This is a beautiful story full of Chinese lore about shapeshifting foxes. It definitely pulled at my heartstrings throughout. I did have a hard time following it for at least the first half. It took me a while to keep the characters and storylines straight. It is not a fast paced story, so it could be due to that. I also think it may have been the narration. There was nothing wrong with the author’s performance, but her voice is very soothing and I think it made my mind wonder at times.

Overall, it is beautifully written. The backdrop of winter is the perfect setting for such a poignant tale. It’s a heartwarming story about loss, grief, revenge and finding a way forward.

Read of you enjoy:
🦊Asian Folklore
🦊Multiple Murders
🦊Shapeshifters
🦊Early 1900 Settings
🦊Chinese History
🦊Magic Realism

Snow is hellbent on revenge. Her singular goal in life is to bring about the death of the man who killed her child. She also a fox spirit. Meanwhile, Bao is a detective who can tell when someone is lying. When he’s sent to investigate the death of a woman found dead in the snow, the case will unwittingly bring him somewhere he never thought possible.

On the surface, The Fox Wife is a detective story set deep in the heart of early 1900s China. However, The Fox Wife is also a story about love and grief. It’s a story about how the past seeps into our present, sometimes so violently that it shakes us to the core. I loved this book. In Snow I found a deeply sympathetic, interesting, and relatable character. Bao is equally interesting as his life story unfolds within the novel. Historical fiction, sprinkled with magical realism can be a tough sell, but Choo sold me on it. I was completely invested in this story and surprised by and a bit delighted with the ending.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ALC. Choo narrate3d her own book, and she did an amazing job. I totally recommend this book.

This book started off really strong as a story based on Manchurian folklore around fox people, which was super intriguing. There's a detective murder mystery going on with multiple POVs, and I was excited to piece together the puzzle. However, I grew bored as the book dragged on for far too long and was very slow. Aside from what I learned about the fox folklore, it wasn't a very memorable story. It's a shame because it started off so promising!

However, all this comes with the caveat that I don't enjoy several of the popular myth & historical retellings such as The Witch's Heart, Circe (was just ok to me), Deep as the Sky, Red as the Sea, Galatea, etc. I think I struggle with books that are completely plot-driven without a whole lot else going on. If you enjoyed any of the above books, this might still be your jam. ESPECIALLY if you like detective stories! It's also a plus that this audiobook is read by the author, which is always a treat.

There were too many pieces of this book that were not at all realistic for my liking, such as the foxes. Perhaps if I was more into Magic Realism (a little bit here and there is OK, but this was too much), I would have enjoyed this story more. The pacing was very slow, and a lot of detail was given in this character driven novel. Unfortunately, I wasn’t fully engaged in the storyline. I listened to the audiobook and did not enjoy the narrator’s breathy voice, which was distracting. My suggestion is if you like Chinese folklore, historical fiction, and magic realism, then you try picking up the physical or e-copy of this book. You may enjoy it. It just wasn’t for me.

Set in Manchuria in 1908, the story weaves a captivating tale around a mysterious death and the rumors of foxes involved. Bao, a detective known for uncovering the truth, is drawn into a world of fox gods and family curses. Choo's narration adds a unique depth to the narrative, and her storytelling skills shine through.
Highly recommended for those who appreciate rich storytelling with a touch of the mystical with cozy vibes.

I read this as an audiobook, which affected my enjoyment of the story.

This is a slow-burn mystery, but one done well. It does a great job of building the characters, world, and mystery in slow, equal measures. While I enjoyed one POV more than the other, both characters had interesting backstories being revealed in slow increments.

Yet, it's too slow. I recognize my reading pace is faster than average, but I kept losing the story threads because of how long it took the pieces to come together. Even at 1.5X speed, I felt like I was slogging through the plot.

I recommend digital or paper form if you have a fast reading pace. It truly is a lovely story, but it gets bogged down by the long listening time.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the advance audio copy in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

🎧THE FOX WIFE written and narrated by Yangsze Choo was a really lovely epic of folklore and foxes! 🤍

I have not been privy to fox mytholgy and this was a fascinating introduction! I was taken in by Bao and Snow, the former a detective with a strange gift of sensing lies, and the latter a creature seeking vengeance for her lost child. Their paths continue to draw near as their stories are revealed and the mysterious foxes and their human-looking forms come in and out.

I really enjoyed this fantasy/folklore/family drama. I did have a bit of difficulty starting out with the time jumps. Once I slowed down and focused, it was lovely. I think it was a me thing, as once I got into this, I was enthralled. The drama in the story was engaging, & the characters were a mix of sly, funny, and moving. The narration was fantastic and I loved listening to this mystical story!

I absolutely recommend this story for anyone wanting to be utterly entertained by and learn more about this Chinese Fox Mythology. The associations with foxes were at times funny and other times frustratingly familiar as a fear method.

Thank you @netgalley & @macmillan.audio for this gorgeous tale that published on February 13th!

★3.5
The Fox Wife by Yangsza Choo is a beautifully lyrical story about a fox woman and her revenge against the man who killed her cub. But it's also so much more than that.

So much so that I felt like too much was happening and was left with questions in the end. I felt like some details were incoherent and hard to follow, however that could partly be that historical fiction is not my usual go to.

However I did enjoy my time listening to this book. It was enchanting, and I really enjoyed the folklore. I also love how independent Snow was. It was slow pace but wasn't boring. I would call the genre magical realism instead of fantasy.

Thank you Net galley and Macmillian audio for this arc.

I was very interested in this book as I have recently become interested in the legend of the fox women. This book was a really beautifully written book featuring that folk tale along with historical events. I will say I don't know a ton about Japanese history so this book may be completely inaccurate but I really enjoyed it. It was beautiful and interesting. It had great characters and overall it was just a really solid read.

This is an interesting book, and I enjoyed learning about legends of Chinese fox spirits. However, the story never picked up pace for me, and it seemed to drag on the whole time. It is intriguing, and in the end everything wrapped up nicely. I just wish it didn’t feel like a chore to finish.

The Fox Wife by Yangsze Choo is part fox mythology part murder mystery. The story follows 2 characters points of view: Snow, the titular character who tragically begins a quest to reap revenge for her daughter's death, and Bao, who has unexplained powers that allow him to know when people are lying or telling the truth and finds himself investigating the death of a young woman. Set in early 1900's China, Choo takes us on an adventure through the mountains of Manchuria and even to Japan in following the stories of these two characters- stories that at first seem wholly unconnected, but gradually begin to intersect.

I enjoyed listening to The Fox Wife. I find it especially interesting when the narrator is the author and Yangze does a great job of immersing the listener in the story even though the two points of view are quite different. The story does get a bit complicated to follow at times, and there are many other characters to keep straight. I had to take my time listening closely and in smaller sections than I was used to be able to follow everything. There is a lot of Chinese culture and history to take in as well as much of the folklore surrounding the Fox. I very much appreciated how Yangtze deconstructs the idea of the fox as an evil seductress to be feared and replaces it with a strong female character with her own moral compass and her own grief. In the end this is also a story about healing from grief, starting over, and living life. I am a big fan of Alix E. Harrow who recommended this novel highly, and I am so glad I took her advice and picked this up.

Thanks to Macmillan Audio and Netgalley for providing access to an advanced listening copy of this book.

I really enjoyed the narration. I learned a lot about Chinese cultural history that I didn't know. I loved the mythology about foxes within this story and I loved how this was also a mystery. It almost felt a bit Sherlock Holmes like and I love Sherlock Holmes, so this was great.

I requested an ARC of The Fox Wife after reading an excerpt in NetGalley's BuzzBooks sampler. I was instantly captivated by Choo's beautiful prose, as well as the world she created.

Both of these elements continued to be two of my favorite aspects of The Fox Wife, an ambitious novel with a tremendously large cast of characters, alternating POV chapters, and multiple timelines, all of which culminated in a dramatic conclusion.

I'll admit, this novel was a challenge to read. The every-other-chapter shifts between Snow's first-person narration and Bao's third-person perspective were a little jarring. Additionally, there were so many characters and details to keep track of. I felt that I needed to be taking notes as I went along. With that said, I loved Choo's style of writing, and I was intrigued by the story the whole way through. Without giving anything away, I will also add that I loved the resolution and was quite happy with the direction the author chose to take the story in the end.

What I loved:
- Choo's incredible storytelling abilities and beautiful writing
- the fox folklore, and the way it was seamlessly woven into the story
- the ending
- Yangsze Choo's lovely narration of the audiobook

Thank you to NetGalley for my advanced copy!

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio / Henry Holt for an advanced listening copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was a story of love, loss, second chance, mischief, revenge, and folklore. My attention and intrigue was captured within the first chapter where we follow Snow set out to avenge the death of her child written in first-person narration (like a diary). There is a second central POV where we follow Bao, an amateur detective who can detect lies and is interested in foxes, written in third-person narration. This is my first time reading from Yangsze Choo, and I will read her backlist! Choo narrates the story and felt like someone telling me a folktale.

I liked following Snow's path to revenge but also processing the grief of her child. Since her POV is her writing in a diary, she includes tidbits and explanations on fox spirits. I wish there were more footnotes whether to add a snarky comment or add more information on the true nature of fox spirits. Such mysterious creatures! Bao was an interesting character to follow. His ability to detect lies and truth was interesting, and I wanted to learn the truth behind such powers. My main gripe was the repetitive explanations. I understood what the author said the first 3 times; no need to say what a word meant in another language when it was already told to me.

Overall, I really enjoyed listening to this audiobook production. I will read more from Yangsze Choo in the future and will read her backlist as well.

Content Warnings: child death, death, animal death, misogyny, sexual harassment, confinement, suicide (minor), bullying (minor), child abuse (minor)

Thank you so much to Macmillan Audio for the free audiobook!

This was definitely a case of "it wasn't the book, it was me."

I'm not sure what I went in expecting since it was my first book by this author, but I never became invested in the story and it started to just drag on for me. Maybe if I had read at a different time it would have worked better for me.

I still think it will be a hit for many, especially historical fiction lovers!

This is out now!

The Fox Wife draws you into turn of the century China, in 1908 and a world of magical realism where the fox spirit really exists. According to Chinese folklore, the fox spirit is a shifter that can appear as a beautiful person who enchants humans. Like folklore in many other cultures, this fox is a trickster who can charm people to give them their desires. The story is written from two opposing points of view. It begins with Bao, a sixty-year-old detective who has the uncanny ability to recognize lies when he hears them. He is brought in to find out the identity of a dead woman. With this beginning, one might expect a mystery novel, but this task is merely an event that evolves into a quest to find two people who he begins to believe are fox spirits. The story than switches to Snow who is a woman searching to avenge the death of her daughter.

Snow is written in the first person and the reader is privy to her anguish, thirst for revenge, and empathy with humans. It is through her character that we learn about fox folklore and how foxes have to carefully behave to avoid being caught. The fox characters, mirror the role of women in that society for they also have to live carefully by the rules and can be so easily mistreated. We sympathize with her for her loss of her child and empathize with her attempt on the 1000-year quest of righteous behavior.

Bao, on the other hand, is written in the third person and his story wanders between the present day, childhood memories and strange dreams. As a child, he prayed to a fox god and believes that his uncanny talent is fox given. I found him a quite interesting character and couldn't wait for him to find all the characters that he was destined to meet up with.

The author does a fantastic job of world building. The turn of the century Asian scenery is easily visualized. The characters are written with depth, and I loved reading about all the major characters. Unfortunately, this book is a slow read. It meanders through several smaller plots and takes a bit too long to reach its conclusion. For that reason, it might not be your cup of tea. However, if you don't mind the slower pace, it is a fantastic book.

I wish to thank the publishers, Henry Holt and Company along with NetGalley for both a PDF review copy of the book and access to the audiobook. I alternated between the two formats. The audiobook is narrated by the author herself. Choo has a soothing voice. Although her storytelling is expressive, she does not differentiate her voice between the various characters. For that reason, it is sometimes hard to follow the audiobook. She would have been better served to have a professional narrator. I loved the book, and I gave the text edition of this book four stars. However, I recommend that most people would enjoy the text editions more than the audiobook. If you are a folklore fan, or a lover of historical fiction and magical realism, this is a book for you.

This was so charming in such a melancholy way. And yet the ending was all hope and sweetness. I will say the slow pace at the beginning made it difficult at first for me to engage and I was convinced this was not going to be for me and just wanted to get through it. But I’m glad I continued because I was thoroughly enchanted.
A reviewer wrote that after getting past the beginning they hit a magic point where they adjusted to the quietness of the story. And that seemed like such a perfect description of how it was consuming this book.

I listened to the audiobook and was surprised to find that it was the author who read the book. I am unfamiliar with her background, but she sounded like a professional narrator. Her voice was so soothing it kind of added an extra layer of charm to this story already full of fantasy/magic moments.

*thank you to McMillan audio, the author, and NetGalley for an early copy of the audiobook

“𝘍𝘰𝘹𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘸𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘦. 𝘚𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵’𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘪𝘵. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘵𝘩 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘰𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘧𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦.”

Thanks Netgalley, Henry Holt Books, and Macmillan Audio for the advanced reader copies! This is my first by Choo (and she narrates the audio) and it was quite interesting. She incorporates myths, magical realism, mystery, with themes of family, motherhood, connection, belief, and forgiveness. We are given the POVs of Snow and Bao and it bounces between a few timelines but they are all connected.

It took me a little while to get into it yet at around 30% I grew more and more interested as it is beautifully written. It’s certainly different and won’t be for everyone as it can be slow, long, and there’s not much action on the plot, but give it a fair chance. I do wish there was more depth to the fox folklore and their lifestyle, and Snow’s sections were my favorites (her interactions with other foxes were entertaining and humorous). She’s sharp, witty, and curious as you’d imagine a fox would be.

Content and trigger warnings include death of loved ones, mythical beliefs, quick mentions of animal cruelty and murder. I may have liked reading the book to better keep names straight but I did really enjoy the narration.

This is a beautiful book. I can't say enough good things about this book. Great story, with a great twists and a great ending.

The Fox Wife is a richly woven story, hovering on the line between folk tale and modern prose. I was completely absorbed from the first words to the last, and wanted so much to keep living in this space, these words, after it had come to an end. The writing has a dreamy quality, though there's still plenty of humor, action, and suspense within the quiet, elegant lyricism. Yangsze Choo's reading of her own words on the audiobook brings these qualities to the forefront. I'm not always a fan of authors reading their own work, but Choo is an excellent narrator as well as writer, and her voice suits her characters and style perfectly, making this one a fantastic listen as well.

The plot unfolds like a flower, delicately revealing its connections and divergences; a beautiful, clever, and lingering book, the work of a masterful storyteller.

Thank you to the publisher for the advance review copy.