Publishers Weekly
★ 03/13/2017
In Wasserberg’s absorbingly creepy debut, a young girl grows up in an isolated commune at the edge of a Stonehenge-like group of standing stones. Born in the decaying old mansion that is the home of a “ragtag group” called the Family, the girl known only as Green tells her story from her own limited point of view, leaving the reader to infer much that the narrator can’t understand. It’s a literary perspective much like that of Emma Donoghue’s Room, and used to equally chilling effect here. Green’s troubled mother, Freya, one of the group’s founders, alternately smothers her daughter with affection and punishes her in grisly ways to get rid of “the Bad.” When a baby the Family names Blue is brought in from the feared outside world, Green is wracked with jealousy, and the stage is set for the downfall of the already distressed commune. Though the ending of the novel is violent, that horror arises naturally out of what precedes it. The narrator’s voice is equal parts naive and wise; Wasserberg has a gift for allowing the reader into this world inch by inch while playing up its claustrophobic nature, as well as the aspects that make Green susceptible to its enchantments. Agent: Noah Ballard, Curtis Brown. (Apr.)
From the Publisher
An absorbingly creepy debut . . . It’s a literary perspective much like that of Emma Donoghue’s Room, and used to equally chilling effect here. . . . The narrator’s voice is equal parts naive and wise; Wasserberg has a gift for allowing the reader into this world inch by inch while playing up its claustrophobic nature, as well as the aspects that make Green susceptible to its enchantments.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Foxlowe is gorgeous and seductive. The story propels you toward an ending that feels both shocking and inevitable, and the last line is a stunner. I was completely gripped.”
—Flynn Berry, author of Under the Harrow
“With echoes of both Shirley Jackson and Emily Brontë, Wasserberg has written a terrifying coming-of-age novel about childhood’s pull on the imagination and loyalty to memory. Foxlowe creeped me out of my skin.”
—Rebecca Scherm, author of Unbecoming
“Mesmerizing, gripping, and beautifully written. It completely sweeps you up from beginning to end. I loved it.”
—Kate Hamer, author of The Girl in the Red Coat
“An excellent debut . . . Wasserberg has a strong and distinctive voice.”
—Clare Mackintosh, author of I Let You Go
“I thoroughly enjoyed this vivid and claustrophobic coming-of-age debut.”
—Tasha Kavanagh, author of Things We Have in Common
“A meticulously conceived and darkly compelling debut. . . . Underpinning the claustrophobic horror of its main theme is a parable of unchecked sibling rivalry, a girl’s desperate need for motherly love, and the knotted consequences of childhood trauma.”
—The Observer (London)
“Wasserberg should be admired. . . . For some time after reading, I found myself unable to shake the images she conjured up, instead sinking more deeply into them—which is testament to the storytelling powers of this talented novelist.”
—Sarah Perry, The Guardian
“An assured and richly atmospheric debut novel . . . Wasserberg sustains this world with formidable skill, and documents its inevitable collapse to heartbreaking effect. . . . From Green’s perspective emerges a study of moral dysfunction that is meticulous, intimate, and compelling. Foxlowe may give up its secrets, in the end, but it never gives up its hold.”
—The Irish Times
