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Judith's Reviews > Fox Evil
Fox Evil
by
by
It's been a long time since I have been so absorbed by a book.
At the heart of the story, or rather the driving force, is "Fox Evil". This is a man who is traveling with a band of travelers, who descend upon a village in Dorset at night and quietly set up their campers in a circle on vacant land. Fox knows the land to be in disputed ownership, and he sells his band on the idea of "adverse possession" - hang on long enough and the land is theirs.
With Fox is his small ten-year-old son, Wolfie, who is deeply afraid of Fox and who does not know what happened to his mother and younger brother. Wolfie gets by on his wits, scrabbling for bits and trying to keep together when his father can't be bothered to care for him.
We learn that Fox seems to know a lot about this village. More than a casual aquaintance would suggest. He also speaks with a "posh" accent, suggesting a possible former connection with someone in the village. Particularly Colonel James Lockyer-Fox, who lives alone in his large old house, mourning the death of his wife.
Lockyer-Fox is especially interested in finding his illegitimate granddaughter, who was adopted out at birth 28 years before, and he sends his solicitor out to find her. But she has a good home and is not interested in knowing anything about her birth family.
Fox Evil intrudes on everyone's lives, from the village gossips to the Colonel's, and may be a factor in the death of Lockyer-Fox's wife. Who is he really, and what is he after?
The characters are well-developed and interesting. I became fond of several, which especially led me on. There are aspects to the story that i wondered about - such as the tendency of some of the police to pronounce their opinions rather too freely, in places where one would normally be more circumspect. I also had questions in my mind about the lives of the two grown children of the Lockyer-Foxes. How did they grow up to become the way they did? But while I may have thought some of these things doubtful, they did not stop me from fully enjoying the story all the way to the end (the ending went on rather long, I thought).
At the heart of the story, or rather the driving force, is "Fox Evil". This is a man who is traveling with a band of travelers, who descend upon a village in Dorset at night and quietly set up their campers in a circle on vacant land. Fox knows the land to be in disputed ownership, and he sells his band on the idea of "adverse possession" - hang on long enough and the land is theirs.
With Fox is his small ten-year-old son, Wolfie, who is deeply afraid of Fox and who does not know what happened to his mother and younger brother. Wolfie gets by on his wits, scrabbling for bits and trying to keep together when his father can't be bothered to care for him.
We learn that Fox seems to know a lot about this village. More than a casual aquaintance would suggest. He also speaks with a "posh" accent, suggesting a possible former connection with someone in the village. Particularly Colonel James Lockyer-Fox, who lives alone in his large old house, mourning the death of his wife.
Lockyer-Fox is especially interested in finding his illegitimate granddaughter, who was adopted out at birth 28 years before, and he sends his solicitor out to find her. But she has a good home and is not interested in knowing anything about her birth family.
Fox Evil intrudes on everyone's lives, from the village gossips to the Colonel's, and may be a factor in the death of Lockyer-Fox's wife. Who is he really, and what is he after?
The characters are well-developed and interesting. I became fond of several, which especially led me on. There are aspects to the story that i wondered about - such as the tendency of some of the police to pronounce their opinions rather too freely, in places where one would normally be more circumspect. I also had questions in my mind about the lives of the two grown children of the Lockyer-Foxes. How did they grow up to become the way they did? But while I may have thought some of these things doubtful, they did not stop me from fully enjoying the story all the way to the end (the ending went on rather long, I thought).
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Fox Evil.
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Reading Progress
October 1, 2020
–
Started Reading
October 4, 2020
–
Finished Reading
October 5, 2020
– Shelved
