A Whale of the Wild

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of pregnancy loss and animal cruelty and death.

The novel’s protagonist and main narrator is a young orca whale named Vega who lives in the Salish Sea. One morning, she awakens before the rest of her family, who are weary and hungry after an unsuccessful night of searching for salmon. Vega is no longer considered a youngling in her pod, but she’s not yet strong enough to be a hunter like her mother or wise enough to be a wayfinder like her Greatmother. She isn’t sure she’ll live up to her family’s high expectations for her future, but dancing in the morning mist makes her feel better. Greatmother has a habit of saying things that seem strange to the rest of the pod. For instance, she tells her granddaughter, “Eat a little beauty every day, my Vega, my bright star […] it will give you strength” (6). Vega doesn’t understand what she means, and the words remind her of her gnawing hunger.

Greatmother assures the family that the salmon will return as they always do, and the hunt resumes.