Book excerpt: Coyote is three years old when she leaves her family in Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario and embarks on a 500-mile odyssey eastward in search of a territory of her own and a mate to share it with. Journeying by night through the dead of winter, she endures extreme cold, hunger, and a harrowing crossing of the St. Lawrence River in Montreal before her cries of loneliness are finally answered in the wilds of Maine. The mate she finds must gnaw off a paw to escape a trap. The first coyotes in the northern U.S., they raise pups (losing several), experience summer plenty, winter hardship, playfulness, and unmistakable love and grief. Blending science and imagination with magical results, this story tells how coyotes may have populated a land desperately in need of a keystone predator, and no one who reads it will doubt the value of their ecological role. Told through the eyes of a coyote, this is a riveting story with mythic dimensions. A work of creative nonfiction that adheres to the highest standards of wildlife biology. With deep insights into wild canine behavior, penetrates the veil of “otherness” that separates us from the animals with whom we share the planet. An appendix explores the history and current status of coyotes in North America. Native Americans considered them tricksters, messengers, and companions. Given the disappearance of wolves, they are even more critical to ecosystem health today. The author explains how, without coyotes, prey species are weakened by disease and parasites. Geri Vistein speaks extensively about coyote-human interactions to a variety of audiences. She is a nationally recognized expert on the topic and maintains the website CoyoteLivesInMaine.com. A QR code in the book takes readers to a hauntingly beautiful recording of coyote song.