Ask a Bookseller: ‘Auditions for the Fox’ by Martin Cahill

On The Thread’s Ask a Bookseller series, we talk to independent booksellers all over the country to find out what books they’re most excited about right now.

Liz Bernoskie of Poor Richard’s Books in Frankfort, Ky., recommends a fantasy novella set in an animal world whose actions offer hope for its human readers.

“Auditions for the Fox” is the debut novella from sci-fi/fantasy short story writer Martin Cahill. The tale appealed to Bernoskie because of its focus on the power of individual acts of kindness.

Here’s the scenario: Nesi, a little girl with godly blood, has chosen to audition for the Fox of Tricks. He wasn’t her first choice as divine patron, but she’s running out of options.

While she expected to be challenged to clever games and perhaps a staring contest, Nesi lands an audition that feels very high-stakes indeed. She finds herself sent back in time 300 years into a land occupied by a cruel ruling set of wolves. Impressing the Fox will mean leading a revolution.

Bernoskie says the writing in this book is “delightful,” with interesting characters.

“The wolves are mean and cruel. The fox is exceedingly clever. And Nesi fights a revolution not with violence, but with kindness. And this just appealed to me so much, [the idea] that things can change by one person being kind to another person.”