• Reading age: 13 to 16

The Spirit of the Wolf is Book Two in the Zhoh series. It is the epic story of prehistoric survival at the end of the Ice Age as the great herds of steppe horses, bison, and mammoths are disappearing. In Book One, Zhoh: The Clan of the Wolf, Kazan and Naali lose their families to a series of disasters and must survive a brutal winter alone on the tundra-steppe. With the help of Zhoh, their semi-tame wolf, Naali's remarkable dream-travel powers, and Kazan's growing skills as a hunter, they defeat Barik, Naali's treacherous brother, and One-Eye, a murdurous bushman.

In Book Two, Zhoh: The Spirit of the Wolf, Naali and Kazan are reunited with Kazan's mother, Assan, and his sister, So'tsal. Now Wolf Band, with the help of Zhoh, must continue their quest to find other humans or perish. As Naali becomes a woman, her growing spirit powers threaten to destory her and put the band's survival at risk. Wolf Band must defeat a gigantic short-faced bear and face One-Eye and the Skin Stealers, a band of dangerous men who have murdered Naali's relatives and kidnapped Jidii, her young cousin. In pursuit of the Skin Stealers is Naali's uncle, Kural, a young hunter who has no hope of freeing Jidii alone. Woven through this human saga is the story of Grey-Eye, Zhoh's wolf mother, and her pack, who play a key role in Wolf Band's struggles.

For 20 years, Robert (Bob) Hayes was the Yukon's wolf biologist. During those years, he studied hundreds of radio-collared wolves and conducted several long-term wolf-prey studies. He is considered a world expert on moose and caribou predation by wolves and the effects of wolf control efforts on wolves and their prey.

Bob's long-term research has led him to believe widespread aerial control of wolves is biologically wrong and that non-lethal methods of reducing predation is the future of wolf management.

This led him to spend years writing his first book for public consumption, Wolves of the Yukon, a book which he self-published and has been a success in both English and German editions.

Bob served as a Canadian member of the IUCN Wolf Specialist group for nearly a decade. He and his wife, Caroline, share their time between Whitehorse and Smithers, British Columbia. Bob is a Simon Fraser University Alumni.

Bob Hayes' profile page

Enter the northern Yukon, 14,000 years ago, the world of Zhoh: The Spirit of the Wolf. You don't have to tax your imagination. The author Hayes, a biologist and keen observer, recreates the era and the landscape for you. Bison, mammoths, ravens, lion, wolves (zhoh), short-faced bears...and, of course, humans populate this stunningly harsh environment. Conflicts and connections become real as both animals and humans search for survival, food, shelter, safety and family. This historical fiction recreates in realistic detail this world, where the thread of life is often short and slender and gives readers vital insights into a fascinating period into the continuum of life. - Joyce Sward, longtime teacher, lover of stories, and organizer for 30 years of annual Yukon Writers' Festival and Yukon Young Authors' Conference.