The Vulpine

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Pub Date 16 Jan 2025 | Archive Date 16 Jan 2025

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Description

Enter a darkly dystopian world full of eerie folklore, in which illness and difference have been prohibited. But from deep beneath the earth, a rebellion is rising… Perfect for fans of Never Let Me Go and The Luminaries.

Ora has always been fascinated by chilling fairy stories of the Vulpine – the mythical, fox-like monsters who live below ground, emerging at night to snatch ‘imperfect’ babies and children. Because Ora knows that disability and illness have no place in her world. To succeed is to be genetically ‘perfect’, just like her best friend Casta and his family.

Then, one day, Casta’s baby sister disappears. And Ora’s mother reveals a long-buried secret: Ora herself has a genetic illness that affects her lungs… And she’s about to be found out. Desperate for answers and sanctuary, Ora decides to do the unthinkable and seek out the fabled Vulpine. And below the earth, she discovers a hidden world that turns everything she has been taught upside-down…

  • A unique and powerful story about stepping into your power and creating a better world, with a brilliant cast of disabled heroes, from an author whose own experiences of chronic illness inform Ora’s.
  • A chilling dystopian world filled with eerie science fiction and a sweet, slow-burn romance.
  • Perfect for fans of Never Let Me Go, The Handmaid’s Tale, The Hunger Games and The Luminaries.

Enter a darkly dystopian world full of eerie folklore, in which illness and difference have been prohibited. But from deep beneath the earth, a rebellion is rising… Perfect for fans of Never Let Me Go...


A Note From the Publisher

The Vulpine is a dystopian novel that explores the place of sickness and disability in a ‘perfect’ society. This is an Own Voices novel, as author Polly Crosby was the first baby in the world to be diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis via the heel prick test, and her heroine has the same condition (although it remains unnamed in a world where illness has supposedly been eradicated). While Cystic Fibrosis has a huge impact on Polly’s life, she emphasises that this is only one facet of her life, and that depiction of chronic illness in books needs be more varied.

“When I first set out to write this book, I knew it was going to be a huge undertaking, but I also knew that I had to do it. As a teen with a chronic illness, I rarely saw myself in the stories I read.”

Promotion has already started for The Vulpine with Polly giving an interview to UK publishing’s biggest trade magazine, and with nation coverage already booked in for January.

The Vulpine is a dystopian novel that explores the place of sickness and disability in a ‘perfect’ society. This is an Own Voices novel, as author Polly Crosby was the first baby in the world to be...


Available Editions

EDITION Paperback
ISBN 9780702325618
PRICE £8.99 (GBP)
PAGES 368

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Average rating from 9 members


Featured Reviews

I really like Polly Crosby's novels, in particular her latest works. She writes about what she knows best: Cystic Fibrosis and manages to create a different narrative each time. "The Vulpine" is a dystopian take where the population are split into the Perfect and the Imperfect. The Imperfect go to the hospital or even worse, the Vulpine take them. Ticks all the boxes of a dystopian novel: a great horror, people living on the margins of society and a glimmer of hope in the future.

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Wow! This is the first time I have read a Polly Crosby book, and I am absolutely in love with the worldbuilding, the writing style, the emotions. Everything was on point. It was a fast-paced, gripping book that has me on the edge of my seat.

This book follows Ora who lives in a dystopian society that values perfection. Ora is far from perfect, but she never regarded herself as imperfect until the medication her parents were secretly slipping her to hide her condition ran out. Because in a perfect society, medication is not really necessary. I loved this idea of perfection and how far people go to attain it. And to hide it. Because at the heart of this perfect society is a hospital for the imperfect that has very sinister vibes.

The heart of this book is about survival despite the odds. It’s about learning to find out where you fit into the world and seeing yourself differently. When Ora learns she’s imperfect (it’s not mentioned by name, but she has cystic fibrosis) she also learns that her lungs are stronger than normal because they have been working harder, and that gives her the ability to climb a shoot and infiltrate a government building. There are people who are blind who have no trouble getting around in the dark, where those who rely on their sight struggle. There are people with limb differences who can suddenly run and jump faster and higher than people with full limbs because of prosthetics. I loved that their differences were celebrated. And I especially loved the slow-burn, friends-to-lovers romance.

If you love dystopian books that hold a mirror to society, you will love this book. If you want beautifully eerie sentences and chilling worldbuilding, definitely pick up this book. You won’t be disappointed.

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