The Fox Wife is a hauntingly beautiful novel that intertwines folklore, magic, and the raw emotions of love and loss. Drawing on the rich mythology of fox spirits, or kitsune, the book offers a captivating narrative that balances the ethereal with the deeply human, making it a mesmerizing and unforgettable read.

What stands out most about The Fox Wife is the depth of its characters, particularly the protagonist. Her journey is both emotional and transformative, as she grapples with feelings of belonging, desire, and the tension between her human life and the supernatural forces that pull her in another direction. Her relationship with the fox spirit is delicately portrayed, blending tenderness and danger in equal measure, and challenging traditional notions of love and loyalty.

The novel also delves into themes of sacrifice and identity, exploring what it means to be torn between two worlds—one human, the other mystical. The emotional undercurrents of the story resonate strongly, and readers will find themselves deeply invested in the protagonist’s fate as she navigates a complex, ever-changing landscape of emotions, duty, and desire.

The Fox Wife is the third novel by best-selling Malaysian-Chinese author, Yangsze Choo. Bao is a sixty-three-year-old widower, a school teacher until his wife died, now a detective. It’s 1908 in Manchuria, and he has had a fascination since early childhood with foxes, perhaps because his nanny used to take him to the fox shrine, perhaps because a childhood playmate described her encounter with a fox.

Lacking any formal qualifications as a detective, he is aided by a singular talent he acquired as a child, of perceiving falsehood. It also means that “Bao won’t lie. He’s scrupulously, almost compulsively honest. The dull buzz of falsehoods makes him physically ill.”

When a Mukden restaurant owner finds a woman frozen to death on the back step of his establishment, he asks Bao, for the sake of helping her spirit to rest, to find out who she was. Two things strike him in that process: he has a strong feeling that foxes are somehow involved; and he’s not the only one looking for a certain Manchurian photographer who may hold a clue to her identity.

Even after discovering the dead woman’s name, each fact he uncovers seems to point him towards a beautiful young woman also on the elusive photographer’s trail, a woman who, from all descriptions, seems to be one of the fabled, a fox in human form.

She tells us “I exist as either a small canid with thick fur, pointed ears, and neat black feet, or a young woman. Neither are safe forms in a world run by men.”

Calling herself Snow Bu, after two years of grieving, the young woman sets out to take her revenge on Bektu Nikan, the Manchurian photographer responsible for her distress. She follows his trail from Mukden to the port city of Dalian, where she finds herself in service to the matriarch of a famous Huang Medicine Shop family. The family is apparently strangely cursed: the firstborn son never survives beyond the age of twenty-four, after which the second-born inherits.

When the young woman learns of the current first-born son, Bohai’s recent association with Bektu Nikan, it seems an opportunity for her, but also influencing the young man is a charismatic individual, someone she recognises from her past, a fox who can’t be trusted, who doesn’t follow the rules that keep them safe: “Helping others, by the way, is one of the duties of a virtuous fox. Others include abstaining from lying, money-laundering, and killing people.”

Choo gives the reader a cleverly plotted tale of shapeshifters, murder, blackmail, enchantment, revenge, imprisonment and escape, and more. While Bao’s narrative often mentions human perceptions, folk superstitions and beliefs about foxes, Snow’s narrative includes personal footnotes and little backstories about what foxes might be up to, literally on the margins of society.

Thus: “Foxes are naturally wary, though that’s balanced by our insatiable curiosity. Capable of immense deception, they’re constantly tripped up by their own frivolous behaviour.” Bao is a clever and persistent detective although he will probably never know the full story. And presenting part of the story from the perspective of a fox is interesting and different. A thoroughly captivating read.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Quercus.

I enjoyed this read, although I found it a little slow at times. It was a well written story with interesting characters. The first half is quite slow but it does pick up a bit in the second half. I would definitely recommend checking this one out.

4 star
Beautifully written and very interesting story. I enjoyed it from the start to the end. I like the way stories of people and foxes intertwining. Bao's and his childhood friend not easy lives and their 'faith' in fox gods. Snow's quest to find person responsible for her child's death. Amazing mix of reality and fantasy. Great storytelling plus Asian mythology.
My first book by Yangsze Choo, I'll be looking for her other titles.

I found it hard to immerse myself in this book as it was slow to get going. Once I got about 60% in, the pace picked up and it was easy going from there. I liked how the relationships and plot worked out in the end, but some of the ‘twists’ were foreseeable.

While I enjoyed the Chinese mythology woven into the story, I found that all the characters lacked depth and were difficult to connect with and get invested in their stories.

Overall it is a slow paced enchanting tale that is rich with historical folklore and complex relationships.

The Fox Wife tells the story of Snow, one of the few foxes still in existence on a quest to take revenge for the death of her child and Bao, an old investigator who has a special talent for finding out if people are telling the truth.

In her pursuit of the photographer Bektu Nikan, Snow gets a position as a maid for an elderly lady of which she grows quite fond, resulting in her staying there for quite a while. Bao is investigating a murder of a courtesan. This murder is also connected to the photographer, leading Bao eventually to Snow.

While I absolutely love Asian inspired fantasy, this one was not completely for me. The pacing of the book was on the slow side for me. While the pace picks up the farther in the story you get, the events were not happening fast enough for me until at the very end of the story. Luckily I pushed through, because after the slow paced pieces were some amazing parts of the story. Additionally, the writing style was not my favourite. Any plot twists you saw coming miles before, making the story a little predictable. Also, there was quite some repeating of information and for someone who easily remembers the little details, this annoyed me from time to time (especially when Bao was thinking about the friend he lost during his youth).

My favourite part of the story were the magical parts – the foxes, disguising themselves between humans while wrecking havoc and leaving a trail of chaos, the magical tingle of the inspector, alerting him every time someone tells him a lie. Also, I really liked the ending concerning Bao, it was very wholesome having him find the person he spend his whole life thinking about.

Concluding: a magical story blending the lines of reality and fantasy about foxes, grief, revenge and tragedy.

I would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Night Tiger is a great book, full of emotions and featuring a great cast of characters.
This is another excellent story, myth and mystery mixes and I loved the characters and the intriguing plot.
The storytelling is excellent, a great story.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

I requested this after reading and enjoying The Night Tiger by the same author. However I DNF'd at 40% as the plot was far too slow and instead of narrowing was getting too far reaching for me to continue. Thank you Netgalley for an ARC in return for an honest review

Some supernatural characters have such a powerful link to us they’ve stayed in our stories for centuries subtly evolving as we have to better reflect the fears and hopes of humans. Witches and Vampires can be both supernatural fears and also represent hidden desires or better aspects of our nature or being an outsider. In Yangsze Choo’s elegant and fascinating historical fantasy The Fox Wife we meet a woman who is also a Fox a character from Chinese and Eastern mythology often lined with creating trouble and the old man following her trail who doesn’t realise fate is also working hard to make these two finally meet.

It’s 1908 and in Manchuria the Empire is starting to fail. Famine, revolutionaries and hardship is rising. Snow doesn’t however care about these human issues. She beings to an ancient race of shapeshifting Foxes and she is seeking the man who killed her daughter. A mysterious photographer who loves fox fur. Who perhaps knows about the supernatural Foxes of folktales is moving ahead of her for purposes unknown. She goes through a series of disguises before finding a family who believe they may be cursed and goes under the guise of a servant but other Foxes are also close and trouble is coming.

Elsewhere is the elderly detective Bao who is hired to find a wealthy man’s woman. She has disappeared and on his trek a series of unexplained deaths occur. Bao can tell if anyone is lying a mysterious gift since childhood since his Nanny at the time bargained at a Fox Shrine and ever since Foxes appear in his life in some way or other. The trail gets nearer the end but further surprises await.

This is an engrossing tale that pulls you into the setting and structurally matches the legends of the Fox at the time a trickster like figure known for ruining relationships and sowing chaos and heading into trouble regardless. We alternate between Snow telling us her story and in third person we have Bao’s investigation with flashback to key periods in his life.

Snow is a fascinating engaging character witty, smart and determined but we feel a deep sorrow in her. Choo by having Snow’s own point of view allows us to both feel her emotions but also helps to contrast how humans see Foxes and what they’re actually like. With strength and speed as well as the ability to take life force from people she isn’t to be underestimated but she is also constrained in roles she can adopt by the society of the time that is very male orientated. She can disguise as a courtesan, a servant or a mistress she must keep her head down and not be seen too direct or people get suspicious. Yet supposedly it’s Fox Women who are the dangerous ones. There is a theme how this myth is really saying women should not get out of line or be accused of being a fox. A bit like how witches are seen as women too not knowing their place. As Snow continues we meet two very different Foxes and they also show wilder and nobler parts of the Fox myths but the interaction between all three, the sense they’ve been around a long time comes across and we know trouble is coming - that’s their inherent nature even when they know it will end in tears.

Bao (also a name linked to many folktales that were early tales of someone seeking justice) is a world weary, kind loner with a skill for working people out as well as a human lie detector. The investigation is fascinating too and as with many a detective story allowing exploration of the high and low ends of society. The rich can be greedy and corrupt; the poor can be ignored and the deaths of particularly women ignored. Choi captured a turning point period in history where China and Japan are starting to modernise but also the Imperial system is starting to collapse. Bao’s childhood shows a wealthy family; the way sons were expected to progress in exams and be told who to marry. It perhaps explain the crueller society Snow’s story shows and again makes us question who caused more trouble human or fox? Also we see Bao’s magical power and childhood have key links to Snow’s own story that makes us keen to see what happens when the two finally meet.

Structurally as a story the alternating chapters and contrasting characters complement each other. Both hunters of a sort but circling around each other. Like two spiraling arcs coming together but in this case while fate is clearly playing a hand a story of Foxes also spreads chaos and Choo neatly undercuts in the final act what we think will happen and adds a different drama to unpick. Where both Snow and Bao may either be in conflict or need to work together to unpick. The story stays true to who these characters always are but they both gain some insight into their natures and purposes in life. They’re characters I loved getting to know and their final meeting together was well worth waiting for.

The Fox Wife is a powerful intelligent historical fantasy with great storytelling and fascinating characters. I was not that familiar with the period but think it helped explain the period and the myths really well. An excellent read and strongly recommended!

Sorry for the delay, life got in the way!

DNF @20%.

Surely the story is compelling enough… but I couldn't help but feel I was being spoon-fed information, which took me out of the story. I took a break from it to see if I'd be eager to take it up again after a while, but sadly I didn't. However, even if this book wasn't for me, that's not to say it might not be for you! It has a cool and interesting premise, with a nice blend of Chinese folklore and mystery elements.

Thank you for the eARC.

Too long, too slow, too repetitive. I feel as if I've been reading for hours and am no nearer finding out what, if anything, the book is about, so I'm abandoning it. Not for me, but that's not to say it might not be for you - any book with fantasy elements is a gamble for me, and I only chose this because I had unexpectedly enjoyed her The Night Tiger. My mistake.

Book Review: The Fox Wife by Yangsze Choo

Rating: 4 stars

"The Fox Wife" by Yangsze Choo is a captivating blend of mystery, folklore, and historical fiction set in early 1900s Manchuria. The story follows the mysterious death of a young woman rumored to be involved with foxes, mythical beings capable of transforming into humans. Bao, a skilled detective, is tasked with unraveling the secrets surrounding her demise.

From the very beginning, the book draws readers in with its enchanting cover and intricate storytelling. While the pacing may be slow, the richly detailed setting of Manchuria during the last years of the Qing dynasty immerses readers in a world filled with tradition and intrigue. Choo's elegant prose brings to life a cast of well-developed characters, each with their own secrets.

At the heart of the novel is Snow, a grieving mother seeking justice for her child's death. Her journey intertwines with Bao's investigation, blending themes of loss, revenge, and redemption. Bao's unique ability to uncover lies adds intrigue to the narrative, keeping readers on the edge of their seats as the mystery unfolds.

"The Fox Wife" excels in weaving Chinese folklore and magical realism into its narrative, creating a sense of wonder and enchantment. Choo's writing skillfully balances emotion, wit, and suspense, making this a truly enjoyable read.

Overall, "The Fox Wife" is a beautifully crafted novel that transports readers to a world where myths and reality collide. Fans of character-driven stories with a touch of mystery will find this book a spellbinding read.

⚠️This review was written based on personal opinions and experiences with the book. Individual preferences may vary⚠️

The Fox Wife is a whimsical novel that tackles mythology, love, loss and elements of mystery that keeps you hooked with interesting plot twists, blurring between traditional folklore and the reality of the novel's Manchuria in 1908 with the novel following two narrators Snow, a humanoid fox spirit and Bao an investigator with the power to tell when others are lying.

A worthy read if you enjoy books with a captivating plot with a twist that has a supernatural setting.

This is my first time diving into Yangsze Choo's work, and I am captivated. She has such beautiful prose and blends history and folklore extremely well.. It is clearly well-researched with lots of translations into both Chinese and Japanese and information on traditional stories of fox folklore. For one thing, I'm easily sold by the promise of folklore. I haven't had much of a chance to read East Asian folklore in awhile, so this really satiated my desire for it.

Set in Manchuria in 1908, This is a tale of mystery, mythology, and the intertwined destinies of humans and fox spirits. At its heart, the story revolves around a young woman found frozen in the snow, sparking rumors of foxes with the ability to transform into alluring humans.

This work stands out for its exquisite characterizations and poetic style. The story is expertly written and strikes a deep emotional chord with us readers. The Fox Wife takes us on an epic trip with many layered stories as we immerse ourselves in the main character's grief and her unrelenting will to exact revenge for her child's death.

I might also check out the audiobook as I hear that the author is the one that narrates it!

Thanks for approving my request for this book!

I thank NetGalley and Quercus Books for providing me with an ARC copy of this book, which I freely chose to review.
This is my first experience reading one of Yangsze Choo’s novels, and it won’t be the last one. I loved this novel.
Although it is set in a real location and in a real time (the characters travel and visit different places in China and Japan), once you start reading, you are transported to a magical place, where gods, ghosts, spirits, and animals share space with human beings, and where who you are and what you believe in are one and the same. If you believe in gods, and in the influence of god animals (who might also live between us taking the form of human beings), they might take control of your life, heal you, make you fall madly in love with them, or kill you. This is a world where tradition and modernity are wrestling and vying for dominance; where the old wisdom is losing its battle but not totally gone; and where a family’s fate and history weigh heavily on the new generations to the point of driving them to distraction (and destruction).
There are touches of history, mentions of revolution and the government, exams and professions, the society of the period, with references to concubines, servants, and the order of things (the matron of a family is moved to the back of the house when her son gets married again, as the new wife does not wish her to have such an influence over the household and their business, as reputed traditional Chinese medicine shop), but the story is about the characters and what happens to them, and readers don’t need to have a lot of knowledge about China’s history to follow and enjoy the novel.
The story is told from two points of view. One of them is Snow, who is a mother looking for revenge for her daughter’s death, and she narrates her story in the first person. She is whatever she needs to be in order and will do whatever she has to do to achieve her goal. She has no money when we come across her, and she becomes a servant to an old lady by chance. It works well for her and she lives a lot of adventures and also becomes very fond of the old lady, who is anything but conventional, and the same applies to her family. Snow has a lot of secrets up her sleeve, and those are revealed slowly as we move through the story.
The second point of view is that of a man, Bao, who held a lot of promise when he was young, but who became very unwell when he was a child and something peculiar happened as a result of the intervention of her nanny. That marked his life from then on, and he never lived up to his expectations, although he acquired an ability (gift or curse, depending on how one looks at it) that he finally puts to good use by becoming a private investigator. He is engaged in investigating a mysterious death, and through that case, he becomes embroiled in a variety of other puzzles and enigmas, which somehow take him back to events in his childhood and a friendship he never forgot. His story is told in the third person, and although I felt closer, perhaps, to Snow, I enjoyed Bao’s story as well. He is an older man (or so it seems when we start reading about him), and much of what he thinks circles back to his life and the past, but I was happy to follow his wandering mind and his disquisitions, and I found them fascinating (perhaps because I’m no longer that young myself).
If you imagine that both stories must be related and the two will intersect at some point, you’d be right, but, of course, I am going to avoid making a spoiler and I won’t give any details about it. The title will give you a clue, and once you start reading, you’ll probably get a good sense of what might be going on, but there are plenty of surprises to come, and I was more than satisfied with the overall arc of the story.
The author has a beautiful tone of phrase and I loved the writing style, lyrical, with gorgeous descriptions, use of metaphors, and something ethereal about it. Although there are mysteries and investigations, this is not a page-turning thriller, but a calm and slow-flowing narrative, which goes back and forth and where memories and legend mix easily to create a whole. I am not sure that people who prefer modern-style and conventional narratives will appreciate this novel, but I particularly enjoyed the different nature of it, and the way one didn’t quite know what might happen next, who was who, and what was real and what not.
The type of narrative made me think of magic realism, although the traditional stories and legends of China and Mongolia do play a very important part in the plot and the style, as the author explains in a note at the end. It made me think of The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden, though the setting and the plot are quite different, I think readers who enjoyed that novel are likely to like this one as well.
The main difficulty I had with the story wasn’t following it, despite the split narrative, as the two characters were quite different and each one took one chapter in turn, but with the names of the characters, which were unfamiliar to me. This was further complicated by the fact that some of them adopted different names as well, and shortened versions were used at times, so one needs to keep that in mind when reading it, although the author gives us a guide to the main names used and their meanings at the end of the book.
I noticed that some reviewers who had read the author’s previous novels didn’t enjoy it as much as The Ghost Bride or The Night Tiger, but I cannot make a comparison, although I can honestly say that if the other two are even better, they must be amazing.
So, as I have said before, this is a novel I recommend, especially to readers who like fairy tales and stories with a touch of the paranormal and the magical; those who love lyrical and poetic writing, and who don’t mind a slow and contemplative narrative. Beautiful.

This is such a beautiful story and the way the writer crafts the characters and the entire narrative is so artfully done that despite it having a slower pace I was absolutely hooked from the first few pages. Pacing wise this book is perfect for people who enjoyed Circe. But story line this is not easy to compare to anything else out there. Based on my experience with this book I will definitely read anything this author has previously written and writes in the future.

Interesting book with a cool premise. The lyrical writing and the folkloristic vibes overall made for an enjorable read.
I will definetely pick more up by the author.

I am a touch entranced by this book.

I had hoped that this would be as good as The Ghost Bride, but it was better.

Part murder mystery, part revenge plot, this follows Bao, an investigator who can spot a lie as soon as it's spoken, and Snow, a shape-shifting fox spirit bent on hunting her daughter’s murderer. As an agent of chaos, Snow unintentionally leaves a wave of trouble in her wake and Bao skirts around its edges until he starts to suspect that foxes are at the centre of it all.

Choo has given us another magical story that perfectly balances between folklore and historical fiction, touching on these creatures' fickle and often duplicitous nature. Like the cold nature of our protagonist, the story was a little slow to warm up but all the tangental elements wove together beautifully in the end.

The breadcrumb details of past adventures left me so eager to read more of Snow, Kuro, and Shiro’s antics over the centuries that I think I may have to return to this one again and again.

An interesting concept. I liked the Chinese folklore in it. We follow 2 perspectives, one of a shapeshifting fox / woman and one of a detective. It was both a revenge story and a murder mystery. I thought the story overall was interesting but found the pace to be very slow for my own personal taste. The author has a good imagination and I have no doubt others will really enjoy this book as many people enjoy a slower pace.

The Fox Wife is a highly crafted, exquisitely written and entrancing story. It has a flowing, almost misty quality with memories floating to the surface, and engulfing the main characters; Snow and Bao. In a novel that is so deeply interested in folktales, Choo really channels that narrative voice. It has an intimate, telling stories round the campfire feeling that remained strong for me throughout. I felt almost as if I was reading a book told entirely in hushed voices and whispers. Not to say that it wasn’t compelling or exciting! The mysteries of The Fox Wife had me hungry to know more about how the two main characters Snow and Bao would fare on their journeys. The main thread of the tale is simple. Two people on two distinct missions. A fox named Snow seeking vengeance for the death of her child, and Bao – a detective who can always distinguish truth from lies who is investigating the death of a young woman. Their stories seem untethered – though remain nonetheless highly intriguing – for much of the narrative before coming together to reveal an elaborate picture of events. I really enjoyed the way Choo chose to reveal the truth of the mystery just a little at the time particularly with Bao’s detective work. Sometimes she gave the reader more clues than Bao, so you were desperate for him to catch up with you, and at others she left you completely in the dark with the twists taking you by surprise.

The Fox Wife is beautifully written and certainly boasts an eerily mystical element that lives up to the reputation of the foxes that scamper across every page. The image Choo creates of late Qing Dynasty China is rich and enchanting. The clashing worlds of old and new, ancient powers and new uprisings, magic, mystery, love, death and treachery make for a fascinating novel. I thoroughly enjoyed The Fox Wife and look forward to exploring Choo’s other works.