Book
How to be human / Paula Cocozza.
"One hot summer's night, Mary comes home from a midnight ramble to find her neighbours' baby Flora lying on her back doorstep, desperately vulnerable on the concrete in her little white sleep suit. Has Mary, in her confusion and misery, stolen the baby from next door? Has Michelle, the baby's mother, left her there in her acute state of post-natal depression? Or was she brought to Mary as a gift by the fox who is increasingly coming to dominate her life? Off work with an undisclosed illness and intimidated by the presence of her ex-boyfriend, Mark, who has moved out but is never far away, Mary becomes progressively obsessed with the magnificent fox who is always in her garden--even as her relationship with her neighbours deteriorates and she becomes more and more isolated. First she sees him wink at her; then he brings her presents and shares her garden rug; and finally she invites him into her house. As the boundaries between the domestic and the wild blur, and the neighbours set out to exterminate the fox, it is unclear if Mary will save the fox, or the fox save Mary ..."-- Provided by publisher.
Available copies
- 1 of 1 copy available at Tsuga Consortium.
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- 0 current holds with 1 total copy.
Show Only Available Copies
| Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Status | Due Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lakeshore Branch | FIC Cocoz | 31681010054229 | FICTION | Available | - |
- Penguin Putnam
From Guardian writer Paula Cocozza, a debut novel of the breakdown of a marriage, suburbian claustrophobia, and a woman's unseemly passion for a fox
You've seen a fox.
Come face to face in an unexpected place, or at an unexpected moment.
And he has looked at you, as you have looked at him. As if he has something to tell you, or you have something to tell him.
But what if it didn't stop there?
When Mary arrives home from work one day to find a magnificent fox on her lawn—his ears spiked in attention and every hair bristling with his power to surprise—it is only the beginning.
He brings gifts (at least, Mary imagines they are gifts), and gradually makes himself at home. And as he listens to Mary, Mary listens back.
She begins to hear herself for the first time in years. Her bullish ex-boyfriend, still lurking on the fringes of her life, would be appalled. So would the neighbours with a new baby. They only like wildlife that fits with the decor, and they are determined to defend the boundary between the domestic and the wild. But inside Mary a wildness is growing that will not be tamed.
In this extraordinary debut, the lines between sanity and safety, obsession and delusion blur, in a thrilling exploration of what makes us human.
