Most people will never know how far they will go to survive. But in Isabella Falconeri’s disturbing but masterfully written new novella, In the Mountain’s Shadow, the lines that can and will be crossed are explored as she tells the tale of Park, a grandmother who self-exiles to save the family she loves.

Set in an indeterminate dystopic time and place, where starvation is killing the population, Park is thought to be too old to be of use and too feeble to last long. As she heads out on her own, she proves neither is true. Stumbling onto an abandoned cabin, Park teaches herself to forage for food with the help of the writings of the cabin’s former occupant, constantly testing herself and finding a resilience previously untapped.

Dangers remain, though, from nature and man – often surfacing just as she begins to relax. But Park learns what must be done to dispatch them. “She had been told once that survival and death were choices … A person allowed themselves to die. Or they convinced themselves to survive,” Falconeri writes of Park, a woman of nearly mythical resolve.

Taken on its surface, this is a fantastical story of an aging woman who builds a reclusive life for herself in the wild. As an allegory, it’s about finding inner strength and perseverance. It’s not a story for the faint of heart, as terrible things happen to Park. Yet Falconeri’s narrative transcends a mere litany of the evil of humans pushed to the brink, and readers will be captivated with the protagonist.

Park befriends a wolf who becomes her watcher, and a younger woman on the run. In both instances, co-existence is found in mutual need. Falconeri doesn’t shy away from taboos, but omits the actual details, leaving that to the reader’s imagination. Her words are spare, precisely chosen, even lyrical.

In the Mountain’s Shadow is a page-turner, a stark yet fascinating character study that readers won’t want to miss.