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Fox Spirit on a Distant Cloud
Wellington, 1923, and a sixty-year-old woman hangs herself in a scullery; ten years later another woman ‘falls’ from the second floor of a Taranaki tobacconist; soon afterwards a young mother in Taumarunui slices the throat of her newborn with a cleaver.
All are women of the Chinese diaspora, who came to Aotearoa for a new life and suffered isolation and prejudice in silence. Chinese Pākehā writer Lee Murray has taken the nine-tailed fox spirit húli jīng as her narrator to inhabit the skulls of these women and others like them and tell their stories.
Fox Spirit on a Distant Cloud is an audacious blend of biography, mythology, horror and poetry that transcends genre to illuminate lives in the shadowlands of our history.
All are women of the Chinese diaspora, who came to Aotearoa for a new life and suffered isolation and prejudice in silence. Chinese Pākehā writer Lee Murray has taken the nine-tailed fox spirit húli jīng as her narrator to inhabit the skulls of these women and others like them and tell their stories.
Fox Spirit on a Distant Cloud is an audacious blend of biography, mythology, horror and poetry that transcends genre to illuminate lives in the shadowlands of our history.
138 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2024
73 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
October 5, 2024
Fox Spirit on a Distant Cloud is a collection of interconnected prose poems that follows a nine-tailed fox spirit as she inhabits the lives of nine Chinese women in New Zealand over different time periods. Each poem tells the tragic story of a woman struggling with isolation, cultural expectations, prejudice, and loss of identity in a foreign land. The fox spirit acts as narrator and witness to their experiences, hoping to give voice to these often silenced or forgotten women. The collection explores themes of diaspora, intergenerational trauma, invisibility, and the challenges faced by Chinese immigrant women in New Zealand society. It blends elements of Chinese mythology with historical accounts and imagined narratives to shed light on the hidden experiences of these women.
It is a haunting, lyrical exploration of the Chinese female immigrant experience in New Zealand. Through interconnected prose poems narrated by a mythical nine-tailed fox spirit, Murray gives voice to generations of silenced women, exposing their struggles, heartbreaks and resilience with raw honesty and deep empathy.
The poetic language is exquisite, weaving together vivid imagery from nature with cultural touchstones to create an immersive, dreamlike atmosphere. Murray deftly balances beauty with brutality as she unflinchingly portrays the often tragic fates of these women. The recurring motifs and interlinking narratives build to create a powerful collective portrait of displacement, isolation and the weight of cultural expectations.
While the subject matter is undeniably dark and at times disturbing, there are also moments of strength, connection and hope woven throughout. Murray's choice to frame the stories through the perspective of the fox spirit adds a layer of magic and meaning, allowing for reflection on themes of transformation, survival and bearing witness.
This is a deeply affecting work that shines a light on an often overlooked aspect of New Zealand's history and society. Murray's extensive research and personal connection to the material is evident, lending authenticity and emotional resonance to the poems.
It is a haunting, lyrical exploration of the Chinese female immigrant experience in New Zealand. Through interconnected prose poems narrated by a mythical nine-tailed fox spirit, Murray gives voice to generations of silenced women, exposing their struggles, heartbreaks and resilience with raw honesty and deep empathy.
The poetic language is exquisite, weaving together vivid imagery from nature with cultural touchstones to create an immersive, dreamlike atmosphere. Murray deftly balances beauty with brutality as she unflinchingly portrays the often tragic fates of these women. The recurring motifs and interlinking narratives build to create a powerful collective portrait of displacement, isolation and the weight of cultural expectations.
While the subject matter is undeniably dark and at times disturbing, there are also moments of strength, connection and hope woven throughout. Murray's choice to frame the stories through the perspective of the fox spirit adds a layer of magic and meaning, allowing for reflection on themes of transformation, survival and bearing witness.
This is a deeply affecting work that shines a light on an often overlooked aspect of New Zealand's history and society. Murray's extensive research and personal connection to the material is evident, lending authenticity and emotional resonance to the poems.
July 17, 2024
Exceptional prose, fantastic concept, but very grim reading. I can't help but wonder if it harms rather than helps the community it's written for
November 5, 2025
Superb writing. Intensely evocative of time and place.
July 12, 2024
Beauty and pain are entwined in this gorgeous book by Lee Murray, winner of the 2023 NZSA Laura Solomon Cuba Press Prize. This is a book that weaves together myth and history, the real and the unreal, poetry and prose. It describes the tragic stories of nine Chinese diaspora women in New Zealand from the early 1900s to the present day. Connecting these nine stories is the figure of the fox spirit—a liminal creature of Chinese mythology. In some tellings, a fox spirit can take on human form through wearing a human skull that perfectly fits its head. A fox spirit can also cultivate to immortality through arduous trials. In “Fox Spirit on a Distant Cloud,” the story-framing device is that of a nine-tailed fox spirit who must find nine skulls to wear, nine human lives to live, before she can reach celestial heaven.
The nine lives the fox spirit lives through in this book are harrowing. Here are brides brought reluctantly from China to New Zealand, Aotearoa--“the land of the long cloud”—by husbands they barely know or don’t know at all. Here are women who come willingly in pursuit of their own ambitions. There’s the daughter of Chinese immigrants, dutifully working in her parents’ fruit shop. There’s the young woman fleeing despair and horror in China, saved and brought to New Zealand by kindly missionaries, who finds, ultimately, only more horror in her new land. There’s the modern-day owner of a massage parlor, who considers herself a strong, independent businesswoman. Murder, suicide, and acts of horrific violence mark the end of many of these stories. But there are also quieter tales of despair. Murray’s gift is such that she can make the mundane, ordinary tragedy of a life—a girl whose dreams of music never come to fruition, who never escape her parents’ fruit shop and dutifully dons her work apron each day as her dreams slowly die--as compelling, poignant, and in its own way harrowing as her more extreme, shocking tales. Loneliness and longing infuse most of these stories. Here are tales of early immigrant women crushed by loneliness in their new world, longing for the families and homes they left behind, facing prejudice and alienation, unable to connect to anyone in their new country. Unable to truly make a new home.
The subject matter is heavy, but Murray evokes beauty with her light, leaping prose. In the opening pages, the fox spirit finds herself in a strange space:
"You have arrived, yet even without opening your eyes, you know you have not ascended to the celestial palace, where mountains are sculpted from dragonfly wings and the sky smudged with plum petals. Even before you become real, before your bones have crystallised and the flesh has fused across your back, you know this."
When a woman’s dreams die, it’s described like this:
"The sonatas are gone, replaced with FM and there are no such things as shillings. It’s no matter because your ancient heart no longer brims with silver. No silver, just relentless, endless grey. Even in sleep, you do not flutter."
In this book’s moving afterword, Murray writes of the inspiration behind this book, and describes some of the real-life stories behind it. There are spare hints of stories in the archives—a report of a Chinese woman falling from the second floor of a tobacco shop in the 1930s, a report of a “half-caste” Chinese women who slit her newborn daughter’s throat. Murray has clothed the spare bones of these archival reports with the flesh of her empathic imagination. The result is spellbinding. This is compelling stuff, a compulsively readable book—I finished it all almost in one sitting—and a beautiful, moving piece of art. Delicacy and brutality coexist in this book. It’s a book that asks us to bear witness to these human stories of the past, even as the fox spirit of the title pays witness by donning, for a little while, the lives belonging to the human skulls she wears.
The nine lives the fox spirit lives through in this book are harrowing. Here are brides brought reluctantly from China to New Zealand, Aotearoa--“the land of the long cloud”—by husbands they barely know or don’t know at all. Here are women who come willingly in pursuit of their own ambitions. There’s the daughter of Chinese immigrants, dutifully working in her parents’ fruit shop. There’s the young woman fleeing despair and horror in China, saved and brought to New Zealand by kindly missionaries, who finds, ultimately, only more horror in her new land. There’s the modern-day owner of a massage parlor, who considers herself a strong, independent businesswoman. Murder, suicide, and acts of horrific violence mark the end of many of these stories. But there are also quieter tales of despair. Murray’s gift is such that she can make the mundane, ordinary tragedy of a life—a girl whose dreams of music never come to fruition, who never escape her parents’ fruit shop and dutifully dons her work apron each day as her dreams slowly die--as compelling, poignant, and in its own way harrowing as her more extreme, shocking tales. Loneliness and longing infuse most of these stories. Here are tales of early immigrant women crushed by loneliness in their new world, longing for the families and homes they left behind, facing prejudice and alienation, unable to connect to anyone in their new country. Unable to truly make a new home.
The subject matter is heavy, but Murray evokes beauty with her light, leaping prose. In the opening pages, the fox spirit finds herself in a strange space:
"You have arrived, yet even without opening your eyes, you know you have not ascended to the celestial palace, where mountains are sculpted from dragonfly wings and the sky smudged with plum petals. Even before you become real, before your bones have crystallised and the flesh has fused across your back, you know this."
When a woman’s dreams die, it’s described like this:
"The sonatas are gone, replaced with FM and there are no such things as shillings. It’s no matter because your ancient heart no longer brims with silver. No silver, just relentless, endless grey. Even in sleep, you do not flutter."
In this book’s moving afterword, Murray writes of the inspiration behind this book, and describes some of the real-life stories behind it. There are spare hints of stories in the archives—a report of a Chinese woman falling from the second floor of a tobacco shop in the 1930s, a report of a “half-caste” Chinese women who slit her newborn daughter’s throat. Murray has clothed the spare bones of these archival reports with the flesh of her empathic imagination. The result is spellbinding. This is compelling stuff, a compulsively readable book—I finished it all almost in one sitting—and a beautiful, moving piece of art. Delicacy and brutality coexist in this book. It’s a book that asks us to bear witness to these human stories of the past, even as the fox spirit of the title pays witness by donning, for a little while, the lives belonging to the human skulls she wears.
September 13, 2024
So, how do I even start with this brilliant story? The horror? The exquisite prose poetry? The fox spirit of Chinese and Asian legend? The women of the story whose brutal lives drive the horror?
Let’s go with the exquisite prose and see where it takes us...
Reading this book, one line stood out, because it fit so beautifully with the rest of the text. So much so, I was surprised it didn’t appear earlier.
“Some things you knew already. Some things you knew before you were born; they were revealed to you in the rhythm of your mother’s heartbeat and the echoes of her sighs.”
Who knew that grinding expectation and hopeless despair, the death of dreams before they are even born, could be written with such poetry? And it builds right into the horror of the lives the fox spirit samples. Quiet despair and brutal savagery. Women who are told that they are less than and hidden away. Women who have to endure more than any person should ever bear. (I won’t go into them, but there’s a reason various hotlines are written at the end of the book.)
The fox spirit is a lot. Bold, brave, sneaky, protective, and folding in so much mythology while being its own creature. And while my knowledge of fox spirit mythology is very limited, I still think those mythological bones helped bring the story a depth beyond the words—just like the skulls that represented real lives in the story. Mythology connecting with real-life horror is more than mesmerising.
An exquisitely written prose poetry novel not for the fainthearted, and yet somehow a must read -even for my faint-hearted soul. Delve into the depths of despair and come out of the other side with just a little hope.
A total work of art. Enjoy your nine lives.
Let’s go with the exquisite prose and see where it takes us...
Reading this book, one line stood out, because it fit so beautifully with the rest of the text. So much so, I was surprised it didn’t appear earlier.
“Some things you knew already. Some things you knew before you were born; they were revealed to you in the rhythm of your mother’s heartbeat and the echoes of her sighs.”
Who knew that grinding expectation and hopeless despair, the death of dreams before they are even born, could be written with such poetry? And it builds right into the horror of the lives the fox spirit samples. Quiet despair and brutal savagery. Women who are told that they are less than and hidden away. Women who have to endure more than any person should ever bear. (I won’t go into them, but there’s a reason various hotlines are written at the end of the book.)
The fox spirit is a lot. Bold, brave, sneaky, protective, and folding in so much mythology while being its own creature. And while my knowledge of fox spirit mythology is very limited, I still think those mythological bones helped bring the story a depth beyond the words—just like the skulls that represented real lives in the story. Mythology connecting with real-life horror is more than mesmerising.
An exquisitely written prose poetry novel not for the fainthearted, and yet somehow a must read -even for my faint-hearted soul. Delve into the depths of despair and come out of the other side with just a little hope.
A total work of art. Enjoy your nine lives.
May 20, 2024
I whipped through this in mere hours. Not a big book, but man did it pack some big punches. My stomach still hurts. Horrifying, confronting, tear-jerking, soul searching- relatable in some ways, and not in others.
I feel like I didn’t just read a book, I witnessed a masterpiece unfold. In my hands for those hours, I held a work of art. Each story has imprinted on my heart and scarred my mind.
Inspired.
I feel like I didn’t just read a book, I witnessed a masterpiece unfold. In my hands for those hours, I held a work of art. Each story has imprinted on my heart and scarred my mind.
Inspired.
December 17, 2025
I liked this overall, I think it has such empathy and illustrates stories that deserve more visibility and retelling. That said, I also disagree with another review, that the framing of all these women as inevitable victims, and the erasure of anything other than tragedy from their lives, flattens them (unintentionally). It's definitely a worthy read, and it's doing enough without criticizing it too much for not depicting more complexity. Really interesting, glad I read it.
September 5, 2024
A hard but beautiful read.
The stories in this book are beautiful but heartrending in equal doses. And what makes them even more impactful are that some of the stories are based on real life events taken from historical events.
The stories will stay with you and will definitely make you think about the impact of racism and gender stereotypes within a cultural lens.
The stories in this book are beautiful but heartrending in equal doses. And what makes them even more impactful are that some of the stories are based on real life events taken from historical events.
The stories will stay with you and will definitely make you think about the impact of racism and gender stereotypes within a cultural lens.
April 26, 2025
This is a collection of dark, often horrific stories, poems about a series of killings that are somehow connected through time by an ancient Chinese force called the 'húli jīng'.
Why did they need to die? What does it want? and How do we stop it?
All valid questions amongst others that you have as you delve into this fantastic book.
Be careful though, nightmares experienced can be quite vivid.
Why did they need to die? What does it want? and How do we stop it?
All valid questions amongst others that you have as you delve into this fantastic book.
Be careful though, nightmares experienced can be quite vivid.
June 5, 2024
Shards of history are mortared in myth, to produce repeating patterns of isolation, deprivation, and abuse. And yet, the whole is beautiful. Lee Murray has produced a deeply imaginative, empathic work of redress, giving voice to the voiceless Difficulties of a past not nearly distant enough.
September 3, 2024
Beautiful, heartbreaking stories giving voice and bearing witness to the silence, heartbreak and violence perpetrated on Chinese women. Lee Murray is New Zealand born Chinese, the Kiwi answer to Janie Chang.
May 7, 2024
Absolutely fantastic!
June 4, 2024
Strangely beautiful. Beautifully strange
September 16, 2024
Beautiful, lyrical writing.
January 10, 2025
Fox Spirit on a Distant Cloud spoke to my soul, every page had me gasping for breath. I am a different person after reading this 🌸
February 11, 2025
Emotionally intense, beautifully written.
December 27, 2025
Intensely memoriable and potent
August 21, 2024
An exquisite masterpiece of a book that weaves a softly mystical tone around a tragic narrative. Each story is beautifully crafted and seamlessly melds into the next, creating a timeless, intertwined tale. I highly recommend this book.
May 19, 2025
Fox Spirit on a Distant Cloud is a beautifully written collection with a deeply emotional core. Each story may be only a few pages long, but the impact they leave is lasting. Lee Murray has a gift for packing atmosphere, emotion, and meaning into small spaces.
The central concept—intertwining myth, particularly the fox spirit, with very human experiences—was incredibly compelling. I found myself especially drawn to the way the fox was portrayed: mysterious, powerful, and achingly vulnerable. There was a lot of heart in these stories, and I was genuinely surprised by how much emotion came through in such a short format.
The collection is devastating and touching in equal measure. While the stories are brief, they linger in the mind, like echoes. Some were melancholic, others quietly hopeful, but all of them felt purposeful.
If you’re looking for something lyrical, myth-inspired, and emotionally resonant, this collection is absolutely worth reading.
The central concept—intertwining myth, particularly the fox spirit, with very human experiences—was incredibly compelling. I found myself especially drawn to the way the fox was portrayed: mysterious, powerful, and achingly vulnerable. There was a lot of heart in these stories, and I was genuinely surprised by how much emotion came through in such a short format.
The collection is devastating and touching in equal measure. While the stories are brief, they linger in the mind, like echoes. Some were melancholic, others quietly hopeful, but all of them felt purposeful.
If you’re looking for something lyrical, myth-inspired, and emotionally resonant, this collection is absolutely worth reading.
July 9, 2024
Full review on Happy Goat Horror:
https://happygoathorror.com/2024/07/0...
What a beautifully written work of absolute horror. It infuses mythology with cultural sociology and relationships, blends non-fiction with fantastical fiction, and uses the most gorgeous poetic language to tell the heaviest heart-breaker stories. It chilled me and sang to me at the same time. A triumph from Lee Murray, and worth every bit of praise it's getting.
Note: the subject matter, in many places, is extremely heavy and possibly triggering.
https://happygoathorror.com/2024/07/0...
What a beautifully written work of absolute horror. It infuses mythology with cultural sociology and relationships, blends non-fiction with fantastical fiction, and uses the most gorgeous poetic language to tell the heaviest heart-breaker stories. It chilled me and sang to me at the same time. A triumph from Lee Murray, and worth every bit of praise it's getting.
Note: the subject matter, in many places, is extremely heavy and possibly triggering.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews