Book Summary and Reviews of The Hounding by Xenobe Purvis

Book Summary

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.

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

1. "The fierce one, the pretty one, the tomboy, the nervous one, the youngest." Consistently, the Mansfield sisters are differentiated from one another along these lines. What do these descriptions say about the people who are describing the girls? After reading the novel, how would you describe Anne, Elizabeth, Hester, Grace, and Mary?
2. Summer in Little Nettlebed is referred to as "the season of strangeness." Apart from the rumors about the Mansfield sisters, what strange events occur in the village over the course of the novel? Why do you think the summer is so strange?
3. We hear about the Mansfield sisters from the perspectives of many different men—Pete Darling, Thomas Mildmay, Robin Wildgoose, and Joseph Mansfield&...