Maximum Shelf: THE FOX WIFE (11/8/23)

Today’s Shelf Awareness Maximum Shelf pick is Yangsze Choo‘s THE FOX WIFE, a stunning novel about old loves and second chances, the depths of maternal love, and ancient folktales that may very well be true.

Manchuria, 1908. In the last years of the dying Qing Empire, a courtesan is found frozen in a doorway. Her death is clouded by rumors of foxes, which are believed to lure people by transforming themselves into beautiful women and handsome men. Bao, a detective with an uncanny ability to sniff 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 who owns a famous Chinese medicine shop can cure ailments but can’t escape the curse that afflicts them—their eldest sons die before their twenty-fourth birthdays. When a disruptively winsome servant named Snow enters their household, the family’s luck seems to change—or does it?

Snow is a creature of many secrets, but most of all she’s a mother seeking vengeance for her lost child. Hunting a murderer, she will follow the trail from northern China to Japan, while Bao follows doggedly behind. Navigating the myths and misconceptions of fox spirits, both Snow and Bao will encounter old friends and new foes, even as more deaths occur.

“Choo contrasts [an] air of realism with delicious hints of the supernatural. From the start, [she] employs a playful, knowing tone that turns readers into co-conspirators. She issues a coy invitation to root for the foxes. The novel closes with a wink: ‘But if you’re at least a little fond of foxes and don’t consider us a plague or nuisance, leave out an offering of fried tofu. Who knows, we may come and visit you one fine summer evening.'”–Shelf Awareness

SEE THE FULL SUMMARY, REVIEW, AND INTERVIEW WITH YANGSZE CHOO ON SHELF-AWARENESS.COM AND DOWNLOAD THE DRC!

THE FOX WIFE by Yangsze Choo; 9781250266019; 2/13/24