The Fox Wife

Between her first two novels, I’ve become a big fan of Yangsze Choo. Now she’s back with her third novel, The Fox Wife, and I was thrilled to get an early read of it. Like her previous two books, this one combines historical fiction, fantasy, and mystery together, along with Asian settings and mythologies. This time, though, instead of Malaysia, the events take place in northern China and Japan. It’s another stunning story that is completely worth your read.

Special thanks to Henry Holt and Co. and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book!

Summary

It’s 1908, two years after Snow’s daughter was killed by hunter. A fox spirit herself, Snow is ready to seek revenge. She assumes her human form and tracks him down, but it takes help from new acquaintances and familiar faces alike to find the man responsible for her young daughter’s death. Meanwhile, an older man named Bao is a private detective tracking down the identity of a recently deceased woman, and it leads him on an ever-evolving case that takes him closer and closer to the fox spirits. All will tie together in unexpected ways by the mystery’s end. 

Review

Prior to reading The Fox Wife, I knew very little of Chinese mythology and nothing at all about fox spirits. Here, I loved getting to learn about these spirits and see them come to life on the pages. Half of the novel is told from the perspective of Snow, a fox spirit currently in the form of a human woman and on a mission of revenge. Through some ruthless cunning on her part and a convenient twist of luck, she starts working as the servant to an elderly woman. That woman’s family—namely her grandson—will be an important key in Snow’s goal of tracking down the man who killed her young daughter. But Snow isn’t the only fox spirit present, and between her and two other fox men—plus the humans they’re traveling with—things will get increasingly complicated. 

In addition to Snow’s first-person narrative of revenge, we also get a third-person account of Bao, an older man who has become a private detective after becoming a widower. He has a magical gift of being able to tell truth from lies (this goes back to an event in his childhood), and it serves him well in tracking down missing persons and solving murders. His first case in The Fox Wife is to find out the identity of a woman who died in the streets, a smile on her face. Bao is following a trail that leads him into new mysteries, but at the back of his mind is the ever-present question of whether fox spirits are involved. 

I enjoyed the dual-timeline and narrative, with Bao several steps behind what Snow and the others are doing. This novel is a perfect balance of historical fiction, mystery, and fantasy, and I loved seeing how characters and events started to tangle together for an unexpected and climactic end. How might people from your past reemerge now? How can undisclosed connections lead to surprising outcomes? While Bao’s cases keep evolving, so too does Snow’s narrative. What starts as tracking a man down for revenge turns into something more significant. 

One question I had throughout the book was in relation to its title: Who is Snow the wife of? What happened to her husband, if she ever had one? What is the full story about her young daughter’s death? Characters come in and out of the story, some only there for a scene, others meant to play a bigger role. It keeps us readers on our toes as we try to unravel this strange tangled web.  

Final Thoughts

If you love your historical fiction with a healthy dose of mystery, fantasy, and mythology, The Fox Wife is an ideal read. It takes place in 1908 throughout northern China and Japan, weaving in cultural and historical elements to create a rich tapestry. It’s filled with thoughtful quotes and observations, shifting characters, and a story that is not what it might first appear. I’ve loved all three of Yangsze Choo’s books so far, and I already can’t wait to read whatever is next for her. 

Get the Book

You can buy The Fox Wife here – it’s available as a hardcover, ebook, and audiobook.

The Fox Wife by Yangsze Choo
Audience	Adult
Genre	Fantasy; Historical Mystery
Setting	Northern China; Japan
Number of Pages	400
Format I Read	Ebook (NetGalley ARC)
Original Publication Date	February 13, 2024
Publisher	Henry Holt and Co.

Official Summary

Some people think foxes are similar to ghosts because we go around collecting qi, but nothing could be further than the truth. We are living creatures, just like you, only usually better looking . . .

Manchuria, 1908.
In the last years of the dying Qing Empire, a courtesan is found frozen in a doorway. Her death is clouded by rumors of foxes, which are believed to lure people by transforming themselves into beautiful women and handsome men. Bao, a detective with an uncanny ability to sniff out the truth, is hired to uncover the dead woman’s identity. Since childhood, Bao has been intrigued by the fox gods, yet they’ve remained tantalizingly out of reach—until, perhaps, now.

Meanwhile, a family who owns a famous Chinese medicine shop can cure ailments but can’t escape the curse that afflicts them—their eldest sons die before their twenty-fourth birthdays. When a disruptively winsome servant named Snow enters their household, the family’s luck seems to change—or does it?

Snow is a creature of many secrets, but most of all she’s a mother seeking vengeance for her lost child. Hunting a murderer, she will follow the trail from northern China to Japan, while Bao follows doggedly behind. Navigating the myths and misconceptions of fox spirits, both Snow and Bao will encounter old friends and new foes, even as more deaths occur.

New York Times bestselling author Yangsze Choo brilliantly explores a world of mortals and
spirits, humans and beasts, and their dazzling intersection. Epic in scope and full of singular, unforgettable characters, The Fox Wife is a stunning novel about old loves and second chances, the depths of maternal love, and ancient folktales that may very well be true.