Essay Questions

What is the narrative premise of this historical novel?

Wolf by Wolf is a historical novel set in the years following the end of World War II. The premise is that the fascist powers known as the Axis won instead of surrendering in humiliation. This revisionist history is made possible through the backstory of the novel which posits that rather than bomb Pearl Harbor, Japan chose to assist Germany in another military endeavor. The result of this alteration to the known facts of the historical record means that the strong isolationist sentiment which actually did exist in the U.S. at the time is not transformed by a direct attack by a foreign agent on American territory. Thus, America never enters the war and signs a non-aggression pact with the Axis powers agreeing to stay out of the conflict. The result is that Germany wins the war in Europe and Japan wins the war in the Pacific because America never drops atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This sets the stage for Hitler to remain alive and in power while horrific pseudo-science experiments remain being conducted on unwilling participants.

What is "skinshifting" and how does it directly impact the plot?

Those experiments conducted by Nazi scientists include one which allow the protagonist of the story to do something remarkable. The protagonist is a young Jewish woman named Yael who has undergone these tortuous experiments. The result is that she is literally able to manipulate her physical features to take on the nearly perfect duplicate appearance of other females. This power is referred to as skinshifting and Yael is referred to as a skinshifter. Due to this unique ability, Yael is recruited to take on the appearance of a celebrity motorcycle racer named Adele Wolfe in order to take part in a plot to publicly assassinate Adolf Hitler in front of millions on live television.

Why is a race known as the Axis Tour essential to the plot to kill Hitler?

Adele Wolfe is a celebrity in the part of the world ruled by fascist powers because of her bike racing skills. The Axis Tour is one of the most useful propaganda schemes by those countries to sell the idea of their superiority over the rest of the world while also using a long-term sporting event to distract citizens from recognizing the failures of the political policies of their leaders. The Axis Tour is a motorcycle race that stretches from Europe to Asia across the lands under the dominion of the fascist superpowers. The plot to assassinate Hitler is dependent upon it taking place in public so that millions within the resistance across the world will see it and recognize that rebellion against the Axis is not futile. The Axis Tour is integral to this part of the plot because after surviving forty-nine assassination attempts, Hitler has limited himself to appearing in public just twice a year: at the beginning and the end of the bike race.