Monthly Pick – June 2021: Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance

June 2021 BOTM: Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance 

Author: Ruth Emmie Lang
Genre: Magical Realism
Page Count: 352
Published by: St. Martin’s Press
Date Published: November 14, 2017
You can find it here: Bookshop.org

I read Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance for the first time last summer and I know it will be one I return to again and again. I can’t quite describe the feel of this novel – that it is a combination of the whimsical, childhood fairytales – The Jungle Book, Charlotte’s Web – within a wholly unique, slightly weird gown up tale. And while this story expands over many years and many seasons, I feel summer is the perfect time to read it as many key moments happen in summertime – from summertime woods to a July 4th big BBQ, to California sunshine. It’s cozy, it’s sweet, it’s weird, charming, and compulsively readable. Synopsis below. 

When Weylyn Grey was five years old, his parents tragically died one snowy night in a car accident. Scared, he ran away into the forest where he was raised by a pack of wolves. For six years he survived alone with his pack until the day he met Mary.

Mary is besotted with Weylyn and his wolves, running away to live with the wolf family herself until they are found. Now thrust into “society” and adopted by a wealthy minister and his judgemental family, Weylyn learns he isn’t like everyone else. He doesn’t fit in, he doesn’t talk right, he doesn’t like chairs, and he apparently can stop tornadoes.

Told from the perspective of those who have known him and been touched by his presence in their lives, Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance spans five decades of Weylyn’s fascinating, magical life. He may be weird but once he enters your life, you’ll wish he never leaves.

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