A review by ashleylm
Lady into Fox by David Garnett

4.0

A very strange little book, but I had tears in my eyes when it was over—it's a weird, sad story.

A lady becomes a fox—just like that—and though nobody witnesses it (her husband was looking away at the instant), the change is immediate, and the fox can understand English and play cards, so we accept it as truth. It is told from a narrator's opinion of the husband's point of view, as he copes with a wife who is a fox, and as the story unfolds, a wife who increasingly becomes foxlike.

My mother (who is keen to ask me what the theme or message of a book was, thinking that's something they all must have, based on her chosen diet of books) would probably like this one. I suspect there's a theme or message there for the taking. I try not to worry about such things. But it held my interest, got extra points for being utterly strange, I felt the author played fair given the premise, and it moved me.

It's freely available at Project Gutenberg, with the original illustrations—I finally broke down and learned how to download-and-transfer-to-Kindle, so I could read this in bed, and it couldn't have been easier once I identified my Kindle folder! Luddites, give it a try.

(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s).