The Wolves of Mercy Falls
The Wolves of Mercy Falls trilogy, written by Maggie Stiefvater, contains the three books, Shiver (published 1 August 2009), Linger (published 13 July 2010) and Forever (published 12 July 2011). The books follow Grace Brisbane and Sam Roth. Shiver is written from both Grace and Sam's point of view. Linger is written from Grace, Sam, Isabel and Cole's view point. Forever is written from Grace, Sam, Isabel and Cole's point of view, with a small prologue from Shelby. The series is set in the fictional town Mercy Falls. Stiefvater has said that the real town of Ely in Minnesota would be the closest in destination to Mercy Falls.[1]
Shiver
For years, Grace has watched the wolves in the woods behind her house. One yellow-eyed wolf — her wolf — is a chilling presence she cannot seem to live without. Sam has lived two lives: In winter, the frozen woods, the protection of the pack, and the silent company of a fearless girl. In summer, a few precious months of being human... until the cold makes him shift back again. Now, Grace meets a yellow-eyed boy whose familiarity takes her breath away. It is her wolf. It has to be. But as winter nears, Sam must fight to stay human — or risk losing himself and Grace forever.[2]
Shiver has been licensed in over 32 foreign territories[3] and remained on the bestseller list for over 32 weeks, selling 130,996 copies in 2009.[4]
Linger
In Shiver, Grace and Sam found each other. In Linger, they must fight to be together. For Grace, this means defying her parents and keeping a very dangerous secret about her own well-being. For Sam, this means grappling with his werewolf past... and figuring out a way to survive into the future. Add into the mix a new wolf named Cole, whose own past has the potential to destroy the whole pack. And Isabel, who already lost her brother to the wolves... and is nonetheless drawn to Cole. At turns harrowing and euphoric, Linger is a spellbinding love story that explores both sides of love - the light and the dark, the warm and the cold.
Forever
Forever is the final book of the trilogy. It was published on July 12, 2011.
In Forever, the stakes are even higher than before. Wolves are being hunted. Lives are being threatened. And love is harder and harder to hold on to as death comes closing in.
On February 14, 2011, Stiefvater read a two-page excerpt of Forever in which Shelby was confirmed as being a narrator.
Character list
- Grace Brisbane was attacked and bitten by the wolves behind her house when she was 11. When she is saved from them by a yellowed-eyed wolf, Sam, she begins to feel a deep connection with him. In Shiver they meet after Sam is shot, and begin a strange yet touching relationship. However, in Linger it is not Sam's humanity that is in jeopardy but Grace's, as she comes down with an unknown illness and almost dies. She is re-bitten by Cole and shifts at the end of Linger. In Forever, she tries to make her way back to Sam, but in her wolf form and with the ever present worry of shifting it becomes hard. And as the wolves are hunted by Isabel's father she risks losing not only her friends but her life. She has dark blonde hair and brown eyes.
- Samuel (Sam) Roth was bitten by Beck, who needed young blood to keep they wolf pack going, when he was only 7. After his parents tried to kill him by holding him down in a bath and cutting both his wrists, he was adopted by Beck, aged only 8. After Grace is pulled off her tire swing and almost killed by the wolves, Sam saves her by shifting and carrying her home. When the wolves are hunted after the "death" of Jack Culpeper and he is shot, Grace finds him, naked, on her back porch and they start a relationship. When they both discover that by injecting meningitis into their system shifting will be stopped, Sam and Jack volunteer. Jack dies and after Sam shifts halfway through the injection, Grace assumes that he has died too. He did survive and they are reunited at the end of Shiver. During Linger Sam has to come to terms that he is now fully human along with the help of an increasingly sick Grace, whom he loses at the end of Linger when she is re-bitten, by Cole, to save her, and shifts. In Forever, when the wolves are under threat, Sam is injected by Cole so he can shift and lead the wolves out of boundary wood and to the peninsula Koenig gave them. He has black hair and wolfish yellow eyes.
- Isabel Culpeper was the sister of Jack Culpeper until he died. She and her family were originally from California, but moved to Minnesota when Isabel was 14, before the books started. She found out about the wolves after Jack, whom the town believed to be dead, came to her. She was later told the whole story by Sam and Grace. It was because of Isabel that they were able to get meningitis infected blood from her mother's clinic. Isabel stays with Jack as he is slowing killed by the meningitis, and blames herself for his death in Shiver. She and Cole have an on-off sort of relationship in Linger, even though it is clear Isabel holds some feelings for Sam. At the end of Forever, Isabel is heart broken when she assumes Cole has been killed, and cries with relief when he phones her in the second last chapter. Isabel was sent back to California, to her grandparent's, by her parents after she interrupted the hunt to let the wolves escape. She is a highly sarcastic person, and is describe as 'cold' by other characters. She has short blonde hair and blue eyes.
- Cole St. Clair was bitten and infected along with two others, his friend and band mate Victor being one of them, whilst touring for NARKOTIKA in Canada by Beck. He was introduced in Linger. After becoming a wolf be quit the band. He was known to have led a troubled life, experimenting with drugs whilst on tour. He was almost killed in Forever by Shelby, but survived. He is described as having brown hair and green eyes.
- Geoffrey Beck known as Beck to those closest to him. He was bitten by Paul when he was suicidal. He is Sam's adoptive father. He practised as lawyer during the summer months, when he was human, he bought a house for the pack from the money he earned. His wife died of breast cancer after Beck had shifted, it is known that he mourned for her on the day she died every year after her death. He is the leader of the pack when they are humans. Beck shifted into a wolf permanently, leaving Sam and Cole with the responsibility of taking care of the pack. He was killed in Forever by Isabel's father during the hunt. A little known fact is that, in the first draft of the novel, Beck's was named Grant. His name was changed because Grant was too similar to Grace. [5]
- Jack Culpeper was Isabel's brother and also a werewolf. He was bitten after he taunted the pack with a BB gun, and was so badly hurt he was pronounced dead, he later healed himself and ran from the morgue. He died in Shiver when Grace injected him with bacterial meningitis in an attempt to stop him shifting. He was described as being a violent individual, even before he was bitten.
- Rachel is one of Grace's best friends. She is described as being hyperactive and as being the glue that held the group, Grace, Rachel and Olivia, together. She was told about the wolves by both Sam and Grace in Forever.
- Olivia Marx is also one of Grace's best friends. She was, along with Grace, fascinated by the wolves in Mercy Falls. She is bitten by Jack Culpepper in Shiver. She had the choice to be injected with meningitis, but decided she would rather be a wolf than take the risk. She was murdered by Shelby in Forever. Her brother, John Marx, found her death hard to come to terms with and blamed Sam for her death.
- Victor Baranov is Cole's band mate in NARKOTIKA. He had a sister, whom Cole dated and cheated on multiple times with female fans. He was bitten, because Cole did not want to go alone, in Canada whilst on tour. He died in Linger and was buried by Cole, Sam and Grace.
- Shelby is a troubled werewolf who was taken in by the pack after Ulrik found and took her from a place that was never named, but it is assumed she was sexually abused there. Thoughout the series, Sam states that what Shelby wanted most was for Sam to take over from Paul as alpha, when she would then be his mate. She attempts to kill Grace in Shiver to achieve this goal of hers, she fails when Sam steps in. In Forever she kills Olivia. She is killed by Cole during the final scenes in Forever. She is said to have white-blonde hair.
- Ulrik is a werewolf. He is said to be from Germany, and had kept his accent even after all the years he spent in America. He taught Sam how to bake bread, and he is where Sam got his love for german poety, especially of the poet Rilke.
- Paul is a werewolf and is the leader, alpha male, when the pack is in its wolf form. He was the one who got Sam interested in guitar.
- Officer Koenig is a police officer who was introduced in Shiver. He had small parts in the first two books, but got a larger part when he was told about the wolves by Sam in Forever. He gave a family owned peninsula to the pack, when he heard about how Tom Culpeper planned to hunt the wolves, as a way to save the pack.
- Lewis Brisbane is Grace's father. He joined Isabel's father in the first wolf hunt in Shiver, after Jack 'died', which led to Grace falling out with him, as she believed he might have been the one to shoot Sam. As parents, Lewis and Amy, were described by Grace as choosing when they wanted to be parents and when they wanted to be room-mates.
- Amy Brisbane is Grace's mother. Both her parents were described as giving Grace a lot of space when she was growing up, making her the independent person she is, so much so that they did not notice when Sam stayed in Grace's room at night. When Grace left, her mother got a kitten to help with the loss, showing how little Grace mattered.
Film adaptation
Unique Features, in association with Warner Bros., optioned Shiver's film rights shortly after Shiver was released. A screenplay has been written by Nick Pustay[6] but casting has not yet begun.[7] On 3 March 2010, Pustay tweeted "To all my new SHIVER followers: Happy to tell you the SHIVER movie has taken a BIG step forward recently. That's all I can say for now..." On March 13, IMDB updated its Shiver page by saying that two new producers, Leah Holzer and Mark Kaufman, had joined Bob Shaye and Michael Lynne to help produce the project.
Recognition
Shiver
- Debuted at #9 on the New York Times best seller list
- Indies Choice Book Award Finalist
- ALA Best Books for Young Adults
- ALA Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers
- Amazon Top Ten Books for Teens
- Publishers Weekly Best Books of 2009
- Border's Original Voices Pick & Finalist
- Barnes & Noble 2009 Top Twenty Books for Teens
- CBC Children's Choice Awards Finalist
- 2010 SIBA Book Award, Finalist
- Junior Library Guild Selection
- Colorado Blue Spruce Young Adult Nominee
- Glamour's Best Book to Curl Up With
- VOYA's Perfect Ten, 2009
- Silver Inky Award Winner
[8]
Linger
- Debuted at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list
- USA Today Bestseller
- Wall Street Journal Bestseller
- ABA Bestseller
- Los Angeles Times Bestseller
- Junior Library Guild Selection Junior Library Guild-2010 Summer Jr./Sr. High
[9]
Forever
- Debuted at #4 on the New York Times Bestseller Series List
- Debuted at #1 on the UK Children’s Top 500 Books
- USA Today Bestseller
[10]
References
External links