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Reynard the Fox
- Author
- Anne Louise Avery
- Narrator
- Joseph Edward Degnan
- Publisher
- The Audio Agency Ltd
- Publish Date
- 12 November 2025
- Run Time
- 14 hours 1 minute
- Format
- Audiobook
What to expect
He has been summoned to the court of King Noble the Lion, charged with all manner of crimes and misdemeanours. How will he pit his wits against his accusers – greedy Bruin the Bear, pretentious Courtoys the Hound, dark and dangerous Isengrim the Wolf – to escape the gallows?
Reynard was once the most popular and beloved character in European folklore, as familiar as Robin Hood, King Arthur, or Cinderella. His character spoke eloquently for the unvoiced and disenfranchised, but also amused and delighted the elite, capturing hearts and minds across borders and societal classes for centuries.
Based on William Caxton’s bestselling 1481 English translation of the Middle Dutch, but expanded with new interpretations, innovative language and characterisation, this edition is an imaginative retelling of the Reynard story. With its themes of protest, resistance, and duplicity fronted by a personable, anti-heroic Fox making his way in a dangerous and cruel world, this gripping tale is as relevant and controversial today as it was in the fifteenth century.
Published in print by Bodleian Library Publishing.
Critics Review
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“Anne Louise Avery presents the full, complicated glory of the silver-tongued predator and his milieu in Reynard the Fox, a tour de force of storytelling and a beautiful object in itself. A writer and art historian, Ms. Avery deploys a scholar’s fluency with medieval language, literature and religion and a raconteur’s ease with anecdote.”
The Wall Street Journal
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"Game of Thrones meets The Wind in the Willows in Avery's retelling of Reynard the Fox. Riffing on William Caxton's 1481 English translation of a popular Dutch beast epic, this is set in an intricate medieval world reminiscent of Brian Jacques's Redwall series, except bawdy and violent. . . . By cleaving close to Caxton's medieval text, the challenge of Avery's language is equaled by the reward of world-building."
School Library Journal
User Reviews
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Details
- Author
- Anne Louise Avery
- Narrator
- Joseph Edward Degnan
- Duration
- 14 hours 1 minute
- Release Date
- 12 November 2025
- ISBN
- 9781916822269
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- The Audio Agency Ltd
- Genre
- Children’s / Teenage fiction: Traditional stories
Synopsis
Reynard – a subversive, dashing, anarchic, aristocratic, witty fox from the watery lowlands of medieval East Flanders – is in trouble. He has been summoned to the court of King Noble the Lion, charged with all manner of crimes and misdemeanours. How will he pit his wits against his accusers – greedy Bruin the Bear, pretentious Courtoys the Hound, dark and dangerous Isengrim the Wolf – to escape the gallows? Reynard was once the most popular and beloved character in European folklore, as familiar as Robin Hood, King Arthur, or Cinderella. His character spoke eloquently for the unvoiced and disenfranchised, but also amused and delighted the elite, capturing hearts and minds across borders and societal classes for centuries. Based on William Caxton’s bestselling 1481 English translation of the Middle Dutch, but expanded with new interpretations, innovative language and characterisation, this edition is an imaginative retelling of the Reynard story. With its themes of protest, resistance, and duplicity fronted by a personable, anti-heroic Fox making his way in a dangerous and cruel world, this gripping tale is as relevant and controversial today as it was in the fifteenth century. Published in print by Bodleian Library Publishing.
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