take.

I loved the time travel aspect and loved how Romano-Lax wove this idea through her narrative, even into the Annie Oakley one. (Parts of me really want to read that Annie managed to throw herself through time during the train accident! Nerd alert.)

Annie and the Wolves is oh-so-readable. I highly recommend it if you’re a fan of time travel books, Annie Oakley, and psychological fiction.

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Fatima A. Alsaif · Rating 3 out of 5]

The premise is both intriguing and interesting, but I found it difficult to follow and remain interested at times while reading the book.