DOGS OF THE DEADLANDS

An evacuee of Ukraine’s Chernobyl disaster is forced to leave her puppy behind.

In the wake of the catastrophe, soldiers shot all abandoned pets and livestock, but a few survived, and it is from that glimmer of hope that McGowan spins a Call of the Wild–style tale (though with a different outcome). Two plotlines intertwine: Following the tearful separation from her beloved Samoyed mix, Zoya, 7-year-old Natasha grows up to become a brilliant but solitary science teacher who, over 20 years later, returns to the still devastated deadlands with a team of veterinarians to research radioactivity levels. Meanwhile, Zoya makes it in the wild, mating with a wolf and raising two offspring, Misha and Bratan, before succumbing to a fatal fight with a lynx. Misha survives to become an alpha male and then, on the brink of death at an advanced age, is rescued by a kindly security guard and passed on to Natasha to spend his last years guarding one last domestic pack. The animal portion of the story is the dominant one, and along with being full of vivid naturalistic details about food and setting, it lays out rich webs of nonanthropomorphic but recognizable family and pack dynamics, emotional attachments, and differences in character among wolves, dogs, and hybrids. The human cast presents as White. Final art not seen.

A multilayered tale of loss and renewal with elements both topical and universal.