Publisher
Henry Holt & Company
A novel about five sisters in a small village in eighteenth-century England whose neighbors are convinced they’re turning into dogs.
What The Reviewers Say
Eerie … I thought it was really interesting that we never get the girls’ perspectives — if not a little obvious as to the messaging of the book, which is that their perspectives are consistently ignored … Sometimes, Purvis is a little too on the nose … If you’re looking for a novel that addresses the unfairness of being a girl and how being a wild animal is almost preferable, with interesting perspectives from the villagers, a little spooky atmosphere and an ambiguous ending, this is the book for you.
Purvis, whose prose style is clipped and flinty, keeps a shrewd distance from the sisters, refusing to conclusively dispel the claims of their metamorphoses … Irony that Ms. Purvis hammers home perhaps too forcefully. But she is excellent at evoking the fear of the unknown and the lure of the mob.
Purvis…does an excellent job of sketching swampy settings and folk-gothic atmospheres … Worth reading … The perfect holiday book.
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