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Feral children books | Works of fiction

Modern Fiction

Feral children are still a recurrent theme in modern fiction. Knowledge of Angels, by Jill Paton Walsh examines in depth the moral problems that feral children raise when they re-enter human societies. The newly-published novel Wild Boy, by Jill Dawson is a fictionalised account of the true story of Victor of Aveyron, and the attempts by Itard and Madame Guérin to "humanise" him.

Children of the Wolf by Jane Yolen is based on Amala and Kamala, who were found in a wolf's den in Midnapore, India in the 1920s, and brought to a local orphanage.

The Ape-Man, His Kith and Kin

An extensive collection of works of classic fiction is available online in The Ape-Man, His Kith and Kin It includes reprints of Kipling and many others, and the work has additional forwards etc by Drs Candland (Feral Children and Clever Animals) and Dodds.

Morality for Beautiful Girls

Morality for Beautiful Girls by Alexander McCall Smith, the third book in the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series of novels, features a feral child who had lived with lions. Mma Ramotswe makes a wise decision, sparing him the fate of many real-life feral children.

"Directly in front of him, holding on by a low branch, stood a naked brown baby who could just walk — as soft and as dimpled a little atom as ever came to a wolf's cave at night. He looked up into Father Wolf's face, and laughed." From Kipling: The Jungle Book.

Val / Orson

Val / Orson
Youmans, Marly
P. S. Publishing, UK, 2009
ISBN 9781906301521
 
FeralChildren.com says Inspired by the French medieval tale Valentine and Orson, this moving, insightful novella from award-winning author Marly Youmans reclaims a 500-year-old epic for contemporary readers.

Through the dazzling double-story of a stolen twin and the secrets of an ancient forest, Youmans roams also among the sweet spirits of Shakespeare's romance plays.

Consider the Lilies

Consider the Lilies
Fenlon, Carol
Impress Books, 2008-05-1
ISBN 9780955623912
 
FeralChildren.com says Homeless Jack Crabbe meets Vicky in a Liverpool squat. Why can't she talk properly and how does she have an uncanny knowledge of his dark secrets? When Vicky disappears, Jack's search for her uncovers the horrors of her early life as a confined child. Although he sets out to help her, he soon finds she has much to teach him, setting him on his own journey to self discovery and healing. Consider The Lilies is the winner of the 2007 Impress Novel Prize for New Writers.

Animal's People

Animal's People
Sinha, Indra
Simon & Schuster, 2007-03-5
ISBN 0743259203
 
FeralChildren.com says "The story is set in India, in a city loosely based on Bhopal. The central character is a teenage boy whose back is badly twisted, forcing him to go on all fours. This led to his being nicknamed 'Animal' by his cruel little playmates. He is thus not really a feral child, but is semi-wild, having lived alone in the streets for years and slept alone in the jungles that have grown up in grounds of the abandoned factory that had caused the city's problems. Animal is full of withering contempt for the sordid human world and decides that he is better off as an animal — he mocks human laws and customs — says that as an animal they don't apply to him and he will do as he wants — and he he does." © Indra Sinha

Je suis la bĂȘte

Je suis la bĂȘte
Sibran, Anne
Editions Gallimard, 2007-09-27
ISBN 9782070785520
 
FeralChildren.com says The story of a wolf-girl. The author says: "Dans Je suis la bête, j'ai voulu essayer de renverser les perspectives. Donner langue à une histoire où la compassion est pour une fois du côté de l'animal. A la place de l'homme, la bête entend cette fois l'enfant, être d'argile qui sera modelé tour à tour par l'une puis par l'autre.

Cette situation est intensément romanesque dans la mesure où il s'agit de décrire avec une précision extrême quelque chose qui n'a jamais été raconté : le monologue d'un enfant sauvage qui vit, chasse et combat dans la forêt. Quelle langue donner à un tel récit ? Quel est l'accent de la sauvagerie, ce parler particulier d'une expérience tellement impressionnante que l'on n'en pourra point douter ?

Tel a été pour moi l'un des enjeux les plus palpitants de ce livre : trouver cette scansion de fond de gorge, de fond de bois, qui remonte peu à peu jusqu'au rebord de ses lèvres. Inventer un langage qui donnera voix au fantastique, c'est-à-dire à une réalité insoupçonnable, au delà des marges, au delà de tout."

Wild Child (McSweeney's Issue 19)

McSweeney's Issue 19
Boyle, T Coraghessan
McSweeney's, 2006
McSweeney's Issue 19
ISBN 9781932416
 
FeralChildren.com says Wild Child by T Coraghessan Boyle is a novella based on the story of Victor of Aveyron.

Magic Hour

Magic Hour
Hannah, Kristin
Ballantine Books, 2006-02-28
ISBN 9780345467522
 

St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves

St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves
Russell, Karen
Knopf, 2006-09-5
ISBN 9780307263988
 
FeralChildren.com says In the collection's title story, a pack of girls raised by wolves are painstakingly reeducated by nuns.

With

With
Harington, Donald
Toby Press, 2004-03-1
ISBN 9781592640508
 
FeralChildren.com says A rather unusual book that will not appeal to everyone. Excellent writing but perhaps sometimes bizarre events. An eight-year-old girl survives on a mountain with animal companions and a ghost sort of thing. Nevertheless, such high quality writing that it's an excellent and enthralling read.

Still Life With Crows

Still Life With Crows
Preston, Douglas & Child, Lincoln
Time Warner International, 2004-07
ISBN 9780446612760
 
FeralChildren.com says In this thriller, the murders in a small Kansas town are being committed by a man who was raised in isolation in an extensive cave system, his mother (who got pregnant out of wedlock and hid him to keep him from being taken away) his only contact with the outside world.

Wild Boy

Wild Boy
Dawson, Jill
Sceptre, 2003-09-15
ISBN 9780340822968
 
FeralChildren.com says A fictionalised account of Victor of Aveyron, adding the dimension of human emotion to the true facts.

The Wolf Pit

The Wolf Pit
Youmans, Marly
Harvest Books, 2003-02-3
ISBN 9780156027144
Read an extract
 
FeralChildren.com says One of the characters finds a book about The Green Children and becomes obsessed with their mysterious story.

Shelter from the Storm

Shelter from the Storm
Mewshaw, Michael
Blue Hen, 2003
ISBN 9780425193754
 
FeralChildren.com says The central character becomes involved with an expatriate American woman trying to save a feral child who was quite possibly raised by wolves.

Wild at Heart

Wild at Heart
Gaffney, Patricia
New American Library, 2002-04-1
ISBN 9780451205988
 
FeralChildren.com says Set in Michigan. A man who had lived in the wild is befriended by a woman who can see beyond his wild appearance to the man inside.

Wildlight

Wildlight
Metzenthen, David
Penguin Australia, Australia, 2002-06
ISBN 9780141004815
 
FeralChildren.com says Dirk, found in the forest as a young child, is treated as something feral and wild by other members of the bush settlement in Victoria in 1840. At seventeen, when he finds a cache of sovereigns inside a log he is splitting, Dirk realises he has been given his independence. With the sovereigns tied around his waist, he sets out to discover what the world holds, who he is and what he wants to do with his life. Dirk travels to the frontiers of the new and strange land and comes to understand himself in the process. This is an evocative, exciting story on a broad, sweeping canvas. Peopled with vivid characters, Wildlight is set against a backdrop of burgeoning settlement in Victoria.

Wolf's Head, Wolf's Heart

Wolf's Head, Wolf's Heart
Lindskold, Jane M
Tor Books, 2002-08
ISBN 9780312874261
 

Morality for Beautiful Girls

Morality for Beautiful Girls
McCall Smith, Alexander
Polygon, 2001-05-31
ISBN 9780748662975
 
FeralChildren.com says The third in the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series, this novel includes the discovery of a feral child who lived with lions.

Through Wolf's Eyes

Through Wolf's Eyes
Lindskold, Jane
Tor Books, 2001-08
ISBN 9780312874278
 

Alien Taste

Alien Taste
Spencer, Wen
Roc, 2001-07-10
ISBN 9780451458377
 
FeralChildren.com says Living with wolves as a child gave tracker Ukiah Oregon a heightened sense of smell and taste. Or so he thought-until he crossed paths with a criminal gang known as the Pack. Now, Ukiah is about to discover just how much he has in common with the Pack: a bond of blood, brotherhood…and destiny.

Liar's moon : a long story

Liar's moon : a long story
Kimball, Philip
Henry Holt and Co, New York, 1999
ISBN 9780805061482
 
FeralChildren.com says A mythical tale of how the American West was won, featuring two children, one white and one black, who fall off the back of an overloaded wagon heading into Kansas in 1859 and are raised by coyotes

Knowledge of Angels

Knowledge of Angels
Paton Walsh, Jill
Black Swan, 1998-01
ISBN 9780552997805
Read an extract
 
FeralChildren.com says Although fiction, this book does examine in depth the moral problems that such children raise when they re-enter human societies.

Victor: A Novel Based on the Life of Victor, the Savage of Aveyron

Victor: A Novel Based on the Life of Victor, the Savage of Aveyron
Gerstein, Mordicai
Books for Young Readers, 1998-09
ISBN 9780374381424
 
FeralChildren.com says A book for children based on the story of Victor of Aveyron, although the material is for an older age range.

Intensity

Intensity
Koontz, Dean
Knopf, 1995
ISBN 0553582917
 
FeralChildren.com says A girl is kidnapped and locked in a room for a year and becomes doll-like.

Second Nature

Second Nature
Hoffman, Alice
QPD, London, 1994
ISBN 9780425146811
 
FeralChildren.com says A a feral young man is discovered living with wolves in a remote area of upper Michigan.

Fishboy: A Ghost's Story

Fishboy: A Ghost's Story
Richard, Mark
Sceptre, London, 1993
ISBN 9780385425681