Ingrid and the Wolf

Lisa Arsenault is a high-school English teacher who is involved in
several ministry campaigns to increase literacy.

Eleven-year-old Ingrid and her Hungarian-born parents live in poor
circumstances in Parkdale, Toronto. Ingrid’s father is actually the
son of a countess, but his mother never accepted his choice of wife and
the young couple left their homeland.

Ingrid, now in Grade 6, receives an airplane ticket to Hungary from her
grandmother, who wants to meet her and determine if she is “noble.”
After a series of tests, Ingrid does indeed prove her nobility. More
importantly, she effects a reconciliation between her grandmother and
her parents, and contributes to the softening of her grandmother’s
personality. She also acquires a lifelong friend in the wolf that she
frees from enchanted captivity in a labyrinth.

Magic features extensively in this novel. A book writes itself and
turns to salt, events happen in the traditional enchanted threes
formation, objects appear out of nowhere and disappear as mysteriously,
there are talking animals—the whole effect is reminiscent of Alice in
Wonderland. The novel is peopled with bizarre characters, including an
elderly retainer who must be hit on the back before he can speak, and
incongruous objects, such as a book as tall as Ingrid that is actually a
short story and an encyclopedia the size of a thumb. There is a dark
side, an edge, in keeping with many eastern European folk tales; wolves
do eat people, parents can be selfish and cruel.

Although there is some evocative descriptive writing and character
development, particularly with respect to the grandmother, the plot is
rather weak and too dependent on magic to hang together. Plot devices,
heavily reliant on fantasy, introduced early in the story are often not
brought to logical—or indeed any—fruition. In a similar vein, the
story seems to lose momentum and peter out; a satisfying ending is
missing. Not a first-choice purchase.