“Foxlowe” is a seriously
creepy book. You wouldn’t think so; Green, our narrator, thinks Foxlowe is the
best place possible for a kid to grow up. Not that she has anything to compare
it to; she was born there. It’s a commune, where everyone is equal, things are
shared, they live off the land as much as possible, and there are many
celebrations. She knows kids Outside have to go to school while she gets to
learn from the land. But while the book starts on a major festival day- Summer Solstice-
the very first scene is one of punishment. Green is taking the Spike Walk,
where the child is forced to drag her bare arm along exposed nail points. Punishments
are meted out by Freya, one of the Founders, and her list of punishable
offenses is long. Freya claims these punishments keep the Family protected; it
is keeping The Bad out. The Bad can be invited in in many ways; talking to
Outsiders, going outside their limited territory (the moor, the Standing
Stones), seeming to prefer the company of Libby (fellow founder and rival for
the affections of Richard, who is owner of the decaying, ramshackle mansion
they live in), disagreeing with Freya. But Green loves Freya (probably her bio
mom) and will do whatever it takes to make her happy.
But while Green can see no other life, she has a playmate- a
boy (Toby) a few years older than her, brought to Foxlowe when was 6 or so, who
remembers Outside and aspires to other things. But it’s a status quo until one
day Freya brings home a baby, Blue, and puts Green – about 5 at the time- in
charge of her. Needless to say, between jealousy and ineptitude, things don’t
go well.
The kids are neglected. Food is sporadic. They are given
wine and moonshine from the time they are babies. They can barely read, and
Green doesn’t know her numbers even as an adult. They get stoned with the
adults a lot of the time. Blue is a challenge to Freya from the time she’s
little, dealing with her punishments stoically. Toby’s tales of Outside
fascinate Blue. Blue is the balance to Green; despite being brought up from
birth in Foxlowe, she doesn’t accept things as they are.
Green’s story bounces around in time; in one installment
she’s a child, in the next an adult, in the next, a young teen. Her calm take
on things like the Spike Walk is eerie. Even as an adult, long out of the
Family, her take on life is still shaped by her childhood and Freya’s jealous
urge for power over people. This badly damaged person still sees things the way
she did as a child. It’s a very compelling story- I read it in two sittings-
and despite the horror we can see that in some ways, Green’s childhood as she
saw it was very beautiful and filled with magic. But family dynamics can be
just as ugly in an intentional community as in the wild Outside, and that’s
what rules Foxlowe.
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I received this book free from the Amazon Vine program in return for an unbiased review.
Neither of these things influenced my review.
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