This title will be released on:
Aug 5, 2025
Description
The Crucible meets The Virgin Suicides in this haunting debut about five sisters in a small village in eighteenth-century England whose neighbors are convinced they’re turning into dogs.
Even before the rumors about the Mansfield girls begin, Little Nettlebed is a village steeped in the uncanny, from strange creatures that wash up on the riverbank to portentous ravens gathering on the roofs of people about to die. But when the villagers start to hear barking, and one claims to see the Mansfield sisters transform before his very eyes, the allegations spark fascination and fear like nothing has before.
The truth is that though the inhabitants of Little Nettlebed have never much liked the Mansfield girls—a little odd, think some; a little high on themselves, perhaps—they’ve always had plenty to say about them. As the rotating perspectives of five villagers quickly make clear, now is no exception. Even if local belief in witchcraft is waning, an aversion to difference is as widespread as ever, and these conflicting narratives all point to the same ultimate conclusion: Something isn’t right in Little Nettlebed, and the sisters will be the ones to pay for it.
A richly atmospheric parable of the pleasures and perils of female defiance, The Hounding considers whether in any age it might be safer to be a dog than an unusual young girl.
Product Details
| Publisher | Henry Holt and Co. |
| Publish Date | August 05, 2025 |
| Pages | 240 |
| Language | English |
| Type |  Hardback |
| EAN/UPC | 9781250366382 |
| Dimensions | 209.6 X 136.5 X 25.4 mm | 1.0 pounds |
About the Author
Reviews
One of the Los Angeles Times Must-Read Books of Summer 2025
One of Harper’s Bazaar’s “Best Beach Reads to Keep You Occupied All Summer Long”
Named a Most Anticipated Book of 2025 by NPR, Time, LitHub, Paste, and PopVerse
“What takes this novel past conceit to commentary lies in its exploration of interiority among all of the characters, not simply the suspected women, but those who observe, accuse and fear. When a community cannot explain misfortune, who suffers? Purvis makes a clever but careful case for combining the Gothic with the paranormal.”
—Los Angeles Times
“You had me at ‘The Crucible meets The Virgin Suicides.’ Add, perhaps, ‘meets Nightbitch,’ considering the main complaint that the residents of Little Nettlebed have about the Mansfield sisters is that they are maybe, probably, definitely turning into dogs. I’m game.”
—LitHub
“With hints of superstition akin to Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” and the puritanical overtones of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, Purvis’s The Hounding taps into universal themes of fear, violence, lust, and also empathy.”
—Shelf Awareness
“The Hounding is a debut novel bound to be a cult classic. It’s a tale set centuries ago that throbs with a bloody, living heart. It’s a jewel dug from the depths of Xenobe Purvis’s imagination. It’s exquisite.”
—Julia Phillips, author of Bear
“Five unusual sisters set a village on edge in this haunting tale of a bewitching madness set in 1700 England. Are the girls a true danger to their neighbors? Will rumor alone put them on the path to destruction? This chilling story can be read as a parable of female empowerment or as a tale of feverish bedevilment overtaking an entire town. Xenobe Purvis has written a book so masterful, you will not be able to look away.”
—Laurie Lico Albanese, author of Hester
“The Hounding is a lush and atmospheric warning of the dangers of individuality for girls indifferent to the gaze of others. Every word in this spare, sharp novel cuts and implicates the small-minded townsfolk who chase rumors like wild dogs chase prey. A virtuosic debut from a brilliantly keen mind and eye. Certainly, Xenobe Purvis shares a bloodline with Shirley Jackson.”
—Diane Cook, author of The New Wilderness
“A gorgeous, lush landscape of a book—and a haunting tale of the strangeness of girlhood. Our view of the Mansfield sisters flickers like sunlight through trees, always partially obscured, always brilliant. This novel is tender, witty, and terrifying, and I loved it.”
—Clare Beams, author of The Garden
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