Writer
On children’s stories, moral independence and The Fox’s Tower – a piece at TeachWire.
… a child who finds herself in a world that is edging ever closer to collapse, in which destructive political narratives hold sway and the old seem guilty of the grossest negligence of care for the future they are passing on to the young…
On The Fox’s Tower at Writing.ie.
At the beginning of The Fox’s Tower, a girl called Willow looks out of her bedroom window and sees her dad talking to foxes in the back garden in the middle of the night. As she watches, a huge, wolf-like monster appears and carries him away…
Willow’s dad tells strange stories. He talks about a hidden Forest where animals can speak, and about his childhood adventures with a pack of wolves. Willow does not believe him. For her there is no magic left in the world, because older generations have let it all go to waste.
But now Willow’s dad has disappeared: stolen by foxes in the night.
To find him, Willow must enter the secret world of the Forest. There she must speak with wolves and find the magical Tower where the foxes are ruled by their silver-tongued leader, Reynard.
In the Tower, Willow sees wonders: statues walking the streets, spires reaching to the stars and a lion who wants to be king. But disaster is near. The magic is running out and soon the Tower will fall.
Reynard has a plan that will change everything, and he wants Willow’s help. But can she trust the story he is telling? Can Willow save her dad and find a way out of the Fox’s Tower?
The Fox’s Tower, a sequel to Wolfstongue, will be published by Little Island in October 2022.
Sam Thompson 