Foxfinder

Foxfinder

Set in an English countryside on the brink of crisis and subject to rigorous official inspection.

One farming couple, Samuel and Judith Covey, already troubled by the death of their son and failing crops, find themselves under investigation by 19-year-old William Bloor, a designated foxfinder. For Bloor, the fox is the deadly enemy of mankind, with the power to contaminate farms, influence the weather, unsettle the mind and kill children.

We see how Bloor's fox fixation leads neighbours to betray each other, and drives the innocent Samuel into a state of deluded guilt.

King's sharp sense of humour, narrative drive and realism locates her dark fable in a plausible world where cattle still have to be fed, leeks harvested and meals cooked.