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The Hounding
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The Hounding

By: Xenobe Purvis
Narrated by: Olivia Vinall
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

The season of strangeness has begun . . .

Many stories are told about the five Mansfield sisters. They are haughty, thinking themselves better than their neighbours in the picturesque village of Little Nettlebed. They have taken the death of their grandmother hard. They are liars, troublemakers, untamed and dangerous... Accounts of their behaviour differ, but the villagers all agree that the girls are odd.

One long summer, a heatwave descends. Bloated sea creatures wash up along the parched riverbed, animals grow frenzied, ravens gather on the roofs of those about to die. As the stifling heat grips the village, so does a strange rumour: the Mansfield sisters have been seen transforming into a pack of dogs.

With the witch trials only a recent memory, hysteria sets in. Slowly but surely, the villagers become convinced that something strange is taking root in Little Nettlebed. And when a bark finally leads to a bite, the sisters will be the ones to pay for it.

Visceral and richly atmospheric, The Hounding plunges its listener into 18th century Oxfordshire, where the power of a man’s word is absolute, and it is safer to be a wild animal than an unconventional young woman

©2025 Xenobe Purvis (P)2025 Penguin Audio Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Small Town & Rural Suspense Thriller & Suspense Village

Critic reviews

Haunting and beguiling, this fever dream of a novel draws you in and colours your mind all shades of doubt and suspicion. (Stacey Halls, author of THE FAMILIARS)
Xenobe Purvis has done something masterful here. The Hounding is a novel of rare grace and skill, exquisitely wrought and simmering with feral violence. This book is both lyrical and muscular; to read it is to submit to a current that every now and again pulls you under and leaves you gasping. I can't wait to devour everything she writes (Rowe Irvin, author of LIFE CYCLE OF A MOTH)
Seamlessly crafted, The Hounding is an unflinchingly strange and savage novel – a rare and twisted pleasure to read. Xenobe Purvis writes about the female experience with an unsettling and startling honesty. This is an unmissable must-read for every girl who has ever been made to feel strange. In a single word, The Hounding is breathtaking. (Lucy Rose, author of THE LAMB)
A haunting, dark and visceral story . . . chilling. (Flora Carr, author of THE TOWER)
Haunting and melancholy and bittersweet and just the most beautiful, evocative prose. For fans of Jeffrey Eugenides, Julia Armfield and Sophie Mackintosh. (Otegha Uwagba, author of LITTLE BLACK BOOK)
The Hounding is a sweaty fever-dream of a novel. The writing is gorgeous: it bristles with rage and crackles with energy. Unsettling, vivid and irresistibly readable. I can't wait to see what Xenobe Purvis writes next. (Marni Appleton, author of I HOPE YOU'RE HAPPY)
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)
Haunting . . . 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)
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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