The Fox Wife

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What to expect

An enchanting and unforgettable historical mystery from the acclaimed author of The Night Tiger

Some people think foxes go around collecting qi, or life force, but nothing could be further than the truth. We are living creatures, just like you, only usually better looking . . .

Manchuria, 1908: A young woman is found frozen in the snow.

Her death is clouded by rumours of foxes, believed to lure people into peril by transforming into beautiful women and men. Bao, a detective with a reputation for sniffing out the truth, is hired to uncover the dead woman's identity. Since childhood, Bao has been intrigued by the fox gods, yet they've remained tantalizingly out of reach. Until, perhaps, now.

Meanwhile, the family of a famous Chinese medicine shop can cure all ailments - except the curse that afflicts them. All their eldest sons die before their twenty-fourth birthdays. Now the only grandson of the family is twenty-three.

When a mysterious woman enters their household, their luck seems to change. But is their new servant a simple young woman from the north, or a fox spirit bent on her own revenge?

New York Times bestselling author Yangsze Choo brilliantly explores a world of mortals and spirits, humans and beasts, and their dazzling intersection. The Fox Wife is a stunning novel about dead bodies found in the snow, a mother seeking revenge, and old folk tales that may very well be true.

PRAISE FOR YANGSZE CHOO

'You won't be able to put this one down' Reese Witherspoon

'Captivating from the very beginning' 5* Reader Review

'An exuberant medley of magic, romance and weirdness' The Times

'Simply beautiful' 5* Reader Review

'[A] highly imaginative and a spellbinding read' Woman's Weekly

(P)2024 Macmillan Audio

Critics Review

The reader is taken on a journey from the underbelly of a Chinese town to the mountains of Japan. Among the more memorable characters along the way is a male fox spirit called Shiro. He is seductive, deadly and, like the book itself, quite irresistible to mere humans
Sunday Times
Like the foxes who populate its pages, The Fox Wife is vivid, enigmatic, and enchanting. Choo's fresh new fable conjures a world where danger and intrigue are forever entwined with sublime and sensory delights
M.L. Rio, author of IF WE WERE VILLAINS
Rich and beguiling
Daily Mail
A stunning story filled with wonder, mystery and folklore. I was utterly captivated by Yangsze Choo's exquisite prose and fascinating characters from the first page till the last. A remarkable tale, one that will stay with me
Sue Lynn Tan, author of Heart of the Sun Warrior
Witty and suspenseful
New York Times Book Review
Poetic and evocative
Good Housekeeping
Enchanting
The i
Magical, wonderous, transporting and illuminating, The Fox Wife reminds me that reading can be pure joy . . . I was captivated from the very first word of this novel until its very last. Yangsze Choo is a writer of immense talent
Nguyen Phan Que Mai, internationally best-selling author of The Mountains Sing and Dust Child
Masterfully plotted and superbly surprising, The Fox Wife will entice you into a world of magic and heartbreak, a beautiful tapestry woven from love and revenge and forgiveness. But beware: once you start, you may not be able to put it down!
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, author of INDEPENDENCE and THE LAST QUEEN
The Fox Wife is a rich tangle of myth, mystery, and history, delivered with Choo's inimitable grace and precision. It's not a book so much as a beguilement; it enchanted me entirely
Alix E. Harrow, New York Times bestselling author of STARLING HOUSE
Choo's writing is lush and the slow revelations of complicated relationships and reunions hum with tension. This is a treat
Publishers Weekly
Snow's difficulties as both a fox and a young woman in a man's world are clearly drawn, as is the pathos of Bao's situation as a gentle soul who's always been in search of something or someone. An intriguing vulpine mystery worth the suspension of disbelief
Kirkus
A beguiling tale of a bygone era
Straits Times
Stunning . . . Choo's exquisite prose is perfectly matched to an enthralling story that is filled with magic, beauty, cruelty, and the slow unwinding of a double-layered mystery, but also comes star-dusted with an unexpected exuberance and flashes of dark humour
Lancashire Evening Post
With deftness of pen and a keen eye for evocative detail, Choo crafts an intoxicating tale
Hot Press
Like all the best supernatural stories, The Fox Wife reveals something profound about humanity: the ease with which we get drawn into chasing what we think we want, rather than what will actually nourish us. And the cruelty with which the powerful treat those under their power
The Washington Post
Utterly captivating . . . . So lively and sharp-edged
Oprah Daily
A delicate and suspenseful detective tale, it's perfect to savor on a wintry weekend
Los Angeles Times
[An] enchanting tale of murder, revenge, and the power of a mother's love
Time
Choo weaves yet another enthralling tale and, this time, it's a glimpse of the immortal lives of foxes. Her prose is lush as ever and Snow is a captivating lens of emotions and magic
Roselle Lim
The voices are compelling; the secrets are rich . . . Layers of meaning accrue, bringing together the past and the present, mythology and personal ambition, actions and reactions, control and fate, into a fascinating tale of foxes, foes and friends
BookPage
Part love story, part adventure, and part mystery, The Fox Wife is an enjoyable excursion into the beliefs and life in the China of 120 years ago
The New York Journal of Books

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