Book Review: The Fox Wife by Yangsze Choo

This stunning, cinematic tale of detectives and fox people in the sunset of Manchurian-ruled China is one of the most thoughtful multi-sleuth mysteries I’ve had the pleasure of reading in a while!

Our titular heroine prefers to go by the name Snow. She is, indeed, a fox wife out of legend, capable of switching between fox and human forms with relative ease:

I exist either as 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. Frankly, I’d prefer to look like someone’s grandmother; that would at least give me some dignity appropriate to my years. Which leads me to note […] that though most tales focus on the beautiful female foxes who live by devouring qi, or life force, little is said about the males. Women who run around willfully doing whatever they please are bound to be censured. A handsome, cunning man is a different matter. Most male foxes are only forced to retire or fake their deaths when their uncanny, ageless looks start to disturb people. Don’t get me started on the unfairness of this[.]

Snow had been happy enough to live in the grasslands of the remote provinces of Northern China with her family, until her only child was taken from her. Now she’s on a mission of vengeance, determined to track down and punish the men who irrevocably shattered her life.

Her journey is not, of course, without its obstacles or opponents. But her greatest adversary comes not in the form of yet another licentious, grasping man who wants to trap her for himself, as so many men do. Instead, she must match wits against the honest, unassuming Bao, whose own childhood encounter with fox spirits left him with the uncanny ability to separate the truth from lies. As he’s grown older, he’s parlayed this into a perhaps surprisingly successful career as a detective:

It’s not a profession that officially exists, as far as he knows. But he started finding lost objects, ferreting out the truth, and acting as an intermediary until his services were well-known enough that he felt he could charge for them.

 

Bao understands his appeal lies partly in his cultured demeanor. A former scholar from a good family who can recite poetry and fathom the secrets of a treacherous heart—this reassures his upper-class clientele. He ponders Mr. Wang’s commission. Finding a missing person isn’t the same as recovering stolen property, let alone a woman who apparently thinks she’s a fox. Some might wonder who is crazed—this woman or Mr. Wang himself?

As Snow and Bao’s paths converge, bodies begin to turn up in the snow-covered streets, smiling even in the embrace of death. Bao must use every one of his considerable talents to not only help lay the dead’s restless spirits but also to prevent more unnecessary deaths from occurring. When this puts his own life in jeopardy however—right as he’s on the brink of achieving a lifelong dream—will he and Snow be able to set aside their differences in order to finally rectify historic injustices? Or will fate take happiness away from the both of them for good?

This sprawling historical mystery effortlessly incorporates the tumultuous events of 1908 China, as well as the legends and folklore that persist to this day, into a highly entertaining, often thought-provoking account of a mother bent on revenge and the man unwittingly sent to track her down. I loved how sympathetic Snow and Bao are both to each other and to the reader, as Yangsze Choo deftly mirrors their stories just enough to show their underlying kinship, even as it’s clear that they’re very much different individuals with diverging goals and needs. Snow’s story, especially, is a wry modern parable, not only of what it means to be a feminist but also a migrant, forced to rapidly adapt between worlds. I deeply loved this fully inhabited tale of murder and vengeance in a world where it’s taken for granted that spirits are real and that justice, though elusive, can be fought for and attained.