In the opening pages of the novel Mr. Fox, we're introduced to St. John Fox — a writer visited by his muse, Mary Foxe. Mary may be real, or she may be imagined, but either way, she's angry.
St. John Fox has been killing off his heroines in story after story and Mary Foxe has had enough. "You're a villain," Foxe tells the 1930s-era English writer. "You kill women. You're a serial killer."
She challenges him to create and live within stories that don't end in death.
Author Helen Oyeyemi joins NPR's Audie Cornish to talk about Mr. Fox, her fourth novel, filled with fairy tales and folklore. Oyeyemi, who was born in Nigeria and raised in London, is also the author of the novels White is for Witching, The Opposite House and The Icarus Girl.
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