Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for an e-ARC of this book!

This is an eery novel set in the small village of Little Nettlebed in 18th century Britain. We follow a family of five young sisters living alone with their blind grandfather, having recently lost their grandmother, and the villagers around them spreading rumours that something is not as it seems with these girls.

The notion that these girls can turn into dogs originates from the drunk and unreliable town ferryman who glimpses something strange in the distance and is then fuelled on over time by other accounts. We watch as the townspeople (men), begin to conspire together that despite the hardship these sisters have experienced there is an unexplained weirdness that they will not let go. In no time a group of sisters is transformed within the imaginations of these townsfolk from innocent young girls to a pack of wild dogs.

It is never truly revealed as to whether these sisters are truly turning into dogs, and I don’t think we need to know. It would have been nice to have more material from the perspective of the sisters, to see their dynamics and the feminine urges and rages they must be experiencing as the refuse to back down from the villagers accusing them.

Themes of group conformity, misogyny, prejudice, and patriarchal suffering.

Overall, a really enjoyable read, I would say it is a mix between The Virgin Suicides and Lapvona. Definitely recommend, a fantastic debut.

FAVOURITE QUOTES:
“She thought about what they all went through each day: the great, gruelling trial of being a woman in a world governed by men. How painful it was, and how humiliating.”

“The old thought returned to him, that he’d rather they were dogs than damaged girls. He’d rather they were free than confined by him.”

I can’t believe this is a debut! The writing was mesmerising and haunting, Purvis managed to capture the essence of summer and the stifling heat so well. I really enjoyed the switch in narrators and the unreliability of it all. As readers we never truly know if someone is perceiving something as true, we’re just as lost as the villagers. The sisters, their grandfather and the other characters were such vivid people that this felt like a movie playing in my head. Dizzying and addictive this was a fantastic story with such an interesting premise.

This book is a masterpiece. A hauntingly beautiful story of superstition and how it is rooted in misogyny. Set in an 18th century small village on the River Thames, the book tells the story of 5 sisters after the loss of their parents and grandmother through the viewpoints of different people within the village. The girls are suspected of changing into dogs and terrorising the town, stemming from accusations by the deeply chauvinistic ferryman. A reflection on how women are expected to fit into prescribed gender roles, and how society falls to pieces when they don’t. I loved it.

‘We went out when we weren’t supposed to, we were too free, and this - all of this - is our punishment. It has nothing to do with us becoming dogs, and everything to do with the fact of us being girls.’

In eighteenth-century Oxfordshire, in the oppressive heat a neurosis is strife in Little Nettlebed concerning five sisters: Anne, Elizabeth, Hester, Grace, and Mary live in a nice home on the outskirts of the village plagued by the recent death of their grandmother and matriarch as their parents are dead. Despite their significant loss, people in the village find the girls sense of connection with one another and unconventionality gives the locals plenty to gossip about. Joseph, the girls’ grandfather is a sweet, yet old man, struggling with the decline of his sight whilst trying to raise the girls and keep his property in order with the help of maids and a new farmhand Thomas. One of the main complainants of the girls’ behaviour and strangeness is started by Pete Darling, a ferryman who works transporting villagers from one side of town to the other, and his religious fanaticism seeds a evil belief of why the Mansfield girls are strange. A fascinating and fast pace reflection on the strangeness of women, and ultimately the strangeness of how mere girls being unconventional threatens society itself.

This engaging examination of superstition, suspicion and misogyny in a small village in early 18th century England is absolute dark perfection.
On one level, there's beautiful and evocative nature writing that conjures up a tranquil pastoral scene. This soons turns rotten and sinister when the Thames dries up in a heatwave and fish are dying on the riverbed.
On the next level is the village itself , burdened by poverty, male violence and drunknesd. It's an oppressive society, dicated to by the chiurch and by tradition where people are expected to fit onto ascribed roles.
Then there are the young women and girls who are rumoured to be morphing into dogs.
The five sisters of the story are vividly drawn and unforgettable, as are the whole cast of characters. The grotesque foibles and insular notions of the area and its people are cleverly depicted. The sense of time and place is engaging and immersive.
This is a deeply atmospheric book with a riveting storyline. I loved this. What a stunning debut.