Before Britain became the United Kingdom, there were wolves. By all accounts, there were once a tremendous number of them: great packs of wolves feasting on livestock and the occasional traveller. Through a combination of bounty-hunting, trapping and deforestation, wolves became extinct in England sometime during the reign of Henry the VII (1485-1509). In Scotland, the last wolf was reportedly killed in 1680, 27 years before the founding of the UK. In The Wolf Border, Sarah Hall's weather-haunted fifth novel set in an alternative present-day England, an expectant mother is tasked with overseeing the reintroduction of the Grey Wolf at the very moment that the UK ceases to exist.
As far as alternative histories go, this is a subtle one – Scottish independence isn’t exactly Hitler invading Britain. Hall, who finished the novel before Scotland’s No vote last September, uses secession as a backdrop against which she explores the nature of independence.
Twice nominated for the Booker, Hall is among the finest writers of her generation. She was born in Cumbria, the setting for The Wolf Border, and it shows. "Wolf border" is the translation of the Finish word susiraja, which Hall calls "the boundary between the capital region and the rest of the country", suggesting that "everything outside the border is wilderness". Hall is a poet of those outer regions.
In fact, you might be forgiven for thinking that the novel's main character is the land itself, and that the weather, "that most English of subjects", is the plot. Oftentimes, returning to a novel means returning to a story, to characters, but picking up The Wolf Border always felt like returning to an inhabited environment: Hall's evocation of the natural world is that good. And whenever the wolves stalk the page, their alien intelligence delivers an uncanny jolt.
The Wolf Border's human protagonist, Rachel Caine, is herself something of a lone wolf: mildly estranged from her family and her British homeland, she lives at the Chief Joseph reservation in the United States, monitoring wolves. She is content, in her late 30s, attached only to her work. Enter the inscrutable Thomas Pennington, the 11th Earl of Annerdale, who wants to turn a great portion of this huge Cumbrian estate into a reservation for the reintroduction of the Grey Wolf into the English countryside. He wants Rachel to help him realise this dream. "The prerogative of wealth and wilful eccentricity," it is an offer she initially refuses, until an unplanned pregnancy brings her home.
Rachel quickly becomes embroiled in the Cumbrian politics and practical intricacies of reintroducing wolves. Once we're introduced to the Jurassic Park-like foolproof computerised gate keeping the wolves from the outside world, you know there's going to be trouble. The threat of the wolves escaping looms over everything. In the meantime, Rachel becomes romantically involved with the local veterinarian and begins to reconcile with her half-brother, Laurence, whose troubles bring them together in unexpected ways. The burgeoning and nuanced familial love between a sister and brother essentially meeting each other for the first time is deeply affecting.
The Wolf Border is least successful when at its most conventional. Hall half-heartedly sets up a mystery within the Earl's family, for example, and then half-heartedly solves it. It feels as if both author and character shrug this plot off. It's almost unseemly, as if belonging to another book entirely.
In fact, much of the plot begins to pale beside the internal drama of Rachel's pregnancy, and the birth of her son. The Wolf Border ranks among the finest meditations on motherhood that I have ever read. Here is where Hall's themes of nature and freedom find their most potent outlet. Rachel describes and observes her own changing body and temperament as she would the wolves in her care or the seasons outside her cottage. She experiences love on a magnitude that both terrifies her and makes her whole. "To be so out of control emotionally, to have so much and so little control over another living thing." She is new in her own skin, intoxicatingly animal in a way that she can do little to combat. What is true independence in the face of such nature? It must be found within it. She finally submits.
If Hall gives us the wolf as an archetype of intuition and pure nature, then one could almost read The Wolf Border as a modern werewolf myth. It is the story of a human transforming and connecting with something terrifying, animal and true. Motherhood as the ultimate full moon.
Tod Wodicka lives in Berlin. His second novel, The Household Spirit, will be published by Jonathan Cape in June.
The Wolf Border is available on Amazon.
thereview@thenational.ae
In numbers: China in Dubai
The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000
Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000
Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent
Ten tax points to be aware of in 2026
1. Domestic VAT refund amendments: request your refund within five years
If a business does not apply for the refund on time, they lose their credit.
2. E-invoicing in the UAE
Businesses should continue preparing for the implementation of e-invoicing in the UAE, with 2026 a preparation and transition period ahead of phased mandatory adoption.
3. More tax audits
Tax authorities are increasingly using data already available across multiple filings to identify audit risks.
4. More beneficial VAT and excise tax penalty regime
Tax disputes are expected to become more frequent and more structured, with clearer administrative objection and appeal processes. The UAE has adopted a new penalty regime for VAT and excise disputes, which now mirrors the penalty regime for corporate tax.
5. Greater emphasis on statutory audit
There is a greater need for the accuracy of financial statements. The International Financial Reporting Standards standards need to be strictly adhered to and, as a result, the quality of the audits will need to increase.
6. Further transfer pricing enforcement
Transfer pricing enforcement, which refers to the practice of establishing prices for internal transactions between related entities, is expected to broaden in scope. The UAE will shortly open the possibility to negotiate advance pricing agreements, or essentially rulings for transfer pricing purposes.
7. Limited time periods for audits
Recent amendments also introduce a default five-year limitation period for tax audits and assessments, subject to specific statutory exceptions. While the standard audit and assessment period is five years, this may be extended to up to 15 years in cases involving fraud or tax evasion.
8. Pillar 2 implementation
Many multinational groups will begin to feel the practical effect of the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax (DMTT), the UAE's implementation of the OECD’s global minimum tax under Pillar 2. While the rules apply for financial years starting on or after January 1, 2025, it is 2026 that marks the transition to an operational phase.
9. Reduced compliance obligations for imported goods and services
Businesses that apply the reverse-charge mechanism for VAT purposes in the UAE may benefit from reduced compliance obligations.
10. Substance and CbC reporting focus
Tax authorities are expected to continue strengthening the enforcement of economic substance and Country-by-Country (CbC) reporting frameworks. In the UAE, these regimes are increasingly being used as risk-assessment tools, providing tax authorities with a comprehensive view of multinational groups’ global footprints and enabling them to assess whether profits are aligned with real economic activity.
Contributed by Thomas Vanhee and Hend Rashwan, Aurifer
Name: Peter Dicce
Title: Assistant dean of students and director of athletics
Favourite sport: soccer
Favourite team: Bayern Munich
Favourite player: Franz Beckenbauer
Favourite activity in Abu Dhabi: scuba diving in the Northern Emirates
MATCH INFO
What: Brazil v South Korea
When: Tonight, 5.30pm
Where: Mohamed bin Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi
Tickets: www.ticketmaster.ae
SERIE A FIXTURES
Saturday (All UAE kick-off times)
Lecce v SPAL (6pm)
Bologna v Genoa (9pm)
Atlanta v Roma (11.45pm)
Sunday
Udinese v Hellas Verona (3.30pm)
Juventus v Brescia (6pm)
Sampdoria v Fiorentina (6pm)
Sassuolo v Parma (6pm)
Cagliari v Napoli (9pm)
Lazio v Inter Milan (11.45pm)
Monday
AC Milan v Torino (11.45pm)
From Zero
Artist: Linkin Park
Label: Warner Records
Number of tracks: 11
Rating: 4/5
The burning issue
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on
Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins
Read part one: how cars came to the UAE
Safety 'top priority' for rival hyperloop company
The chief operating officer of Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, Andres de Leon, said his company's hyperloop technology is “ready” and safe.
He said the company prioritised safety throughout its development and, last year, Munich Re, one of the world's largest reinsurance companies, announced it was ready to insure their technology.
“Our levitation, propulsion, and vacuum technology have all been developed [...] over several decades and have been deployed and tested at full scale,” he said in a statement to The National.
“Only once the system has been certified and approved will it move people,” he said.
HyperloopTT has begun designing and engineering processes for its Abu Dhabi projects and hopes to break ground soon.
With no delivery date yet announced, Mr de Leon said timelines had to be considered carefully, as government approval, permits, and regulations could create necessary delays.
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
The specs: 2018 Volkswagen Teramont
Price, base / as tested Dh137,000 / Dh189,950
Engine 3.6-litre V6
Gearbox Eight-speed automatic
Power 280hp @ 6,200rpm
Torque 360Nm @ 2,750rpm
Fuel economy, combined 11.7L / 100km
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
Available: Now
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
De De Pyaar De
Produced: Luv Films, YRF Films
Directed: Akiv Ali
Cast: Ajay Devgn, Tabu, Rakul Preet Singh, Jimmy Sheirgill, Jaaved Jaffrey
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
