Foxlight

This is the story of sisters Rey and Fen who were apparently found as babies, curled up with a load of foxes in a den. And now they live in a children’s home called The Light House at the edge of the Wildlands with all the other foundlings. But unlike the others, they didn’t seem to have a mother who left them, no trace of a back story, so Fen weaves magical tales of how they came to be there. Then a real fox appears in the ‘Foxlight’, which is the name given to the time when twilight meets the dawn, and they follow it into the wildlands hoping to find their mother, and a very odd adventure ensues, exploring belonging and sisterhood.  

This is a beautiful book and award-winning Katya Balan has a brilliant narrative voice so, despite it being so poetic, it’s not a difficult read, just an unusual one. The story is breathtakingly told, and so captivating it will pull a 10-year-old child reader into something other, something deeper, unusual, bright and brightening like a fox's fur! The cover, russet red and glowing, and the internal illustrations by Barry Falls are stunning.