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Mrs Fox
'She turns her head and smiles. Something is wrong with her face. The bones have been recarved. Her lips are thin and her nose is a dark blade. Teeth small and yellow. The lashes of her hazel eyes have thickened and her brows are drawn together, an expression he has never seen, a look that is almost craven.'
Mrs Fox is the story of a husband who is shocked out of his complacency when his wife undergoes a remarkable transformation.
41 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 1, 2014
11 people are currently reading
909 people want to read
About the author
Sarah Hall
68 books663 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Sarah Hall took a degree in English and Art History at Aberystwyth University, and began to take writing seriously from the age of twenty, first as a poet, several of her poems appearing in poetry magazines, then as a fiction-writer. She took an M Litt in Creative Writing at St Andrew's University and stayed on for a year afterwards to teach on the undergraduate Creative Writing programme.
Her first novel, Haweswater, was published in 2002. It is set in the 1930s, focuses on one family - the Lightburns - and is a rural tragedy about the disintegration of a community of Cumbrian hill-framers, due to the building of a reservoir. It won several awards, including the 2003 Commonwealth Writers Prize (Overall Winner, Best First Book).
Sarah Hall currently lives in North Carolina. Her second book, The Electric Michelangelo (2004), set in the turn-of-the-century seaside resorts of Morecambe Bay and Coney Island, was shortlisted for the 2004 Man Booker Prize for Fiction and the 2005 Commonwealth Writers Prize (Eurasia Region, Best Book).
The Carhullan Army (2007), won the 2007 John Llewellyn-Rhys Memorial Prize and was shortlisted for the 2008 Arthur C Clarke Award for Best Science Fiction.
Her latest novel is How to Paint a Dead Man (2009).
Sarah Hall took a degree in English and Art History at Aberystwyth University, and began to take writing seriously from the age of twenty, first as a poet, several of her poems appearing in poetry magazines, then as a fiction-writer. She took an M Litt in Creative Writing at St Andrew's University and stayed on for a year afterwards to teach on the undergraduate Creative Writing programme.
Her first novel, Haweswater, was published in 2002. It is set in the 1930s, focuses on one family - the Lightburns - and is a rural tragedy about the disintegration of a community of Cumbrian hill-framers, due to the building of a reservoir. It won several awards, including the 2003 Commonwealth Writers Prize (Overall Winner, Best First Book).
Sarah Hall currently lives in North Carolina. Her second book, The Electric Michelangelo (2004), set in the turn-of-the-century seaside resorts of Morecambe Bay and Coney Island, was shortlisted for the 2004 Man Booker Prize for Fiction and the 2005 Commonwealth Writers Prize (Eurasia Region, Best Book).
The Carhullan Army (2007), won the 2007 John Llewellyn-Rhys Memorial Prize and was shortlisted for the 2008 Arthur C Clarke Award for Best Science Fiction.
Her latest novel is How to Paint a Dead Man (2009).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 137 reviews
January 1, 2020
WELCOME TO DECEMBER PROJECT!
this explanation/intro will be posted before each day’s short story. scroll down to get to the story-review.
this is the FOURTH year of me doing a short story advent calendar as my december project. for those of you new to me or this endeavor, here’s the skinny: every day in december, i will be reading a short story that is 1) available free somewhere on internet, and 2) listed on goodreads as its own discrete entity. there will be links provided for those of you who like to read (or listen to) short stories for free, and also for those of you who have wildly overestimated how many books you can read in a year and are freaking out about not meeting your 2019 reading-challenge goals. i have been gathering links all year when tasty little tales have popped into my feed, but i will also accept additional suggestions, as long as they meet my aforementioned 1), 2) standards.
if you scroll to the end of the reviews linked here, you will find links to all the previous years’ stories, which means NINETY-THREE FREEBIES FOR YOU!
2016: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
2017: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
2018: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
reviews of these will vary in length/quality depending on my available time/brain power.
so, let’s begin
DECEMBER 22
It is its absence which defines the importance of a thing.
i decided to continue the fox theme from earlier this morning, which began with The Hole The Fox Did Make. many thanks to anna for the link to this one.
just another story of the one who got away, the one who changed and went where the other couldn't follow, the feeble attempts to hold onto an impossible love, a relationship become unrecognizable.
also, one of them is a fox.
lovely, sad, meditative, full of the wisdoms that need to be heard:
-The one who loves less is always loved more.
-To be comfortable inside one’s sadness is not valueless.
-She is like machinery; the snapping and clicking of her teeth. The lavender breast is opened; there are riches inside.
a perfect tale for your end-of-year melancholia.
read it for yourself here:
https://www.toa.st/magazine/mrs-fox-s...
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DECEMBER 1
DECEMBER 2
DECEMBER 3
DECEMBER 4
DECEMBER 5
DECEMBER 6
DECEMBER 7
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DECEMBER 10
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DECEMBER 12
DECEMBER 13
DECEMBER 14 GOODREADS ERASED THIS STORY AND MY REVIEW FROM THE SITE, SO IF YOU REALLY WANT TO READ IT, IT IS HERE. THANKS.
DECEMBER 15
DECEMBER 16
DECEMBER 17
DECEMBER 18
DECEMBER 19
DECEMBER 20
DECEMBER 21
DECEMBER 23
DECEMBER 24
DECEMBER 25
DECEMBER 26
DECEMBER 27
DECEMBER 28
DECEMBER 29
DECEMBER 30
DECEMBER 31
come to my blog!
this explanation/intro will be posted before each day’s short story. scroll down to get to the story-review.
this is the FOURTH year of me doing a short story advent calendar as my december project. for those of you new to me or this endeavor, here’s the skinny: every day in december, i will be reading a short story that is 1) available free somewhere on internet, and 2) listed on goodreads as its own discrete entity. there will be links provided for those of you who like to read (or listen to) short stories for free, and also for those of you who have wildly overestimated how many books you can read in a year and are freaking out about not meeting your 2019 reading-challenge goals. i have been gathering links all year when tasty little tales have popped into my feed, but i will also accept additional suggestions, as long as they meet my aforementioned 1), 2) standards.
if you scroll to the end of the reviews linked here, you will find links to all the previous years’ stories, which means NINETY-THREE FREEBIES FOR YOU!
2016: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
2017: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
2018: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
reviews of these will vary in length/quality depending on my available time/brain power.
so, let’s begin
DECEMBER 22
It is its absence which defines the importance of a thing.
i decided to continue the fox theme from earlier this morning, which began with The Hole The Fox Did Make. many thanks to anna for the link to this one.
just another story of the one who got away, the one who changed and went where the other couldn't follow, the feeble attempts to hold onto an impossible love, a relationship become unrecognizable.
also, one of them is a fox.
lovely, sad, meditative, full of the wisdoms that need to be heard:
-The one who loves less is always loved more.
-To be comfortable inside one’s sadness is not valueless.
-She is like machinery; the snapping and clicking of her teeth. The lavender breast is opened; there are riches inside.
a perfect tale for your end-of-year melancholia.
read it for yourself here:
https://www.toa.st/magazine/mrs-fox-s...
*******************************************
DECEMBER 1
DECEMBER 2
DECEMBER 3
DECEMBER 4
DECEMBER 5
DECEMBER 6
DECEMBER 7
DECEMBER 8
DECEMBER 9
DECEMBER 10
DECEMBER 11
DECEMBER 12
DECEMBER 13
DECEMBER 14 GOODREADS ERASED THIS STORY AND MY REVIEW FROM THE SITE, SO IF YOU REALLY WANT TO READ IT, IT IS HERE. THANKS.
DECEMBER 15
DECEMBER 16
DECEMBER 17
DECEMBER 18
DECEMBER 19
DECEMBER 20
DECEMBER 21
DECEMBER 23
DECEMBER 24
DECEMBER 25
DECEMBER 26
DECEMBER 27
DECEMBER 28
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DECEMBER 30
DECEMBER 31
come to my blog!
March 26, 2019
A woman turns into a fox while her husband haplessly looks on. That’s all that happens - what am I missing?!
She literally does turn into a fox so, unless all that description was for nothing, I don’t think it’s meant to be a metaphor. But a metaphor for what anyway - how people change in a marriage over time? Eh, I don’t buy it. Is it all in the man’s head and he murdered her or she left him or something? That’s a stretch too as there’s no indication of either. Is it broadly just about “change” in general? Maybe but then what’s Sarah Hall saying about change - that it happens? That’d be pretty bland if she were.
Mrs Fox completely foxed me. It’s a totally flat short story that’s all premise and nothing else. The man seems to quite matter-of-factly accept that his wife is now a fox who lives in the woods and carries on with his life. I’m sorry but I need more from a story than simply a woman turning into a fox apropos of nothing! This is the kind of fiction that tries to appear deep but is about as shallow as a puddle.
She literally does turn into a fox so, unless all that description was for nothing, I don’t think it’s meant to be a metaphor. But a metaphor for what anyway - how people change in a marriage over time? Eh, I don’t buy it. Is it all in the man’s head and he murdered her or she left him or something? That’s a stretch too as there’s no indication of either. Is it broadly just about “change” in general? Maybe but then what’s Sarah Hall saying about change - that it happens? That’d be pretty bland if she were.
Mrs Fox completely foxed me. It’s a totally flat short story that’s all premise and nothing else. The man seems to quite matter-of-factly accept that his wife is now a fox who lives in the woods and carries on with his life. I’m sorry but I need more from a story than simply a woman turning into a fox apropos of nothing! This is the kind of fiction that tries to appear deep but is about as shallow as a puddle.
August 5, 2020
Super weird but beautiful magical realism story that reminded me of Kafka and Murakami. Wonderful prose, it's easy to see why this has won prizes.
October 2, 2021
It's beautifully written, but it really is so much a rewriting (i.e. not a retelling, the exact same things happen) of Garnett's Lady into Fox that I'm not quite sure what was gained.
October 16, 2021
(6/30 faber stories)
4.5; “that he loves his wife is unquestionable” — the award for the most tender opening line?
god, these few pages were so beautiful, so magical that i’m almost ashamed to be talking about it with the general structure of my usual writing. i loved every word of the stunning and near perfection execution of the good old theme of metamorphosis.
“she holds still a second or two, shakes, then goes into the kitchen, directly, no investigation of location, and jumps onto a chair next to the table. as if only now, after her walk and purging of the disease of being human, she is ready for breakfast.”
4.5; “that he loves his wife is unquestionable” — the award for the most tender opening line?
god, these few pages were so beautiful, so magical that i’m almost ashamed to be talking about it with the general structure of my usual writing. i loved every word of the stunning and near perfection execution of the good old theme of metamorphosis.
“she holds still a second or two, shakes, then goes into the kitchen, directly, no investigation of location, and jumps onto a chair next to the table. as if only now, after her walk and purging of the disease of being human, she is ready for breakfast.”
October 24, 2018
This was a lovely short story.
The writing was beautiful, intricate and drew me in from start to finish.
I loved the transformation of the woman into the fox, and also the little storylines that fed into it based on her human self beforehand and fox self afterward.
It was very intirguing to see how her husband acted and thought after the transformation. Although constantly on the outside he still felt somehow 'included' and was always respectful. But somehow still attached.
The ending was satisfying, but at the same time I thought there might be more to it, or more depth that would come from it. So in the end I rated it 3 stars.
The writing was beautiful, intricate and drew me in from start to finish.
I loved the transformation of the woman into the fox, and also the little storylines that fed into it based on her human self beforehand and fox self afterward.
It was very intirguing to see how her husband acted and thought after the transformation. Although constantly on the outside he still felt somehow 'included' and was always respectful. But somehow still attached.
The ending was satisfying, but at the same time I thought there might be more to it, or more depth that would come from it. So in the end I rated it 3 stars.
February 27, 2023
I don't know why I didn't review this the first time I read it (which was a few years ago).
Having re-read it yesterday, this remains a beautifully constructed tale of a woman returning to her roots shall we say.
The emotional and descriptive elements are so tender yet raw.
I just love everything about this story. It is magnificent.
Having re-read it yesterday, this remains a beautifully constructed tale of a woman returning to her roots shall we say.
The emotional and descriptive elements are so tender yet raw.
I just love everything about this story. It is magnificent.
January 16, 2017
Strange, beguiling, clever, and beautifully written. A great little snippet of magical realism.
January 13, 2022
3,25/5
This is a story about a woman who transforms into a fox and leaves her previous life behind. Her husband tries to keep her in the house but she wants to be outside. He visits her den often and discovers she has had cubs. He feels oddly protective of them but otherwise continues his life as per before.
I found the story rather bizarre and struggled to understand what the author was trying to get across. Was the whole transformation into a fox symbolizing that a woman should never be trapped and if she wants to grow/outgrow her husband that she should be allowed to? And that when she does shed her old life, you’ll see a woman that’s transformed and happier? AND – was she pregnant before the transformation, i.e. are the cubs in fact the husband’s children?
It’s got me flummoxed. I’m no closer to understanding this story BUT oddly I didn’t hate it. In fact, I was utterly enchanted from the very first sentence to the final one.
This is a story about a woman who transforms into a fox and leaves her previous life behind. Her husband tries to keep her in the house but she wants to be outside. He visits her den often and discovers she has had cubs. He feels oddly protective of them but otherwise continues his life as per before.
I found the story rather bizarre and struggled to understand what the author was trying to get across. Was the whole transformation into a fox symbolizing that a woman should never be trapped and if she wants to grow/outgrow her husband that she should be allowed to? And that when she does shed her old life, you’ll see a woman that’s transformed and happier? AND – was she pregnant before the transformation, i.e. are the cubs in fact the husband’s children?
It’s got me flummoxed. I’m no closer to understanding this story BUT oddly I didn’t hate it. In fact, I was utterly enchanted from the very first sentence to the final one.
January 16, 2015
I was utterly hooked by the premise - the metamorphosis of woman to fox and was desperate to know how the author would negotiate the transformation scene. The cool narrator delicately draws you into the intimacies of the world of the couple, their outward perfection, inner tensions and the unnerving 'not quite rightness' of their situation. It is only when we enter the woods Hall's language suddenly makes us aware that we have bodies, not armour, the sensuous descriptions of the wild spaces set up a love story not between the couple but between our 'furry on the inside' (Angela Carter) selves and the wild.The transformation is startling, disturbing and beautifully inevitable. As the transformation and its consequences unfolded I began to be aware of the limits of the tamed body and necessity for a deeper relationship with, well, mud. I wanted to go out and run and get dirty and feel the ache in my lungs from cold air. And! Hall uses words like calluna and thirled, effortlessly, unpretentiously and poetically. Short story and poetry have never been so beautifully intertwined. The imagery has stayed with me since reading, nosing its way into my interactions with the two-legged, four-legged and rooted things. This is an important book.
March 30, 2019
Read this in a fit of insomnia last night. What a weird little book! A man loses his wife to nature as she turns into a fox and this journey perfectly encapsulates feelings of loss, anger, depression and finally happiness though not in a form he would have initially liked! Loved it!
January 25, 2020
Was this 36-page book worth half the price of a decent 300 page read? No. Reading about a woman transforming into a fox is not worth it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 27, 2020
Not often will you EVER see me give a book 5 stars but this one deserves it. Truly beautifully written and with such a unique plot.
February 6, 2021
And so on to the last of the Faber stories for today. This is a rather strange tale where by a man who may or may not have a perfect life suddenly has to explore the prospect of his wife turning in to a fox.
As strange as this may sound it is not the focus of the tale but rather the impact it has upon him. The story looks as how he tries to rationalise what is going on and how he tries to cling to some sort of normalcy from his perfect world.
The interesting thing is is that he does fine a way to exist and although we may not accept it as perfect he we see him find a compromise and so a form of balance is returned. This is one of those stories which will probably need to re-read again at a later date.
As strange as this may sound it is not the focus of the tale but rather the impact it has upon him. The story looks as how he tries to rationalise what is going on and how he tries to cling to some sort of normalcy from his perfect world.
The interesting thing is is that he does fine a way to exist and although we may not accept it as perfect he we see him find a compromise and so a form of balance is returned. This is one of those stories which will probably need to re-read again at a later date.
November 3, 2015
A short novella but no less magical for it. An incredible story of change told with a beguiling and magical sense from a master of writing. Trots off to track down more by Sarah Hall.
December 11, 2019
Like Kafka's Metamorphosis with foxes, but also, not like the Metamorphosis, with foxes.
February 15, 2022
Brief. Powerful. Realistic. A story of the suffocation brought about by modern day relationships + work, mortgages and daily routines. Nature will always be the stronger.
January 3, 2021
Synopsis- 'She turns her head and smiles. Something is wrong with her face. The bones have been recarved. Her lips are thin and her nose is a dark blade. Teeth small and yellow. The lashes of her hazel eyes have thickened and her brows are drawn together, an expression he has never seen, a look that is almost craven.'
Mrs Fox is the story of a husband who is shocked out of his complacency when his wife undergoes a remarkable transformation.
Review- This is a wonderful, magical, old style fairytale for a short story. It's one of the best pieces of magical realism I've read. Ms Hall has packed a fully fleshed out, beginning, middle and end story into thirty odd pages. No wonder it won prizes.
Rating - Four modern fairytale magic stars. ⭐⭐⭐⭐
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Devoured the book, couldn't put it down.
⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Really liked it, consumed within days
⭐⭐⭐ - Enjoyed a fair bit, better than average
⭐⭐ - Meh
⭐ - Absolute drivel
Mrs Fox is the story of a husband who is shocked out of his complacency when his wife undergoes a remarkable transformation.
Review- This is a wonderful, magical, old style fairytale for a short story. It's one of the best pieces of magical realism I've read. Ms Hall has packed a fully fleshed out, beginning, middle and end story into thirty odd pages. No wonder it won prizes.
Rating - Four modern fairytale magic stars. ⭐⭐⭐⭐
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Devoured the book, couldn't put it down.
⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Really liked it, consumed within days
⭐⭐⭐ - Enjoyed a fair bit, better than average
⭐⭐ - Meh
⭐ - Absolute drivel
June 27, 2021
Gorgeous description. “Down the path he walks, holding his fox. Her brightness escapes the coat at both ends; it is like trying to wrap fire. Her warmth against his chest is astonishing for a wife who always felt the cold, in her hands and feet.”
You do not get to know the hows and whys of the transformation, although despite the transformation there seems to be acceptance (after some time) and love that continues. I like Karen’s take on it: “another story of the one who got away, the one who changed and went where the other couldn't follow, the feeble attempts to hold onto an impossible love, a relationship become unrecognizable.”
You do not get to know the hows and whys of the transformation, although despite the transformation there seems to be acceptance (after some time) and love that continues. I like Karen’s take on it: “another story of the one who got away, the one who changed and went where the other couldn't follow, the feeble attempts to hold onto an impossible love, a relationship become unrecognizable.”
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 21, 2019
I am confused. It's both weird and beautiful written at the same time. This story will stick with me.
December 12, 2021
am uitat să scot citat pentru review și aștept să-mi dea tudor înapoi cartea
overall cineva discuss the symbolism of the purple ball with me pls
overall cineva discuss the symbolism of the purple ball with me pls
October 1, 2023
The writing was undoubtedly beautiful and intricate. Still, I don’t get it… I get that turning into a wolf was supposed to be a metaphor for something but I just don’t get what that something was supposed to be??? Did she leave her husband? Was she unfaithful and left?? I don’t get it and there is almost no context to help me understand it.
January 11, 2023
Love foxes & love magical realism, so this story was obviously bound to be my kind of short read. I noticed that some people were pretty put off that there's no 'point' to the transformation of the lady into a fox, but I guess then that they just don't like magical realism per se. That's the point, that there is no immediate point.
Still, I felt that the feelings of shock and contemplation that the husband experiences are actually echoes of the feelings that come in any long partnership: inevitability, change, admiration, growth, nostalgia etc. So I guess that the transformation can be read in a metaphorical key as well.
Still, I felt that the feelings of shock and contemplation that the husband experiences are actually echoes of the feelings that come in any long partnership: inevitability, change, admiration, growth, nostalgia etc. So I guess that the transformation can be read in a metaphorical key as well.
November 13, 2019
Short story (also available in short story collection Madame Zero)
Earthy, sensual foxy allegory - the 'homage.'
A married woman turns into a fox, as an allegory of women's loss of identity within marriage.
See also, Lady into Fox.
Earthy, sensual foxy allegory - the 'homage.'
A married woman turns into a fox, as an allegory of women's loss of identity within marriage.
She is running and becoming smaller, running and becoming smaller, running in the light of the reddening sun, the red of her hair and her coat falling, the red of her fur and her body loosening. Running. Holding behind her a sudden, brazen object, white-tipped. Her yellow scarf trails in the briar. All vestiges shed.
See also, Lady into Fox.
April 15, 2022
"Mrs Fox" is a story about changing relationships and the pull/push to stay and let go. It is about male expectation, imprinting, and capture. It's also very well written. Modern fables seem an easy option sometimes, but the writing elevates this into something elegiac. A strong short story with plenty of thought.
January 18, 2020
The first book I had to read for this semester for my masters course at uni was this very short novella about a woman who turns into a fox. An intriguing concept but what made this so good was the gorgeous prose.
October 24, 2019
The story Mrs Fox is an episode of mental masturbation.
September 5, 2019
This is a wonderful short story in the Faber Stories series.
A man and his wife have a seemingly happy relationship, with a nice suburban home, good jobs and are in love with each other. One morning the wife begins to feel unwell. The next morning she insists the couple go out walking. She starts to run and then to crouch down on the ground and run on all fours. In front of her husband, this beautiful woman transforms into a fox. The husband takes her home, wrapped in her coat. He keeps her in the house for weeks, until, at last, with no other choice, he has to release her to live in the wild.
I love this story. It is a beautiful, magical, modern day myth.
At first, you could almost be forgiven for thinking that you are listening to a David Attenborough documentary, observing the sub-urban hominoid. Observe their different mating rituals, the male waiting in the bed while the female showers before intercourse. “There are positions they favour, that feel and make them feel unusual to each other. The trick is to remain slightly detached. The trick is to be able to bite, to speak in a voice not your own.”
The moment of change, when Sophia shifts from woman to fox, is beautifully described. Up to this point everything in the story has been normal, comfortable, believable, then BOOM.
“On the path, looking back at him, is a brilliant creature, which does not move, does not flinch or sidle off. No. She turns fully and hoists the tail around beside her like a flaming sceptre. Slim limbs and slender nose. A badge of white from jaw to breast. Her head thrust low and forward, as if she is looking along the earth into the future. His mind’s a shock of useless thought, denying, hectoring, until one lone voice proceeds through the chaos. You saw, you saw, you saw. He says half words, nothing sensible. And now she trots towards him down the path, as a dog would, returning to its master.”
And a new word, sibilant. “The breeze through the trees is sibilant.” Meaning hissing. The words itself an onomatopoeia. Imagine saying it with a long ‘s’ at the start, like the hiss of a snake. Love a new word.
Having released the fox back into the wild, eventually the man has to return to the heath where the transformation happened:
“A week later, close to Christmas, he begins to walk on the heath again. That moutled protean place, which he has for months avoided. He walks at first light, when the paths are deserted, and the low red sun glimmers between bare twigs. He is not looking. He is not looking and yet he feels keenly aware of this old, colloquial tract of land, with its debris of nature, hemmed in by roads and houses, lathed away by bulldozers. It is fecund. It is rife with a minority of life-forms.”
It is a wonderfully constructed passage – capturing perfectly the old heath surrounded by modern developments, a patch of ancient land clinging to existence. They have become tamed by the cities and towns that surround them, with just a hint of the wildlife that lived there before. Like the heaths and commons of Barnes and Hampstead in London.
A man and his wife have a seemingly happy relationship, with a nice suburban home, good jobs and are in love with each other. One morning the wife begins to feel unwell. The next morning she insists the couple go out walking. She starts to run and then to crouch down on the ground and run on all fours. In front of her husband, this beautiful woman transforms into a fox. The husband takes her home, wrapped in her coat. He keeps her in the house for weeks, until, at last, with no other choice, he has to release her to live in the wild.
I love this story. It is a beautiful, magical, modern day myth.
At first, you could almost be forgiven for thinking that you are listening to a David Attenborough documentary, observing the sub-urban hominoid. Observe their different mating rituals, the male waiting in the bed while the female showers before intercourse. “There are positions they favour, that feel and make them feel unusual to each other. The trick is to remain slightly detached. The trick is to be able to bite, to speak in a voice not your own.”
The moment of change, when Sophia shifts from woman to fox, is beautifully described. Up to this point everything in the story has been normal, comfortable, believable, then BOOM.
“On the path, looking back at him, is a brilliant creature, which does not move, does not flinch or sidle off. No. She turns fully and hoists the tail around beside her like a flaming sceptre. Slim limbs and slender nose. A badge of white from jaw to breast. Her head thrust low and forward, as if she is looking along the earth into the future. His mind’s a shock of useless thought, denying, hectoring, until one lone voice proceeds through the chaos. You saw, you saw, you saw. He says half words, nothing sensible. And now she trots towards him down the path, as a dog would, returning to its master.”
And a new word, sibilant. “The breeze through the trees is sibilant.” Meaning hissing. The words itself an onomatopoeia. Imagine saying it with a long ‘s’ at the start, like the hiss of a snake. Love a new word.
Having released the fox back into the wild, eventually the man has to return to the heath where the transformation happened:
“A week later, close to Christmas, he begins to walk on the heath again. That moutled protean place, which he has for months avoided. He walks at first light, when the paths are deserted, and the low red sun glimmers between bare twigs. He is not looking. He is not looking and yet he feels keenly aware of this old, colloquial tract of land, with its debris of nature, hemmed in by roads and houses, lathed away by bulldozers. It is fecund. It is rife with a minority of life-forms.”
It is a wonderfully constructed passage – capturing perfectly the old heath surrounded by modern developments, a patch of ancient land clinging to existence. They have become tamed by the cities and towns that surround them, with just a hint of the wildlife that lived there before. Like the heaths and commons of Barnes and Hampstead in London.
February 5, 2022
Mrs Fox by Sarah Hall was first published in 2014 and later it was presented by Faber Stories in 2019.
An intimate short read with fine detailing of marriage and the chemistry between two different people, which ultimately becomes an eerie tale of metamorphosis. How an unnamed man reacts to uncanny situations involving his wife is too strange but kept me glued to the end. The events are weird, startling yet compelling. The writing is lyrical and the plot is so moving that I couldn't stop myself from telling the synopsis to my husband as soon as the book was finished.
Being an ardent fan of magical realism, this book constantly reminded me of Murakami. It is clear to see why it won the BBC Short Story Award and why it has been chosen in the Faber Stories collection.
Mrs. Fox by Sarah Hall is one of the many short stories that has been published in 2019 Faber Stories collection that is first celebrating the 90th anniversary of Faber & Faber.
Now, I am going to read Lady Into Fox by David Garnett which had influenced Sarah Hall.
An intimate short read with fine detailing of marriage and the chemistry between two different people, which ultimately becomes an eerie tale of metamorphosis. How an unnamed man reacts to uncanny situations involving his wife is too strange but kept me glued to the end. The events are weird, startling yet compelling. The writing is lyrical and the plot is so moving that I couldn't stop myself from telling the synopsis to my husband as soon as the book was finished.
Being an ardent fan of magical realism, this book constantly reminded me of Murakami. It is clear to see why it won the BBC Short Story Award and why it has been chosen in the Faber Stories collection.
Mrs. Fox by Sarah Hall is one of the many short stories that has been published in 2019 Faber Stories collection that is first celebrating the 90th anniversary of Faber & Faber.
Now, I am going to read Lady Into Fox by David Garnett which had influenced Sarah Hall.
June 15, 2025
Mrs Fox is a story constructed in beautifully sparse language, leading me to wonder how much of my appreciation for this story is the story itself and how much is my own memories of Britain in autumn, the romance of seeing a fox. The story itself offers little explanation of itself or its happenings. It's been a while since I read Kafka's Metamorphosis, but for me it connected with that story and the idea of illness - of a family member going through a change you cannot experience yourself, and how you support that. Again, this may be more in my head than on the page - but it is there because of this story.
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