Sisters of the Wolf by Patricia Miller-Schroeder

Sisters of the Wolf is a novel set forty thousand years ago in Ice Age Europe and tells the story of two young girls who flee a common adversary, while struggling to survive a journey to safety. The story is told using two narrators, Keena, a Neanderthal (Krag) girl and Shinoni, a Cro Magnon (Kula) girl.

The story opens with Keena watching over the small children in her group's mountain camp. Keena's father Atuk is with the other hunters looking to kill the beast that has been terrorizing their band. Her four-year-old brother, Tat is not interested in staying close and wants to explore. With the sudden wind shift, Keena smells death and yells to the children to run to the safety of their cave. Tat however is following a hare into the tall grass and before she can react, the lion bursts out of the forest edge, snatching him away. Later that night, safe in their cave, the entrance protected by fire, Keena's mother Ubra tells her Tat's death is not her fault.

The next morning most of the Krags are reluctant to leave the shelter of their cave. However, Atuk walks out, telling Keena they need to hunt down the beast killing them and bring in food before the snow arrives. While the women roast deer meat on a hearth outside the cave, Atuk gathers the men and boys who will hunt the lion. The hunters will use heavy spears with sharp stone blades to kill the lion. One of the boys who will be helping is Sate's son, Kreel, whom Keena has played with through their childhood.Kreel has just killed an ibex and Gorda tells her that Kreel will soon have his own hearth. 

Sabra, a Kula hunter who has spent time with Keena's group tells them that the Kula's would never try to kill the lion with spears as they would have to get too close to the lion and risk injury or death. He suggests they use a small spear and the stick he has to throw it. He offers to show them how to make these.

However, their discussion is interrupted by the arrival of Haken, Ubra's brother and Keena's uncle and his band of hunters. They look fearsome with black patterns painted on their cheeks and brow ridges and bear and wolf teeth in necklaces and in their hair.Haken has a vivid red scar across one side of his face. Ubra, tells Keena to take the children back to the cave but she doesn't do this. Atuk tells Sabra he must leave before he is seen by Haken, who hates Kulas. Atuk tells Sabra he cares for no one and kills anyone who gets in his way, including Krags and Kulas. Because of this he sends Kreel and Sabra into the forest, telling them to return to Sabra's camp.

Haken tells Atuk and Ubra that he brings furs in exchange for females. He tells them that the brown devils have stolen their food and their young ones starve. They need females, like Keena, whom he singles out,  to give them more young who will grow into hunters. Atuk tells Haken that they have no females to spare and they do not need furs. Haken, knowing that the lion is terrorizing Atuk's group, offers to kill the lion in exchange for females of his choice. To Keena's horror, her father reluctantly agrees.

Haken and his band of hunters return, bringing with them the body of the dead lion. In payment he takes Keena, and two other women from Atuk's group.

Meanwhile in the Spirit Quest cave in the valley below Keena's group, Shinoni of the Kula people has been seeking her spirit guide, something only boys do. She awakens to find a large grey wof at the entrance of the cave. She has spent two days in the cave where she has scratched drawings of animals into the dirt around her. On the other side of the flames and smoke, a large grey wolf paces. With the shouts of her father, the wolf leaves. Her father, Shazur tells her they have been searching for her and were worried when they saw the Strange Ones hunting close by. Shinoni tells her father she is on a spirit quest but her father admonishes her, telling Shinoni that she will find her spirit guide at the women's celebration.

At Shinoni's camp, the men have been gone to look for a cave for their group to winter in. Shinoni has been collecting reeds with another Kula girl, Wenzel and Etak who is pregnant. When Etak asks if they can stay in the sacred cave during the winter, Grandmother Reza scolds her, telling her this would dishonour the animal spirits and make their hunts fail. 

This doesn't stop Shinoni from entering the sacred cave where she watches her father, Shazur paint on the walls. Despite hiding her presence, Shazur knows she's been in the cave and he admonishes her. Shinoni tells him that she wants to honour the animal spirits. He decides to take her back to the cave to ask forgiveness of the animal spirits and allows Shinoni to paint on the walls.

Shinoni helps her grandmother Reza carry reeds back to their skin shelter. Both Shazur and Reza feel danger is near. Shazur gives Shinoni a beautifully crafted flint knife while Reza encourages her to go into the forest to look for the medicine plants.

Suddenly their camp is attacked by the Strange Ones or Krags, who kill almost everyone including Shinoni's father. Reza tells Shinoni to run and hide in the forest which she does but she is soon surrounded by a large grey wolf and her pack. To protect herself, she hides in a tree, but she is discovered by Haken and his group after they settle beneath the tree to examine their spoils of the raid. Shinoni finds herself captive in Haken's cave along with a girl of the Strange Ones.

Keena who speaks Kula, tells Shinoni that Haken wants to know the hunting magic her people use. Although Shinoni doesn't know this magic, on the advice of Keena, she tells him about the sacred cave and how to use her father's amulet.

Shinoni cuts herself free and informs Keena that she intends to escape. Keena decides to help and with a bit of ingenuity on Keena's part the two girls head out, with Haken in pursuit. Can they outwit the brutal Haken and his band of hunters while travelling north to Keena's homeland?

Discussion

Sisters of the Wolf  tells the quest of two prehistoric girls, to escape the man hunting them and find safety. One girl is a Neanderthal, while the other is a more advanced Cro-Magnon. 

Neanderthals or Homo neanderthalenis are our closest extinct human relative. They are believed to have emerged around 400,000 years ago and lived in Europe and southwestern and central Asia. Although we Homo sapiens share a common ancestor with Neatherthals, they are not considered a step in the evolution towards modern man, but were a dead end. They became extinct, losing out to the smarter Cro-Magnon humans who lived alongside them.  

The name Neanderthals means "humans from the Neander Valley" in Germany where fossil skeletal remains were first found. Neanderthals had short stocky bodies with short lower legs and arms. They had a broad face with a large nose, possibly and adaptation to living in colder, drier climates, and a prominent brow ridge.They ate large amounts of meat but also consumed plants and fungi.

Neanderthals were very intelligent and were skilled tool makers. They made wooded spears and flint hand axes. They developed what is called the Levallois technique for tool making: they would fashion a preshaped piece of stone to carry with them, later making the finished tool. Neanderthals are considered to have been specialized seasonal hunters, hunting big game like bison, mammoths and reindeer at close range.

These early humans lived in shelters and made clothing. There is evidence that they were able to fashion loose-fitting clothing using animal tissue to bind pieces of skin together. They also made primitive jewelry out of animal teeth and ivory. Neanderthals also cared for the sick and deliberately buried their dead in marked graves.

Neanderthals likely went extinct because they were replaced by the Cro-Magnon humans, now referred to as Early Modern humans who lived in the Upper Paleolithic period from 40,000 to 10,000 years ago. Cro-Magnon humans are named after discoveries near Cro-Magnon near the town of Les Eyzies-de-Tayae in southwestern France.  The Cro-Magnon's were powerfully built and taller than Neanderthals. They had a prominent chin and a flat forehead. Like Neanderthals, they buried their dead. Artifacts show that they carved statuettes, made cave paintings and other high quality art. 

In Sisters of the Wolf, Miller-Schroeder effectively portrays not only the prehistoric setting but also the early humans who lived during this time. The author highlights some of the differences between these two groups of humans. For example, Shinoni, who is Cro-Magnon and more advanced than Keena, offers to show her how to sew her leggings together to make clothing that fits better and is warmer while Sabra, a Cro-Magnon who is living with the Atuk's Neanderthal group offers to teach the hunters how to make a stick that will allow them to throw a spear farther.

Sisters of the Wolf is essentially a story of two early humans who form a sister bond that allows them to defeat a common enemy. As they journey back to the safety of Keena's group, both Shinoni and Keena combine their skills to survive during the harsh Ice Age winter and to outwit the brutal Neanderthal hunter, Haken. Along the way they are helped by a wolf which Shinoni calls Tewa and which she believes is her spirit guide.  It is theorized that our domestic dogs originated from grey wolves that gradually became domesticated. In Sisters of the Wolf, Miller-Schroeder incorporates this theory into her story with the appearance of Tewa, a wolf that protects the girls, even providing them with meat along their journey.

Although Keena and Shinoni are two very different humans, they learn to work together, and develop a bond that leads to trust. Both are shown to be resourceful and resilient, qualities necessary to survive in a harsh world. They show compassion towards those in need, helping the sick and burying the dead as best they can. It's evident the author has done considerable research for the novel, as many details about life during this era have been woven into the story.

In her very detailed Author's Note,  in which she reviews some of the information known about Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon humans, Miller-Schroeder writes, "Sisters of the Wolf incorporates many of the most recent discoveries about our ancestors into its storyline. Since it is a work of fiction, it imagines what the interactions and relationships of Keena, Shinoni, and the other characters would have been like, and it lets us look into the lives of our ancient ancestors."

Sisters of the Wolf is an engaging novel, unique in its Ice Age setting and its early human characters. The story feels realistic and offers readers the opportunity to imagine what life may have been like for our ancestors during the harsh Ice Age. It's nice to see writers considering other periods of history as possibilities for young readers.

Book Details:

Sisters of the Wolf by Patricia Miller-Schroeder
Toronto: Dundurn Press    2021
318 pp.