For centuries, wolves have been used to symbolize our fear of violent death, but as Erica Berry points out, this says more about us than about these misunderstood predators. At the center of this lyrical inquiry is the legendary wolf OR-7, who roams away from his familial pack in northeastern Oregon. As Berry chronicles her own migration—from crying wolf as a child on her grandfather's sheep farm to accidentally eating mandrake in Sicily—she searches for new expressions for how to be a brave woman, human, and animal in our warming world.

"A vulnerable self-investigation and a wide-ranging exploration of fear—and, ultimately, an antidote to it. [Berry] makes a stirring case for walking alongside the symbolic wolf."—The Atlantic