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The Crucible meets The Virgin Suicides in this haunting debut about five sisters in a small village in eighteenth-century England whose neighbors are convinced they’re turning into dogs.

Alcoholism, brief badger baiting scene.

Even before the rumors about the Mansfield girls begin, Little Nettlebed is a village steeped in the uncanny, from strange creatures that wash up on the riverbank to portentous ravens gathering on the roofs of people about to die. But when the villagers start to hear barking, and one claims to see the Mansfield sisters transform before his very eyes, the allegations spark fascination and fear like nothing has before.

The truth is that though the inhabitants of Little Nettlebed have never much liked the Mansfield girls—a little odd, think some; a little high on themselves, perhaps—they’ve always had plenty to say about them. As the rotating perspectives of five villagers quickly make clear, now is no exception. Even if local belief in witchcraft is waning, an aversion to difference is as widespread as ever, and these conflicting narratives all point to the same ultimate conclusion: Something isn’t right in Little Nettlebed, and the sisters will be the ones to pay for it.

A richly atmospheric parable of the pleasures and perils of female defiance, The Hounding considers whether in any age it might be safer to be a dog than an unusual young girl.

Don't just take our word for it...

“What takes this novel past conceit to commentary lies in its exploration of interiority among all of the characters, not simply the suspected women, but those who observe, accuse and fear. When a community cannot explain misfortune, who suffers? Purvis makes a clever but careful case for combining the Gothic with the paranormal.”
– Los Angeles Times

“Five unusual sisters set a village on edge in this haunting tale of a bewitching madness set in 1700 England. Are the girls a true danger to their neighbors? Will rumor alone put them on the path to destruction? 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

“The Hounding is a lush and atmospheric warning of the dangers of individuality for girls indifferent to the gaze of others. Every word in this spare, sharp novel cuts and implicates the small-minded townsfolk who chase rumors like wild dogs chase prey. A virtuosic debut from a brilliantly keen mind and eye. Certainly, Xenobe Purvis shares a bloodline with Shirley Jackson.”
– Diane Cook, author of The New Wilderness

Taste the very first page

The girls, the infernal heat, a fresh-dead body. Marching up the river path, the villagers—adorned with gaudy ribbons, some carrying stones—saw exactly what had taken place. The girls had found their quarry at last; the bite mark on the man’s fist, the spreading blood, spoke of an unholy struggle.

Anne, the eldest sister, stood ahead of the others, and the advancing rabble watched her warily. Some said she had been the first to change, barking in the barren lane by their home. No, others insisted, it started with the littlest, then leapt through the rest like a contagion: Mary first, timid Grace went next, then Hester the tomboy, pretty Elizabeth, and lastly puzzling, peculiar Anne.

The idea of it was enough to turn anyone on their heel, but the villagers told themselves they had nothing to fear. There were too many of them, a vengeful mob; no girl could withstand them, not even wicked ones such as these—black dresses masking bushy tails, pretty mouths filled with pointed yellow teeth. How good it felt, how safe and enfolding, walking shoulder to shoulder towards a shared enemy. The cracked ground trembled beneath their feet.

They chanted the sisters’ names as they approached. Anne, Elizabeth, Hester, Grace, Mary—as though to remind them that they were merely girls. Not dogs nor demons: undistinguished girls. Dirt lifted underfoot, powdering their clothes, their wedding best. They were angry. Perhaps not only about the sisters…

August 2025