The Fox Wife

 Tell me a story... about a mysterious stranger

The Fox Wife by Yangsze Choo

Publication date: February 13, 2024

Date read: February 13, 2024

Audiobook read by the author

A young woman is found frozen in the snow. Her death is clouded by rumors of foxes involved, which are believed to lure people by transforming themselves 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, a family that owns a famous Chinese medicine shop can cure ailments, but not the curse that afflicts them―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. Or does it? Is their new servant a simple young woman from the north or a fox spirit bent on her own revenge?

I enjoy Choo's style of storytelling and her take on magical realism. (I had read The Night Tiger previously and really liked it, and I've been wanting to read The Ghost Bride for awhile, but haven't yet). Her use of Chinese folklore is really intriguing but also - for a western reader - not written in a way that you need to know any backstory. 

This story is very much a slow-burn, with a lot of little plot points moving us through the story, but very few big exciting scenes. This type of writing is not for everyone, I know - and I don't say that in a condescending way. It's natural to want books to flow quickly through the plot, and slow-burn books are not everyone's cup of tea. I enjoy them as long as the writing is interesting and not too florid (I don't need three pages describing an item of clothing or someone's breakfast), and I think that Choo's style of writing is a good mix of beautiful and to the point.

Choo also narrates this book if you choose to listen to the audio, and I didn't have any issues with her narration, but neither is it the greatest narration I've listened to. I do like when an author reads their own work, since they know where to put emphasis when needed and I know I'm getting correct pronunciations, though. I think this book would be equally enjoyable as an audiobook or as a print book.

There were a lot of characters in this book, which did make some parts a tiny bit confusing, but the main storyline was easy to follow. And while many of the human characters were more or less average, the investigator - Bao - was very intriguing to me; I thought he was written very well and I enjoyed following his character during the chapters focusing on his life and investigation. And, of course, the fox characters were lovely and complex and I loved following their stories. 

Overall, this book is a nice, quiet magical realism story that I quite enjoyed but which is not for everyone. Readers who enjoy magical realism or folklore I believe will enjoy this story, and anyone who likes a little magic mixed in with their mysteries should like it as well. 

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

Content warning: foot binding, death of a child, talk of killing female babies

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book.