Review: In the Time of Foxes by Jo Lennan

The debut short story collection from Australian author Jo Lennan takes readers to places far and wide across the globe as it tells the story of various humans and their complex relationships with the world around them. Cleverly weaved in to each of the stories is the motif of a fox. Sometimes the foxes appear as they are, sometimes as a metaphors. Each time it packs a real punch. The stories vary in their locations and the characters vary in age. 

I read this one over the course of several evenings, dipping in to one story per day, an approach which allowed me to appreciate each story in full. As always in a collection like this, while all of the stories stood up well on their individual merit, I had my favourites. In particular, I loved the third story in the collection, titled Joyride which kept me guessing right up until the end what the clever and cunning Sylvia would do--and I certainly found myself biting my nails wondering whether I would leave the story feeling satisfied or utterly devastated at the ending. (I'm thrilled to report that I loved the ending.) And while Joyride is set in Sydney, many of the other stories gave me a chance to be an armchair tourist as I read about places such as Japan and Russia, which feel so very far away at the moment. 

Recommended.

Thank you to Simon and Schuster Australia for my copy of In the Time of Foxes. 

This book was read as part of the Aussie Author Challenge 2020

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