The Hounding

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What to expect

Brought to you by Penguin.

The season of strangeness has begun . . .

Many stories are told about the five Mansfield sisters. They are haughty, thinking themselves better than their neighbours in the picturesque village of Little Nettlebed. They have taken the death of their grandmother hard. They are liars, troublemakers, untamed and dangerous... Accounts of their behaviour differ, but the villagers all agree that the girls are odd.

One long summer, a heatwave descends. Bloated sea creatures wash up along the parched riverbed, animals grow frenzied, ravens gather on the roofs of those about to die. As the stifling heat grips the village, so does a strange rumour: the Mansfield sisters have been seen transforming into a pack of dogs.

With the witch trials only a recent memory, hysteria sets in. Slowly but surely, the villagers become convinced that something strange is taking root in Little Nettlebed. And when a bark finally leads to a bite, the sisters will be the ones to pay for it.

Visceral and richly atmospheric, The Hounding plunges its reader into 18th century Oxfordshire, where the power of a man’s word is absolute, and it is safer to be a wild animal than an unconventional young woman

© Xenobe Purvis 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025

Critics Review

Haunting and beguiling, this fever dream of a novel draws you in and colours your mind all shades of doubt and suspicion.
Stacey Halls, author of THE FAMILIARS
Xenobe Purvis has done something masterful here. The Hounding is a novel of rare grace and skill, exquisitely wrought and simmering with feral violence. This book is both lyrical and muscular; to read it is to submit to a current that every now and again pulls you under and leaves you gasping. I can't wait to devour everything she writes
Rowe Irvin, author of LIFE CYCLE OF A MOTH
Seamlessly crafted, The Hounding is an unflinchingly strange and savage novel - a rare and twisted pleasure to read. Xenobe Purvis writes about the female experience with an unsettling and startling honesty. This is an unmissable must-read for every girl who has ever been made to feel strange. In a single word, The Hounding is breathtaking.
Lucy Rose, author of THE LAMB
A taut, tense tale, impeccably told
Financial Times
A haunting, dark and visceral story . . . chilling.
Flora Carr, author of THE TOWER
Purvis writes in spring-water clear and often disarmingly lovely prose . . . prompts thoughts of both The Crucible and The Virgin Suicides . . . a reading experience more akin to a lucid dream . . . Purvis is an exquisitely accomplished wordsmith. I'm greedy to learn what she writes next.
Daily Telegraph
Fear, paranoia and lust drive this feminist fable that channels Bronte-ana and leaves eerie uncertainty in its wake
Daily Mail
Haunting and melancholy and bittersweet and just the most beautiful, evocative prose. For fans of Jeffrey Eugenides, Julia Armfield and Sophie Mackintosh.
Otegha Uwagba, author of LITTLE BLACK BOOK
Purvis's story is brimful of dark foreboding; unsettling hints of violence ripple through her prose and there's a fearful sense that the sisters' safety is at stake. Reminiscent of Jeffrey Eugenides' The Virgin Suicides, this debut is feverish, finely wrought and unforgettable.
Daily Mail
The Hounding is a sweaty fever-dream of a novel. The writing is gorgeous: it bristles with rage and crackles with energy. Unsettling, vivid and irresistibly readable. I can't wait to see what Xenobe Purvis writes next.
Marni Appleton, author of I HOPE YOU'RE HAPPY

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