Dear readers, With tomorrow’s full moon on the horizon, it feels especially timely for me to extol a debut novel I loved: “The Hounding,” by Xenobe Purvis. If you like gossip and/or the Gothic genre as much as I do, I think you’ll fall for it, too. We are in 1700s England, in a town convulsed by a rumor: The local drunk is certain he’s seen the five Mansfield sisters transform into a pack of dogs. A fanciful sight, sure, and the man has a particular dislike for these girls, but the Mansfields are also aloof and imperious enough that the villagers are primed to believe it. It doesn’t take long for the story to snake its way throughout the town, collecting embellishments at every turn. “The Hounding” is witty and thought-provoking, and Purvis does a really nice job of keeping its allegorical elements from straying into fable territory. It’s a pleasure to read on the sentence level, too, and often made me laugh out loud. Even if “The Hounding” isn’t exactly up your alley, I do hope you find something entertaining to read. As always, we’d love to hear about it: You can drop my colleagues and me a line by emailing books@nytimes.com. Like this email? We hope you’ve enjoyed this newsletter, which is made possible through subscriber support. Subscribe to The New York Times.
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