Wolf on the Fold

Wolf on the Fold is a hopeful journey: six vignettes which form a living tableau of family life from 1935 to the present day. These memorable depictions of domestic scenes are vehicles for optimism, continuity and renewal.

They are ambitious in their historical perspective, spanning the Depression, Amin’s expulsion of the Asian heritage population from Uganda and the Israeli-Arab conflict but they are far more than a factual record. At the centre of each story is a reminder of the capacity to reach beyond the horrors of poverty and conflict to find a way of thinking which will carry protagonists through the problems they face in coming to terms with the unpredictability of the human condition.

These moments are tellingly etched into the narrative: Kenny’s focused calm and careful stillness during his encounter with a murderer saves his life; Raj’s insistence on talking about the baby sister murdered by Amin’s troops restores her to her proper place in family history; Gabriel’s stubborn determination to buy figs in order to cling on to normal routines brings him and his mother to an Arab market in Jerusalem at the height of the conflict: here are the gifts of an accomplished writer. These momentous emotional stillnesses are prompts for lifelong learning – lessons to be passed down which speak to succeeding generations.

Wolf on the Fold is wholly absorbing – filled with memorable characters with more than a hint of the skeletons in all our family cupboards. This is a book which should be read – for its humanity and narrative grace, but most of all as a testament to the power of the human spirit.