Calling all book lovers! Our local book club is excited to invite you to our next meeting, a gathering filled with lively discussions, engaging insights, and a warm, friendly atmosphere. Whether you're an avid reader or just starting your literary journey, you'll find a welcoming community eager to explore the depths of fascinating stories together. We delve into a new book each month, uncovering hidden themes, discussing intriguing characters, and sharing our diverse perspectives. Don't miss this chance to connect with fellow book enthusiasts, expand your reading horizons, and enjoy delightful conversations. Join us for an evening of literary exploration and make some new friends along the way!

The Houndling - Xenobe Purvis

The Crucible meets The Virgin Suicides in this haunting debut about five sisters in a small village in eighteenth-century England whose neighbors are convinced they’re turning into dogs.

Even before the rumors about the Mansfield girls begin, Little Nettlebed is a village steeped in the uncanny, from strange creatures that wash up on the riverbank to portentous ravens gathering on the roofs of people about to die. But when the villagers start to hear barking, and one claims to see the Mansfield sisters transform before his very eyes, the allegations spark fascination and fear like nothing has before.

The truth is that though the inhabitants of Little Nettlebed have never much liked the Mansfield girls―a little odd, think some; a little high on themselves, perhaps―they’ve always had plenty to say about them. As the rotating perspectives of five villagers quickly make clear, now is no exception. Even if local belief in witchcraft is waning, an aversion to difference is as widespread as ever, and these conflicting narratives all point to the same ultimate conclusion: Something isn’t right in Little Nettlebed, and the sisters will be the ones to pay for it.

A richly atmospheric parable of the pleasures and perils of female defiance, The Hounding considers whether in any age it might be safer to be a dog than an unusual young girl.