The Fox Wife
Manchuria, 1908: Bao, a detective of stellar reputation, is called in to find the identity of an unknown woman found frozen to death on a doorstep. Bao has a gift for detecting lies as they hum in the air around him. His search takes him to the private estate of Wang, a wealthy merchant, from whose estate a young woman has escaped. Wang covets her beauty and demands her return. Bao tracks the woman to Dalian, where a bout of food poisoning forces him to seek out a Chinese medicine shop.
Snow is a grieving young wife on a revenge mission, searching for a photographer responsible for the death of her daughter. In Dalian, Snow (now Ah San) becomes servant and companion to the older fourth wife of a Chinese medicine merchant whose grandson, Bohai, is threatened by a family curse in which firstborn boys always die young. Ah San travels with her mistress to Japan, where Bohai is studying, but tragedy befalls the group on the return journey. When Bao is called in to investigate, he crosses paths with Ah San and her mistress, fulfilling a lifelong yearning he doesn’t expect.
Choo’s tale is of ancient superstition, based on Chinese fable and myth, as she weaves separate narratives seamlessly into one, through Bao’s and Ah San’s journeys towards enlightenment. She gives us a tantalizing glimpse into Chinese culture: belief that wicked women are foxes, reviled as tricksters. Meanwhile, the charismatic handsome males are feared and revered and do as they please. Choo’s ability to blur lines between folklore and historical reality is masterly. Her characters are as tangible as if they were standing in front of you. It wasn’t difficult to fall for their seductive charm and wiliness in this spellbinding novel, which had me enchanted from beginning to end.
