One harrowing summer in the early 90s changes everything for three adolescent girls as they search for a missing mother among the rivers and woods of their New Hampshire town.
Thirteen-year-old Maggie lives in a trailer on the edge of a rural New Hampshire town, where her brother barely speaks, her father works double shifts at the gun factory, and her mother disappeared without a trace. She finds comfort in the warmth of her best friend Sarah’s seemingly perfect family—until a classmate’s mother goes missing, and the girls are drawn to Erin, the daughter left behind.
Compelled by a need to understand what makes mothers vanish, Maggie convinces the others to search for answers in the woods and abandoned backroads. But a charged encounter with older boys shifts their path and challenges everything they thought they knew about themselves—and each other.
Set in the early 1990s, When We Were Feral is a haunting coming-of-age story about friendship, longing, and the dangerous terrain between girlhood and adulthood. In a world where mothers vanish and truths stay buried, the girls begin to realize the wilderness they fear most isn’t outside—it’s within.
RELEASE DATE: JUNE 9, 2026
AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER NOW!
“One summer can change everything in Shasta Grant’s thrilling debut. WHEN WE WERE FERAL captures the raw, untamed edges of girlhood with mesmerizing prose that illuminates the inner workings of grief, trauma, and the precariousness of coming of age. Haunting, propulsive, and brilliantly observed, this unforgettable novel is chock full of emotional suspense and depth—a stunning exploration of friendship, loss, mothers and daughters, and the ferocity that lies dormant in us all. I want everyone to read this book.”
ADVANCE PRAISE
“WHEN WE WERE FERAL is a searing, spellbinding coming-of-age saga. It’s deeply moving and beautifully unsettling. Girlhood and friendship hold hands here, twisting fingertips that alternately caress and bruise. Through it all, the watery shape of the absent mother hovers over the novel, a haunting reflection rippling across the surface of a lake. Shasta Grant is a terrific writer. I tore through this book. ”
“WHEN WE WERE FERAL is a wildly astute story of thirteen-year-old girls, in a lakeside town in New England, who crash through their world with boldness, betrayals, and not much help. As we watch two motherless girls come into their own strategies of survival, the telling is both razor-sharp and sublimely wise. A rare and terrific novel.”
“You will adore Maggie. As she and two unlikely friends set forth to make sense of the small town’s haunting tragedies, chasing clues and crushes from New England’s lake shore to its twisted woods, you’ll cheer for them, fear for them, and feel every ache of their journey. Shasta Grant has penned a gut-wrenchingly honest portrayal of girlhood, expertly navigating class, sex, religion and wonderment. WHEN WE WERE FERAL explores the myriad ways girls search for strength in a world that tries to tame them—it’s all about finding fire, claiming truth, and becoming wildly and unapologetically yourself. I can’t wait for you all to meet her!””