The Hounding
BOOK SUMMARY
Even before the rumors about the Mansfield girls begin, Little Nettlebed is a village steeped in the uncanny, from strange creatures that wash up on the riverbank to portentous ravens gathering on the roofs of people about to die. But when the villagers start to hear barking, and one claims to see the Mansfield sisters transform before his very eyes, the allegations spark fascination and fear like nothing has before.
The truth is that though the inhabitants of Little Nettlebed have never much liked the Mansfield girls—a little odd, think some; a little high on themselves, perhaps—they've always had plenty to say about them. As the rotating perspectives of five villagers quickly make clear, now is no exception. Even if local belief in witchcraft is waning, an aversion to difference is as widespread as ever, and these conflicting narratives all point to the same ultimate conclusion: Something isn't right in Little Nettlebed, and the sisters will be the ones to pay for it.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Xenobe Purvis was born in Tokyo in 1990. She studied English Literature at the University of Oxford, has an MA in creative writing from Royal Holloway, and was part of the London Library's Emerging Writers Programme. She is a writer and literary researcher, with essays published in the Times Literary Supplement, the London Magazine, and elsewhere.
PRAISE
"Outstanding . . . Purvis is adept at conjuring a mounting sense of dread, and it is a pleasure to linger in her imagination." — Joumana Khatib, The New York Times Book Review
"Tense and absorbing . . . [The Hounding] transcends its antecedents, evolving into something more ambiguous and unexpected." — Marin Cogan, The Washington Post
"Purvis writes with a kind of lush violence that makes the sisters; experiences feel immediate and fresh . . . [The Hounding reveals that] the old story is new in every fresh life that it touches, that understanding a trope is not the same as being protected from it, and that persecution feels like a startling new invention when it comes for you—whether you're a fish, a dog, or a girl." — Talya Zax, The Atlantic
PRODUCT INFORMATION
Hardcover with dust jacket
240 Pages
Fiction
8.6 in H | 5.7 in W | 0.9 in T | 0.7 lb
