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Synopsis
Some people think foxes are similar to ghosts because we 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 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?
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 a winter full of mysterious deaths, a mother seeking revenge, and old folktales that may very well be true.
Synopsis source: Goodreads
Review
Genre(s): Historical Fiction, Magical Realism, Mythology, China
HB&W Rating: 4 stars
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For all stories have an ending as well as a beginning. But a beginning is where you choose to plant your foot, and the ending is only the edge of one's own knowledge.
Murder, intrigue, romance and magic.
I don't know that I liked this one as much as The Night Tiger, but I really enjoyed it. The audio was narrated by the author, who has such a lovely voice it made for a melodic listen.
Choo deftly weaves Chinese mythology and cultures, social and class systems, and historical settings to tell the story of a woman's desire for vengeance juxtaposed with her quest of the 1000 year journey, where she must live a righteous and moral life over the course of 1000 years so that she may gain enlightenment.
The story is told from alternating perspectives of Snow, a white vixen whose child was murdered, and Bao, who is desperately trying to make sense of what happened to him as a child that gave him the ability to hear lies when they are told. Around them are a cast of colorful characters whose life paths are inexorably linked, by fox or by fate, connecting different regions and classes of people together who otherwise would not have met.
I loved how the mythology was unraveled for us throughout the story, parceled out in increments as it benefited the story at a particular moment in time. The mystery and murder added an interesting layer, as did the tension between Snow and the other foxes.
There was some repetitious elements to the story, but they were charming and not redundant in my opinion, coloring the story and giving nuance to the voices of Bao and Snow.
A transportive story that will stick with you, the perfect way to travel without ever leaving your couch.
Until next time,
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