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Little Fox
Killer Nashville Awards Top Pick (2024)
Page Turner Awards Finalist (2024)
Letter Review Shortlist (2023)
Freedom has a price. Compassion makes it higher.
Fan has been a slave since the day cutthroats murdered her father and sold her to the powerful Wang family. In a household teeming with intrigue, Fan survives by staying quiet, working hard, and trusting no one. But beneath her silence lies a fierce resolve to escape.
Fan hatches a plan to rob her tormentors and make a run for freedom. To pull it off, she must rely on an unlikely band of friends: two foreign-born slaves, a kindhearted gangster, a royal spy, and a clever raven.
But just as Fan’s dream seems within reach, she befriends a newly arrived child slave. For the first time, Fan must choose: will she save herself, or will she risk everything to fight for someone else?
Page Turner Awards Finalist (2024)
Letter Review Shortlist (2023)
Freedom has a price. Compassion makes it higher.
Fan has been a slave since the day cutthroats murdered her father and sold her to the powerful Wang family. In a household teeming with intrigue, Fan survives by staying quiet, working hard, and trusting no one. But beneath her silence lies a fierce resolve to escape.
Fan hatches a plan to rob her tormentors and make a run for freedom. To pull it off, she must rely on an unlikely band of friends: two foreign-born slaves, a kindhearted gangster, a royal spy, and a clever raven.
But just as Fan’s dream seems within reach, she befriends a newly arrived child slave. For the first time, Fan must choose: will she save herself, or will she risk everything to fight for someone else?
322 pages, Paperback
Published April 7, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
May 3, 2026
Written in the voice of an elderly Sister recounting her early life story as she is on her deathbed, Little Fox offers a vivid and suspenseful tale of her experience as a slave girl during the Tang Dynasty of China. The character development including even minor characters is richly crafted and emotionally complex. The main character is the victim of and witness to unimaginable acts of brutality, and through that is able to articulate her basest emotions while never losing her humanity and compassion and wit and cleverness. The pacing of the story felt deliberate and calm with a voice in my head of an old and frail woman, yet I found it to be a page turner despite knowing all along she survives, with plot twists right up to the final pages. Little Fox was independently published and I hope gains traction, as I enjoyed it as thoroughly as I have any NYT Bestseller.
Find it on Amazon under Vincent Stoia (may need to click on his name to see his full list of published books). The direct link is: https://a.co/d/0eCDJ4aa
Find it on Amazon under Vincent Stoia (may need to click on his name to see his full list of published books). The direct link is: https://a.co/d/0eCDJ4aa
April 9, 2026
This is the best book I've read in a while. It follows the life of an orphaned Chinese slave throughout her life but she is slave Plus, fighting for her life in non-expected ways. Hence the
Nickname. The storyline may look clear but the Plot thinks otherwise. Do read it!!
Nickname. The storyline may look clear but the Plot thinks otherwise. Do read it!!
July 31, 2026
The difficulty of life for many is something we don't often get to understand. This book makes it quite clear how hard it is for the main character whose daily life is a chore to survive. This Chinese slave girl, from age 6, is in a very hostile home. She works very hard. There are few pleasures in her life. The story continues until after she finally gets out and makes another life. It's a story of revenge and is sprinkled with love.
April 2, 2026
Wonderful story telling. I loved that we got to hear the story being told by an elderly lady recalling her life. This book is truly emotional and even the minor characters bring so much to the story and stick with you even when they’re “off screen”. This isn’t my typical genre pick, but I’m so glad I picked it up anyway. Please read this!
July 27, 2026
heart felt storyline
This was a pleasure to read. Fan was at the center of the story and kept the pace throughout! Amazing read!
This was a pleasure to read. Fan was at the center of the story and kept the pace throughout! Amazing read!
Review of advance copy received from Author
what a beautiful, touching story.
oh, there were definitely some difficult moments, for a girl growing up as a slave, hated a d mistreated by those people who were above her.
she was a strong, resilient and resourceful person who often survived by the skin of her teeth.
this is such a believable story that I was waiting for an author's note to say it was based on real events. obviously it was well researched.
oh, there were definitely some difficult moments, for a girl growing up as a slave, hated a d mistreated by those people who were above her.
she was a strong, resilient and resourceful person who often survived by the skin of her teeth.
this is such a believable story that I was waiting for an author's note to say it was based on real events. obviously it was well researched.
July 21, 2026
Wonderfully written and a true treasure.
This is one book I truly couldn't wait to get back to. Wonderfully created characters, good and bad. It's the story of a scared slave girl that learns to be strong to survive her cruel masters. I'll look for more books by this author.
This is one book I truly couldn't wait to get back to. Wonderfully created characters, good and bad. It's the story of a scared slave girl that learns to be strong to survive her cruel masters. I'll look for more books by this author.
April 29, 2026
I really enjoyed Little Fox. It’s ostensibly a thriller but it’s got a very strong emotional core to it as well. Great villains with a highly authentic historical atmosphere. Highly recommended.
Review of advance copy received from Author
You survive by putting one foot in front of the other, by fighting through each day as well as you can.
Mr. Stoia is perhaps best known for his horror stories. This is not one of them. This is an historical novel, and to my way of thinking, a thriller. The thrill comes not from any specific external threat (other than the Wang family and their household retainers), but from the society and culture in which it is set: the capital city of China in the years leading up to 760 AD.
Sister Fan, the eponymous Little Fox, is now an old woman, in her 90’s and failing. She wants to confess to her literate young acolyte in order that her history and her crimes can be written down and remembered after she is dead. So this is a story within a story, told in the first person, with formal language and occasional “fourth wall” comments directed to her scribe. It reminds you the reader that this is being dictated, not recounted by an anonymous, omniscient narrator.
At the age of 6 Fan was abducted into slavery to serve a wealthy Chinese family. Powerless, she lived on a knife-edge where the slightest error, infraction, or failure of courtesy could lead to punishment, torture or even death. Her driving goal throughout was first to survive, and second to escape. (Not really a spoiler: you know she succeeded, because she is telling the story!) The grinding challenges of her life, the tiny joys and friendships she cultivated, and the formal language reminded me a bit of Pearl S. Buck’s The Good Earth.
In Western mythology the fox is a trickster character, cunning, subversive, and sly. In Chinese mythology it is also a deceiver, often able to defeat more powerful opponents. Sister Fan is no Br’er Rabbit, but she does make the best of her extremely limited resources throughout a series of the direst situations, and the story of how she does this kept me reading well into several nights. And in the end, I’m glad she lived long and prospered. Highly recommended.
I do believe after this I’ll dip into the author’s horror stories …
I received a free ARC of this novel from the author, and I sincerely thank him.
Mr. Stoia is perhaps best known for his horror stories. This is not one of them. This is an historical novel, and to my way of thinking, a thriller. The thrill comes not from any specific external threat (other than the Wang family and their household retainers), but from the society and culture in which it is set: the capital city of China in the years leading up to 760 AD.
Sister Fan, the eponymous Little Fox, is now an old woman, in her 90’s and failing. She wants to confess to her literate young acolyte in order that her history and her crimes can be written down and remembered after she is dead. So this is a story within a story, told in the first person, with formal language and occasional “fourth wall” comments directed to her scribe. It reminds you the reader that this is being dictated, not recounted by an anonymous, omniscient narrator.
At the age of 6 Fan was abducted into slavery to serve a wealthy Chinese family. Powerless, she lived on a knife-edge where the slightest error, infraction, or failure of courtesy could lead to punishment, torture or even death. Her driving goal throughout was first to survive, and second to escape. (Not really a spoiler: you know she succeeded, because she is telling the story!) The grinding challenges of her life, the tiny joys and friendships she cultivated, and the formal language reminded me a bit of Pearl S. Buck’s The Good Earth.
In Western mythology the fox is a trickster character, cunning, subversive, and sly. In Chinese mythology it is also a deceiver, often able to defeat more powerful opponents. Sister Fan is no Br’er Rabbit, but she does make the best of her extremely limited resources throughout a series of the direst situations, and the story of how she does this kept me reading well into several nights. And in the end, I’m glad she lived long and prospered. Highly recommended.
I do believe after this I’ll dip into the author’s horror stories …
I received a free ARC of this novel from the author, and I sincerely thank him.
August 10, 2026
Absorbing narrative of a (to me) exotic era.
I enjoyed the story and the way it was told. The author is a natural storyteller and I found the book one of those that you can’t put down.
The heroine was believable and the type of person you wish you could meet in life.
I enjoyed the story and the way it was told. The author is a natural storyteller and I found the book one of those that you can’t put down.
The heroine was believable and the type of person you wish you could meet in life.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews