Eleven-year-old Sam and her 14-year-old sister Caitlin are sent from Los Angeles to live with their Aunt Vicki and her wife Hannah in Oregon after their father’s abuse comes to light. Sam remains skittish and vulnerable. As Sam keeps telling herself that she will be back home soon, with things the way they were before their father’s actions were revealed, Vicki gives Sam a mysterious card game called A Game of Fox & Squirrels.
When the charming trickster fox, Ashander, shows up in Sam’s room one day, he offers her a bargain she can’t refuse: find the Golden Acorn, and have any wish that she desires. Yet the rules of the game keep changing, along with the fox’s demands. Readers will see the parallels between this and trying to appease an abusive person, never knowing when they will lash out. Reese reveals all of this gradually, as the mysteries of the game unfold and as life with Vicky and Hannah becomes more tempting.
This is a difficult but beautiful novel, an allegory and more, with complex and sympathetic characters. Even though we never see the abuse directly or meet the girls’ father, we see the aftermath of his actions, and in Sam’s interaction with the Fox, we gain insight into Sam’s experience, perhaps more powerfully than a direct telling could convey. Author Jenn Reese leavens the tale with humor in just the right places, although this is not a comedic book by any means. It is often dark, but somehow manages to show us a way to the light. Highly recommended.
Back matter offers resources for those experiencing abuse in real life.
Sam, Caitlin, and Vicki are presumed White; Hannah is presumed Asian based on her last name.
