Den

‘Once I’ve taken his house from him, I will be entering through the front door.’

In a garden somewhere in London, a fox is watching a man called Ben and his family through their kitchen doors.

The fox has been stealing pieces of their lives – the odd shoe, a colourful sock, various bits of cutlery. He plans to one day take over the entire house, and Ben’s life with it. The fox believes Ben is doing everything wrong: for some reason he’s acting strangely, he’s not there for his wife when she needs him, and he’s missing out on his children growing up. The fox is certain he can do a much better job.

But as his dream gets closer and unusual memories start to recur, it becomes clear that nothing is as
simple as it first appears.

Voyeuristic and original, Den is a strikingly inventive and beautiful novel about what it means to make – and protect – a home. . .


PRAISE FOR DEN:

‘At once elegiac and elegant, spiky and tender, surreal and painfully familiar, Den is a moving meditation on the lives we choose and the selves we can’t escape from.’ – Krystelle Bamford, author of Idle Grounds

‘Stunning, surreal, raw: Den is a tender, darkly comic story of grief, family and our basic need for shelter.’ – Genevieve Marenghi, author of No Oil Painting

‘Tender, humorous and heartbreaking, this inventive new novel by Joe Evans introduces the reader to a side of London life that feels both instantly familiar and wondrously strange. A beautifully written, constantly surprising story about foxes (and humans).’ – Emily Midorikawa, author of A Tiny Speck of Black and then Nothing