The White Wolf follows a struggling young vet tech whose bond with a stolen white wolf pup drives her into a fierce pursuit through a world where cruelty, commerce, and survival are tightly entwined. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

Several experiences shaped the concept of the novel. First, all my life I’ve loved canines, both wild and domestic. Especially memorable was the time my high school teacher,  internationally renouned wildlife artist Robert Bateman, took some of his students up to the wolf research station in Algonquin Park where they allowed us to go in and play with some wolf pups. I’m an ardent environmentalist alarmed by the loss of wildlife in our communities and the barbaric practice of trophy hunts. And I once stumbled upon a riveting Anishinaabe story about how the Creator out of all animals chose the wolf to be a brother to man. When it came time for them to be separated, the Creator said that although they would lead separate lives, what happened to one would aways happen to the other.

How did you approach writing from both human and animal points of view without losing emotional credibility?

Thank you for the compliment. I regarded the portrayal of the wolf as especially important and indeed, difficult to accomplish but I knew I did not want to mirror the device many authors use to express the animal’s viewpoint as though it were talking in first person. I think the distance of third person worked. And I tried to avoid anthropomorphizing the wolf’s experiences.  Even though they are different species, having spent my life in the company of dogs one gets to understand their communications – vocally, through body language and actions. Also, lots of research and learning from people who worked with wolves. As to the humans, I felt on stronger ground having come from farming families. Even in cities, in my home country, we are never far from wild landscapes.

Jade and Niko are both displaced from home in different ways. How conscious were you of building the novel around that shared dispossession?

That didn’t start out to be a major theme but grew organically as I wrote the book. Again, the overarching concept of “what happens to one will also happen to the other” helped me to deepen the novel along the lines of losing one’s home. 

The ranch is such an effective symbol of polished cruelty. What inspired that setting and its “family-friendly” facade?  

Early on my research turned up the presence of many ranches that offered canned hunts and trophy hunts to wealthy individuals. The tourist or educational aspect of the ranch is made up but the operation of these places is very real indeed.

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