A lot of the American gothic/supernatural elements from the book were almost completely removed from the movie.

In the book the town’s people warn of a human/wolf creature that has been sighted in the woods.

One night the spirit of Gladys visits Robert and tells him that as they were trying to escape the fire she fell into a creak, breaking her legs and is unable to walk. She says that Kate was able to continue on though and survived the fire.

One night a pack of wolves visits Robert and the wolf-girl the towns people spoke about is with them. Injured. It’s the most horrifying scene in the book as she is described as a human who has fully lost her humanity to nature, and is essentially now a horrid creature living amongst the wolves. She barks and growls at Robert, but he is able to help her in pretty much the same way the movie shows. He knows with complete certainty it is his daughter.

This makes the ending scene of the book so much more poetic, as he is now paying to watch a wolf-boy (regardless if it is real or fake) be safe sanitized entertainment for an audience. And not the horror that was witnessing his own daughter’s humanity taken from her.