The Hounding

(Hardback)

Available Formats

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

A strange, haunting historical debut about the Mansfield sisters- five wild girls who are rumoured to turn into a pack of dogs 'Haunting and beguiling, this fever dream of a novel draws you in and colours your mind all shades of doubt and suspicion' STACEY HALLS 'Melancholy and bittersweet' OTEGHA UWAGBA 'A novel of rare grace and skill, exquisitely wrought and simmering with feral violence' ROWE IRVIN The season of strangeness has begun . . . Many stories are told about the five Mansfield sisters. They are haughty, thinking themselves better than their neighbours in the picturesque village of Little Nettlebed. They have taken the death of their grandmother hard. They are liars, troublemakers, untamed and dangerous... Accounts of their behaviour differ, but the villagers all agree that the girls are odd. One long summer, a heatwave descends. Bloated sea creatures wash up along the parched riverbed, animals grow frenzied, ravens gather on the roofs of those about to die. As the stifling heat grips the village, so does a strange rumour- the Mansfield sisters have been seen transforming into a pack of dogs. With the witch trials only a recent memory, hysteria sets in. Slowly but surely, the villagers become convinced that something strange is taking root in Little Nettlebed. And when a bark finally leads to a bite, the sisters will be the ones to pay for it. Visceral and richly atmospheric, The Hounding plunges its reader into 18th century Oxfordshire, where the power of a man's word is absolute, and it is safer to be a wild animal than an unconventional young woman. 'Haunting, dark and visceral' FLORA CARR

Reviews

Haunting and beguiling, this fever dream of a novel draws you in and colours your mind all shades of doubt and suspicion. -- Stacey Halls, author of THE FAMILIARS
Xenobe Purvis has done something masterful here. The Hounding is a novel of rare grace and skill, exquisitely wrought and simmering with feral violence. This book is both lyrical and muscular; to read it is to submit to a current that every now and again pulls you under and leaves you gasping. I can't wait to devour everything she writes -- Rowe Irvin, author of LIFE CYCLE OF A MOTH
Seamlessly crafted, The Hounding is an unflinchingly strange and savage novel a rare and twisted pleasure to read. Xenobe Purvis writes about the female experience with an unsettling and startling honesty. This is an unmissable must-read for every girl who has ever been made to feel strange. In a single word, The Hounding is breathtaking. -- Lucy Rose, author of THE LAMB
A haunting, dark and visceral story . . . chilling. -- Flora Carr, author of THE TOWER
Haunting and melancholy and bittersweet and just the most beautiful, evocative prose. For fans of Jeffrey Eugenides, Julia Armfield and Sophie Mackintosh. -- Otegha Uwagba, author of LITTLE BLACK BOOK
The Hounding is a sweaty fever-dream of a novel. The writing is gorgeous: it bristles with rage and crackles with energy. Unsettling, vivid and irresistibly readable. I can't wait to see what Xenobe Purvis writes next. -- Marni Appleton, author of I HOPE YOU'RE HAPPY
The Hounding is a debut novel bound to be a cult classic. Its a tale set centuries ago that throbs with a bloody, living heart. Its a jewel dug from the depths of Xenobe Purviss imagination. Its exquisite. -- Julia Phillips, author of BEAR

Author Bio

Xenobe Purvis was born in Tokyo in 1990. She read English Literature at Oxford University, has an MA in Creative Writing from Royal Holloway, and was part of the London Library's Emerging Writers Programme. She is a writer and literary researcher, currently co-editing a volume of Christopher Isherwood's selected letters. Her essays have been published by the TLS, The London Magazine, and others, as well as in collections in the US and UK. Her debut novel THE HOUNDING will be published in 2025.