Wow this book was fantastic one of my favourites of the year & incredibly a debut ! This author will be an auto buy for me now ; I‘d say it‘s more of a tale of misogyny, spite , gossip , rumours and petty mindedness which sadly seems to be prevalent in modern times as well as the 17th century! A delicious twist at the end - loved 🥰 it
This Virgin Suicides retelling of 18th century sisters who the town suspects of turning into dogs is exceeding my expectations. I‘m tearing through it!
Seriously good 😌 reading with my little hound 🐶😆 need to google it to see if this madness ; 17th century misogynistic acquisitions are true …..
pickThese blurbs from Libby perfectly sum up the mood of this book.
"The Hounding considers whether in any age it might be safer to be a dog than an unusual young girl."
pickThis engages with ideas about gossip, group think, belief systems. The writing is absolutely beautiful. The author was inspired by a briefly documented actual event where sisters were accused of becoming dogs. One can only imagine what happened to them. Purvis does that with remarkable skill and creativity. By the end, the reader wonders whether it is better to be a hound rather than a woman who stands on her two feet. A must read.
pickI annotated the shizz out of this book, and it brought me back to my days of teaching The Crucible, focusing on the harmful power of fear and how quickly people‘s common sense can be swept away and replaced with rumor-fueled hysteria. There‘s a lot to be said about the way the world treats our girls, especially those with grit and courage. The cover is perfection; this reading experience has been perfection. Loved every minute.
This cover and “The Crucible” as the first words on the dust jacket?! Yes, please 🤓🙌
pickThis has a fairy tale feeling to it that I really enjoyed, it also felt like fall even though it was set in an oppressive dry summer. There is a continuous ramp up of hysteria that was done very well.
I liked that there were a few different POVs and that they were all distinct and easy to tell apart.
I really enjoyed this.
Anybody else doing the Goodreads' Challenges? So far I have collected them all. I had planned on reading Everything is Tuberculosis for the Lightning Round challenge, but I discovered The Hounding counted towards two categories once I finished it. It's really satisfying seeing the bookmarks change from blank to illustrated with the achievements.
"Thomas nodded. He saw what she was trying to say: that history was round, that all things pass. But she was wrong to think it about this situation. There had never been anyone like the Mansfield sisters; there would never be anyone like them again. Their spiritedness and singularly, the way rumors about them bred. How people grew preoccupied with them, how they dreaded and pursued them and might eventually ruin them."
