Lone Wolf Read online

  "Picoult, a master of the domestic landscape."-- People

  A life hanging in the balance . . . a family torn apart. The #1 internationally bestselling author Jodi Picoult tells an unforgettable story about family secrets, love, and letting go.

  In the wild, when a wolf knows its time is over, when it knows it is of no more use to its pack, it may sometimes choose to slip away. Dying apart from its family, it stays proud and true to its nature. Humans aren't so lucky.

  Luke Warren has spent his life researching wolves. He has written about them, studied their habits intensively, and even lived with them for extended periods of time. In many ways, Luke understands wolf dynamics better than those of his own family. His wife, Georgie, has left him, finally giving up on their lonely marriage. His son, Edward, twenty-four, fled six years ago, leaving behind a shattered relationship with his father. Edward understands that some things cannot be fixed, though memories of his domineering father still inflict pain. Then comes a frantic phone call: Luke has been gravely injured in a car accident with Edward's younger sister, Cara.

  Suddenly everything changes: Edward must return home to face the father he walked out on at age eighteen. He and Cara have to decide their father's fate together. Though there's no easy answer, questions abound: What secrets have Edward and his sister kept from each other? What hidden motives inform their need to let their father die . . . or to try to keep him alive? What would Luke himself want? How can any family member make such a decision in the face of guilt, pain, or both? And most importantly, to what extent have they all forgotten what a wolf never forgets: that each member of a pack needs the others, and that sometimes survival means sacrifice?

  Another tour de force by Picoult, Lone Wolf brilliantly describes the nature of a family: the love, protection, and strength it can offer--and the price we might have to pay for those gifts. What happens when the hope that should sustain a family is the very thing tearing it apart?

  "Picoult writes with unassuming brilliance."

  --Stephen King

  "Picoult breathes humanity into somber issues and delivers unexpected healing and hope."

  --The Providence Journal

  JODI PICOULT is the author of nineteen novels, including the #1 New York Times bestsellers Sing You Home, House Rules, Handle with Care, Change of Heart, Nineteen Minutes, and My Sister's Keeper. She lives in New Hampshire with her husband and three children. Visit her website at www.jodipicoult.com.

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  JACKET DESIGN BY JEANNE M. LEE

  JACKET PHOTOGRAPH (c) MARK OWEN/ARCANGEL IMAGES

  AUTHOR PHOTOGRAPH BY ADAM BOUSKA

  PRINTED IN THE U.S.A. COPYRIGHT (c) 2012 SIMON & SCHUSTER

  ALSO BY JODI PICOULT

  Sing You Home

  House Rules

  Handle with Care

  Change of Heart

  Nineteen Minutes

  The Tenth Circle

  Vanishing Acts

  My Sister's Keeper

  Second Glance

  Perfect Match

  Salem Falls

  Plain Truth

  Keeping Faith

  The Pact

  Mercy

  Picture Perfect

  Harvesting the Heart

  Songs of the Humpback Whale

  AND FOR THE STAGE

  Over the Moon: An Original Musical for Teens

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  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright (c) 2012 by Jodi Picoult

  The lines from THE BLIND ASSASSIN by Margaret Atwood, copyright (c) 2000 by O. W. Toad, Ltd. Used by permission of Doubleday, a division of Random House, Inc.

  All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Atria Books Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.

  First Emily Bestler Books/Atria Books hardcover edition February 2012

  EMILY BESTLER BOOKS / ATRIA BOOKS and colophons are trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

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  Designed by Jaime Putorti

  Illustrations by John Norton Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Picoult, Jodi, 1966—

  Lone wolf : a novel / by Jodi Picoult. -- 1st Atria Books hardcover ed.

  p. cm.

  1. Accident victims--Fiction. 2. Terminal care--Decision making--Fiction.

  3. Parent and adult child--Fiction. 4. Brothers and sisters--Fiction. I. Title.

  PS3566.I372L66 2012

  813'.54--dc23

  2011039017

  ISBN 978-1-4391-0274-9

  ISBN 978-1-4391-4969-0 (ebook)

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  Contents

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  PROLOGUE

  LUKE

  PART ONE

  CARA

  LUKE

  GEORGIE

  LUKE

  EDWARD

  LUKE

  CARA

  LUKE

  EDWARD

  LUKE

  GEORGIE

  EDWARD

  EDWARD

  LUKE

  CARA

  LUKE

  GEORGIE

  LUKE

  EDWARD

  LUKE

  CARA

  LUKE

  EDWARD

  PART TWO

  CARA

  LUKE

  GEORGIE

  LUKE

  EDWARD

  LUKE

  CARA

  LUKE

  EDWARD

  LUKE

  CARA

  LUKE

  JOE

  LUKE

  GEORGIE

  LUKE

  LUKE

  CARA

  LUKE

  JOE

  LUKE

  EDWARD

  LUKE

  GEORGIE

  LUKE

  CARA

  LUKE

  JOE

  LUKE

  CARA

  LUKE

  EDWARD

  LUKE

  HELEN

  LUKE

  CARA

  LUKE

  EDWARD

  LUKE

  CARA

  LUKE

  EPILOGUE

  BARNEY

  ABOUT EMILY BESTLER BOOKS

  ABOUT ATRIA

  ABOUT WASHINGTON SQUARE PRESS

  ASK ATRIA

  AUTHOR'S NOTE

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  I'm fortunate to be surrounded by people who make me look much smarter than I am, all of whom contributed to the research for this book. In the medical field, I am indebted to Dr. James Bernat, who spent hours with me discussing potential traumatic brain injuries and