The Wilderwomen is a 2022 contemporary fantasy novel by Ruth Emmie Lang. Evoking classic tales of soul-searching American road trips, the story focuses on two half sisters, Finn and Zadie Wilder, as they drive off from their homes in Texas in search of their mother who has been missing for the past half-decade. The twist on the formula, however, is that both women have unique psychic abilities.

We know from the beginning of the story that Zadie and Finn have these powers. The two were forced to grow up without an explanation for these abilities and they just believed they were special. Both hide them from the public, and Zadie in particular has spent years suppressing her precognition even from herself. As the sisters reunite for Finn’s high school graduation after five years of increasing estrangement, old wounds come to a head. Finn insists on going, with or without her older sister, to find out what happened to their mother Nora. 

The great mystery of the plot concerns why exactly their mother left all those years ago. On the surface level, the Wilder sisters’ abilities make for obvious advantages in searching across the country for traces of someone. Even so, their abilities are handled with the proper thematic weight and I was struck by how Lang was able to incorporate the them into a storytelling device for their shared history. Zadie’s ability to see the future contributes to her own anxiety regarding where her life and the life of her unborn child is headed, all while living in denial about her lack of answers from her mother. Meanwhile, Finn’s ability allows her to see the past, contributing both to her overwhelming desire for answers as well as her reckless abandon for the consequences of her actions that ties back to one of the first details we learn about her. To an extent, one of them is future-blind and the other is past-blind. This struggle between the sisters echoes through the entire novel, framing the central conflict as the fallout of misunderstandings and withheld secrets. 

The sisters have been left with no shortage of emotional baggage to sort through. Zadie and Finn both exhibit symptoms of trauma due to parental neglect, occurring both before and after Nora’s disappearance, and both sisters found ways to compartmentalize the pain. Set against the changing environs of the American West, The Wilderwomen is more of a story about healing forgiveness than it is about superpowered women. Accordingly, the sisters learn much about themselves and their mother in the process of their journey. 

Lang’s writing powerfully captured the appeal of the road trip novel, using the shifting setting and characters at hand to move the plot forward. With each stop the sisters made, I was left wishing I could spend more time with the colorful individuals they came across. But as the book came to a close, I felt like that was part of the point Lang was making; we’re all shaped by the places we go and the people we meet, but sometimes we just have to move on and find where we truly need to go.

The Wilderwomen is a story about following your intuition, even if it takes you clear across the country. Lang tells the reader that it is never worth sitting in stagnation in your current situation if you feel the pull to move on. Perhaps abandoning your daughters and ghosting your entire life may not be the most sympathetic vehicle for this message, but I’ll simply say that I, along with the Wilder sisters, came to forgive their mother for her actions.

What I found slightly unbelievable, however, was how easily the girls found other people with paranormal powers. Their two major stops along their road trip were populated by others with psychic abilities. The powers of the people they met also were used to advance the plot along, making them more important than mere side characters. I formed plausible theories as to why they met so many other superpowered individuals, but the book unfortunately doesn’t tackle that question. Perhaps not everything has to be explained, but at the same time it was odd that on their journey they met more people with powers than without.

Though some of the people the girls come across are a little too conveniently placed, that didn’t detract from the enjoyment I had in getting to meet them. Lang’s novel doesn’t overstay its welcome and focuses consistently on driving the plot and its characters’ relationships forward at all times. As part of their respective sixth senses, the two Wilder girls are constantly finding themselves drawn forward, often out of their control, toward wherever they should be. They often know that they are lost, and Zadie in particular is forced to grow, let go, and follow her intuition. The Wilderwomen delights in the many ways a journey can transform characters, all the while easily finding the right occasions to stop and allow the reader to breathe, whether that be under the stars at an Arizona campground or fly-fishing in an Oregon forest.