How to be Human

LoveReading Says

Longlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize 2018 | April 2017 Debut of the Month.

Here is a woman, Mary, who desperately needs something and even we, the reader, are not entirely sure what.  She has just split with a long-term boyfriend, Mark, the final bitter row being over commitment and not wanting a child.  The next door neighbours have a toddler and a new baby girl.  Mary babysits and forms an attachment with the baby which becomes complicated when the child is dumped on her later.  It is the age old dilemma; no she does not want a child ... but then maybe she does.  A magnificent dog fox appears in her overgrown garden, an area that backs onto a bit of scrub land.  There are passages when we become aware of his thoughts and so eventually discover he is mourning his vixen.  We are in East London.  Mary develops an friendship with the fox, as indeed does he with her, or so we are led to believe.  But again is he real or is she suffering from some delusion, edging on a mental breakdown?  Is the fox a symbol for a need to care, nurture, protect, belong, or is he actually there?  This is fascinating stuff.  A tale of obsession which is unsettling, powerful and hypnotic.  An original debut.  I was fascinated to learn that there are ten thousand foxes roaming London.

Sarah Broadhurst

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