Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance is a magical realism debut by Ruth Emmie Lang, featuring Weylyn Grey, an orphan raised by wolves with extraordinary powers. The narrative unfolds through the eyes of those who loved him, revealing stories of magic and courage as Weylyn seeks to change his own fate and connect with Mary, the woman he loves.
Orphaned and raised by wolves, Weylyn Grey is anything but ordinary, especially after he single-handedly stops a tornado on a stormy Christmas day in Oklahoma. This event marks the beginning of a series of strange occurrences that follow him from town to town, though he rarely takes credit for them. His extraordinary powers, ranging from freak storms to trees that grow overnight, often emerge at inconvenient moments, posing risks to himself and the woman he loves. Mary, who he saved from an angry wolf on her eleventh birthday, embraces the unpredictability of their relationship. As those who encounter Weylyn will attest, once he enters your life, you won't want him to leave. The narrative unfolds through the eyes of those who knew and loved him, as well as those who found him peculiar. Though his presence is fleeting, he leaves behind captivating stories—of a boy living with wolves, vanishing storms, glowing fireflies, and a peculiar house filled with spider webs. Yet, amidst these tales, there’s one story Weylyn wishes he could rewrite: his own. To do so, he must first gather the courage to approach Mary’s front door. This debut novel beautifully explores themes of adventure and love, set against a backdrop of nature and wonder.
Five years ago, Nora Wilder disappeared. The older of her two daughters, Zadie, should have seen it coming, because she can literally see things coming. But not even her psychic abilities were able to prevent their mother from vanishing one morning. Zadie's estranged younger sister, Finn, can't see into the future, but she has an uncannily good memory, so good that she remembers not only her own memories, but the echoes of memories other people have left behind. On the afternoon of her graduation party, Finn is seized by an echo more powerful than anything she's experienced before: a woman singing a song she recognizes, a song about a bird... When Finn wakes up alone in an aviary with no idea of how she got there, she realizes who the memory belongs to: Nora. Now, it's up to Finn to convince her sister that not only is their mom still out there, but that she wants to be found. Against Zadie's better judgement, she and Finn hit the highway, using Finn's echoes to retrace Nora's footsteps and uncover the answer to the question that has been haunting them for years: Why did she leave? But the more time Finn spends in their mother's past, the harder it is for her to return to the present, to return to herself. As Zadie feels her sister start to slip away, she will have to decide what lengths she is willing to go to to find their mother, knowing that if she chooses wrong, she could lose them both for good.