In Red Riding Hood, there was the Big Bad Wolf. In Sleeping Beauty, the evil queen; in Cinderella, the wicked stepmother.
But who is the villain in Tell the Wolves I’m Home, a kind of modern-day fairy tale about 14-year-old June Elbus, struggling with the death of her uncle from AIDS and the sudden revelation that he has had a long-term partner whom she has never met? On my latest episode of WNHH radio’s “Book Talk,” I and my guests dove in, parsing out who it might be.
“I don’t really like villains in books,” author Carol Rifka Brunt offered “No one’s a villain here. All of the motivations we maybe recognize to some degree in ourselves … [and] the reason we forgive is because it’s human.”
That resonated with guest Deborah Cantrell. “Every character had some moment of self-reflection where they acknowledged the dark side of what they were experiencing,” she said, “and that was really lovely and poignant.”
To listen to the full interview with Brunt, and my conversation with Cantrell and other guest Sarah Woodford, click on the audio above, or find the episode in iTunes or any podcast app under “WNHH Community Radio.”