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Lyrical and evocative. A story about identity and family. Two sisters leave the shelter of the Light House in search of their long lost mother. Will they find her or lose themselves?
I enjoyed this and would recommend for readers aged 11 plus.

This has been a much anticipated read and as with everything written by Katya Balen, it does not disappoint. Beautifully imaginative and powerfully emotive this is a wondrous story of hope, of the interconnectedness of our own stories and nature. In this weave of wonderful words, we join Fen and Rey who are desperate to know their story, to know of their mother and the reason for their abandonment on the edge of the wildlands. What follows is a journey of discovery, of understanding and of accepting love. A must read.

Another book by Katya Balen that just blows you away! I love that she brings so much of nature and the outdoors into her writing, and this book carries along that same theme.
This book is about hope and kindness, whilst also showing bravery to overcome things. It’s a powerful book and one that will make a big impact on the children who read it.

What a beautiful, atmospheric book written by one of the greatest writers of children’s fiction. Katya Balen’s books are often heartfelt, emotional and powerful.
This is the story of Fen and Rey, twin sisters found abandoned as babies. They embark on a journey of strength and courage as they try to discover their story. The sisters must learn and understand each other as they learn the truth of their past. Powerful and emotive, this story will strike a chord with many readers. Nature plays a role in Katya’s stories, playing more of a part than just being the setting.
Beautiful, heartfelt and wonderful.

The author of the rather wonderful 'October, October' has produced another gem with this book, also aimed at readers aged nine upwards.

Fen and Rey are twin sisters who were found abandoned, curled up in the fur of foxes at the edge of the woodlands. They are looked after and grow up happily together but they long to find their mother and learn where they came from.

When a fox appears at their house one night, they believe it is a sign and together they decide to pack a bag and make their way to the wildland to find some answers.

So begins a journey of discovery, fraught with challenges and hardship.

It's a book about sisters, found family, resourcefulness and overcoming. It's also about the stories we tell ourselves. It's rather wonderful!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

This is a beautiful little story of two sisters looking for their family, and connecting with nature in the process. It should be perfect for most middle-grade readers, and perhaps even some younger ones if they've got a higher reading age. Balen's prose is lovely and the depictions of nature in particular are very evocative. It's also good representation for children who have lost their parents and/or are in the care system to see themselves in such a lovely story.

This is a rare find - a heartbreaking, beautiful and addictive page turner. It is at once an ode to nature and the wild and a tale of sisters, family and hope. Meet Fen and Rey - a pair of twins that were Found as newborns in the wildlands and taken to the Light House to be adopted and cared for by Lissa. At the Light House, Lissa cares for other children whose mothers could not look after them. And she does so with care and tenderness and warmth. But it is not enough for Fen and Rey, who never truly feel like they belong her. They are desperate to find their birth mother and to know their story so they set out together on an epic and dangerous journey across the ruthless wildlands. This is a tale of hope, love and strength; of stories, identity and belonging. The writing here is lyrical and beautiful in its descriptions of the wildlands and the fox. But it is also a page turner - Balen has us gripped and on this journey with Fen and Rey experiencing the hope and the crushing lows. This book would be an excellent choice in my opinion for Y4 onwards. It would sing to descriptive and narrative writing and to exploration of more sensitive themes. I will be wholeheartedly recommending this to my colleagues and of course the children too. A stunning piece of writing, thank you Katya Balen.

Another fabulous read by Katya Balen! This is the story of Fen and Rey, who have been abandoned as babies by their mother near what appears to be an orphanage. Lissa has raised them and clearly cares for the girls, but they are missing their back story as to why they were left there.

The girls get the idea that a fox, which visits their garden each night, has been sent to guide them back to their mother and in the depths of the night, they sneak out of the house and into the woods to follow their 'guide.' The two girls soon learn that survival in the outside world can be brutal and the contrast between the light, warm loving atmosphere of their home with Lissa is sharply contrasted with the dark, cold woods. However, the girls are determined and set off with provisions (which are soon decimated) and it is only through their long, harsh journey, which separates them at times that the sense of adventure deteriorates and they both come to appreciate just what they already had.

This is a book of self-discovery. The writing is beautiful, atmospheric and captivating, whilst also addressing many sensitive themes with grace and dignity. You cannot help but read on to see how this ends!

It's a strong and gripping story that kept me on the edge and turning pages. There's a strong sense of danger, the strength of the bond of the twins sisters, and their quest to find their root.
Well written, multilayered and fascinating I think it can be appreciated by anyone over 10.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Yet again Katya Balen creates characters and a situation that keep you on the edge of your seat. As a reader, you care so deeply about what happens to these young adventurers that you can't put this story down and it lives on in your mind long after its completion. The world in which these two young people live is relatable to kids today and gives a sense of the past which is intriguing to an older reader. I cannot wait to receive a copy for the library and start putting it into the hands of our students.

In a Nutshell: A middle-grade novel focussing on a pair of eleven-year-old twins and their quest to look for their mom in the wildlands using a fox as a guide. Outstanding in nature descriptions, but the plot itself, being somewhat abstract, left me with mixed feelings.

Story Synopsis:
Fen and Rey are just two of many children staying in a crumbling house for ‘Found Children.’ Their caregiver Lissa has told them of how they were both found as babies, curled up amid foxes at the edge of the wildlands. Of all the kids in the home, they are the only two with no details about their birth mother.
Fen and Rey are opposite in nature but share a strong bond, Fen has an especially wild imagination, and she always senses a pull from the foxes, wishing to return to the wildlands to search for her mother. When a fox appears at their house late one night, Fen interprets it as a call, and with Rey tagging along, embarks upon an adventurous quest to locate her mother, as she firmly believes that the fox was sent by her mom. Will the two girls be able to find what they are looking for?
The story comes to us in Fen’s first person perspective.

Bookish Yays:
🌳 I liked the characterisation of the two girls. As both of them are contrary in personalities, they bring a nice balance of adventure and caution to the story. Their connection is best seen when they play the ‘Imagine; game together. Though Fen was the narrator of the story, I loved Rey more as her quiet demeanour and bookish creativity won my heart.
🌳 Unlike many MG novels, this one depicts the caregiver at the children’s home in a positive light. Lissa is really good with all the kids and does the best she can with the limited resources.
🌳 The portrayal of the children’s home is also quite sweet, possibly a bit too perfect to be true. There were no bullies, and all the children did their best by each other and by Lissa. Though there are mentions of issues in food quantity and of their tumbledown house, these don’t get much prominence.
🌳 Fen and Rey’s quest into the wildlands was full of adventure. Right from making fire to foraging for food to watching out for animals, the girls went through quite a lot within a few days. Of course, there was a lot of luck on their side as well, which helped them much.
🌳 Katya Balen’s writing always depicts her love of nature, and this story is no exception. The descriptions of all the natural elements - the wilderness, the river, the night sky – are stunningly vivid. It almost felt like I was right there with Fen and Rey, living in the picturesque bush and wondering what to do next. This was the best feature of this story.
🌳 Love the cover illustration as it suits the story perfectly.

Bookish Nays:
🌵 I wish there had been more of Lissa and other characters in the book. A major chunk of the story has only Fen and Rey in the scenes, and this becomes boring after a while. Fen’s first person narration, with its excessive focus on the same few topics, also gets repetitive.
🌵 The foray into the wilderness was brave but also dangerous. The parent in me was a bit disappointed that they weren’t reprimanded even a little for risking their lives by running away without telling anyone.
🌵 Honestly, had I read this book as a middle-grader, I am pretty sure I would have been bored. The combination of too much description and too little action hasn’t worked for me till date. Even when there were some risky scenes on page, the first person narration and its monologues slowed down the intensity of the thrill.
🌵 As a child, I always preferred to have all the answers provided by the end of a story. But this book left me with more questions than answers. The background detailing is also very vague. Is the book historical or contemporary? Or maybe set in the near future when the world is not so green anymore because of climate change? How does Lissa manage to feed so many kids? Why were the houses set so far apart? Was the fox imaginary, or did Fen imagine her connect with the animal? Also, Fen and Rey are twins, but there’s no direct reference to them as such in the entire book. I’d have loved to see more of the twin connection in the story than just have a mention of it in the blurb.

This is my third Katya Balen book, but it ended up my least favourite of the ones I have read. (The remaining two have been five-star experiences.) The adult in me enjoyed the beauty of its prose, but as it is a book for middle-graders, I am trying to rate the book based on how I would have enjoyed it at that age. Unfortunately, the answer is quite clear – this would have been just a one-time semi-interesting read for me during my tweens, which is why I am rounding my rating down.

Recommended to MG lovers of adventure who would love an adventurous story with a wild natural setting but not many clear answers.

3.5 stars.

My thanks to Bloomsbury Publishing Plc (UK & ANZ) and NetGalley for the DRC of “Foxlight”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

I am in awe of Katya's writing. I have loved every book that I have read and this is no exception.
The chapters are short - some less than a page! A story of adventure and hope, of love and friendship. A not to be missed story.
Twin baby girls are found by Lissa from The Lighthouse on the edge of the Wildlands. Normally if babies are left Lissa has had a call and the children have a letter with their name and details written on. But these girls are found with just a drawing of a fox inside their blanket. And they are found curled up with a fox...

They grow up in The Lighthouse with Lissa as their parent and the other children as their siblings. They are loved and kept warm and fed. But they feel different because they know nothing about themselves, Lissa even had to give them names, Fen and Rey. They make up stories about themselves, starting with Imagine that... the girls are different, loud and quiet, fierce and shy, outgoing and scared.

When repairing the fencing after a fox attack on their pet rabbits the handyman, Marl, talks about the Wilders, people who had tried to Wild the land and had encouraged foxes but no longer lived in the Wildlands. Was one of them their mother? When the fox returns the girls follow - continuing their game of Imagine.....but what happens in the Wildlands?
Loved it!
Thanks to Bloomsbury Children books for the chance to read.

With the most incredible autumnal front cover - I would love to know who the illustrator is - this new novel from Katya Balen is utterly breathtaking. For any readers who are already familiar with Balen's writing, it is delicate, fierce, raw and exquisitely beautiful. Her use of language is unlike any other author I have read and this is probably my favourite novel she's written yet...

Two red-headed sisters, Fen and Rey don't have a mother. They were left at foxlight at the edge of the Wildlands, tucked amidst the fiery fur of a fox.

But now the Wildlands are calling to the girls and, desperate to find the out the truth of their story, they trek into the unknown to find it. But the Wildlands are harsh and brutal as well as beautiful. Will the sisters manage to survive, let alone find what they're looking for..?

Yet again, Katya Balen weaves a spellbinding tale of familial love, found family and the wild but healing power of nature. As in October, October, winner of the Yoto Carnegie Medal 2022, and The Light In Everything (both novels I absolutely loved but somehow never reviewed on this blog), her heroines are brilliantly drawn - gentle, furious and full of raw emotion - with their very natures intertwining and connecting with the nature around them. Balen's novels encompass the very essence of what it is to be a child in a complicated world, exploring how they navigate seeing the world differently, how they navigate blended families and families that found them rather than gave birth to them. Using her background of working in special schools and in social care, Balen creates characters who make us feel, who ignite our understanding and empathy and who help us to distill the most important truths in our lives.

This is a quieter, yet extremely powerful read, different to your average middle-grade novel. The narrative is windier and less driven by action than many stories for 8-12 year olds but, for me, it still felt pacy. It's completely character-led, enhanced by a potent and intoxicating setting and words that fizz and sing and bite and scratch. The visual storytelling is a delight and I particularly loved the warmth of the character Lissa and the home she'd created. If any reader is in two minds whether to give this novel a try then it's definitely worth checking out Balen's novella, Nightjar, for Barrington Stoke, another incredible piece of writing with very similar themes.
A big thanks to NetGalley and Bloomsbury for allowing me a review copy. Foxlight is available to pre-order and is released on 28th September. I can't recommend it highly enough.

A charming little book.

2 young girls are found abandoned and are taken in and adopted by Lissa. The girls grow up poor but happy, but they alway wonder where they come from. One day they decide to run away and they follow a fox into the wildlands where they discover a series of houses, an old map and some clues to who their mother was.

It was sweet but sad. Not read anything by this author before but this was an enjoyable story.

Twin sisters Fen and Rey were left as babies in fox furs on the borders of the wildlands. Fen is loud and fierce and free. She feels a connection to foxes and a calling from the wild that she's desperate to return to. Rey is quiet and shy and an expert on nature. She reads about the birds, feeds the lands and nurtures the world around her.
They will always have each other but they want answers about where they came from from, who their mother was and where she might be now? So when a fox appears one night, they see it as a sign and decide to follow it back to the wildlands, back to their family, back to find the truth, back to find their mother.

I think that this might be my new favourite book by Balen. The language is poetic throughout (unapologetically so but unpretentiously too) even though it's told from the point of view of one of the main child characters. Nature in all her tooth and claw is explored in the book. The fox that the girls believe is leading them to the mother who abandoned them as babies is unaware of the girls in reality and ultimately they have to acknowledge that their mother and her reasons for leaving them will remain a mystery to them. It's a harsh lesson but the girls also see each other as the comfort that they already had, alongside their adoptive mother and family. The language is gorgeously rich yet accessible and the description of the wilderness vivid. It's a beautiful book.

Is there anything Katya Balen can't do? Yet another sensationally beautiful book from her that surely has to cement her as one of the greatest children's writers of this generation.

'Foxlight' is another miracle of a novel from Katya Balen which once again blazes with emotional truth.

Sisters Fen and Rey have grown up with other foundlings in The Light House, a children's home on the edge of the wildlands where they are cared for by Lissa. Unlike the other children, however, they have no story about the mother who abandoned them, only that Lissa found them as babies curled up with the foxes. Fierce Fen and quiet Rey feel this absence in different ways and one day they respond to the call of the wild and set out on an epic quest in search of their mother.

This is such a beautiful story on so many levels. Fen and Rey are both brilliantly real characters; Balen seems to understand the intense longing and anger that children can experience better than any other writer I've encountered, and this is perfectly expressed in Fen's narrative voice. The novel also understands the importance of stories to children, as Fen explains how "We build a mother from words and in the halfllight of the world under our covers she takes shape and might be real." This is really a coming-of-age story about losing one's illusions and discovering the truth, but the truth also has its own beauty, particularly the bond between the two sisters.

This is all coupled with some utterly exquisite writing about nature. Balen never sentimentalises the wild: it is "dangerous and scary and beautiful and complicated". Fen and Rey quickly learn the harsh realities of life in the great outdoors but it still holds an irresistible appeal. As in all the best children's books, food also plays a central role in the story and is lovingly described (I am now desperate to try tinned trifle which is "somehow both delicious and disgusting"!)

This is another must-read for older primary and younger secondary-aged readers - but is also a book that can be enjoyed by absolutely anyone, young or old. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an ARC to review.

I thoroughly enjoyed this and finished it in one sitting. I was totally caught up in the story of Rey and Fen and their quest to not only find out more about their family but also to discover their link to the illusive fox. The scenes were beautifully described and throughout I felt great empathy for both of the main characters. I can already think of several of my children who will be as invested in this as I was.

Wow. I think this might be the perfect book. The language is sublime, the narrator's voice is unique and searingly heartfelt, and the story is unexpected and beautiful. I wanted to spend an hour re-reading each line, but I had to keep turning the pages.