Reynard the Fox

Anne Louise Avery

From Shelf: @mattlibrarian asks "Can anyone recommend books with animal protagonists that eschew cutesy portrayals of animals?" Twitter answered:

Reynard was once the most popular and beloved character in European folklore. Expanded with new interpretations, innovative language and characterisation, this edition is an imaginative re-telling of the Reynard story and as relevant and controversial today as it was in the fifteenth century.

Reynard - a subversive, dashing, anarchic, aristocratic, witty fox from the watery lowlands of medieval East Flanders - is in trouble. He has been summoned to the court of King Noble the Lion, charged with all manner of crimes and misdemeanours. How will he pit his wits against his accusers - greedy Bruin the Bear, pretentious Courtoys the Hound or dark and dangerous Isengrim the Wolf - to escape the gallows? Reynard was once the most popular and beloved character in European folklore, as familiar as Robin Hood, King Arthur or Cinderella. His character spoke eloquently for the unvoiced and disenfranchised, but also amused and delighted the elite, capturing hearts and minds across borders and societal classes for centuries. Based on William Caxton's bestselling 1481 English translation of the Middle Dutch, but expanded with new interpretations, innovative language and characterisation, this edition is an imaginative retelling of the Reynard story. With its themes of protest, resistance and duplicity fronted by a personable, anti-heroic Fox making his way in a dangerous and cruel world, this gripping tale is as relevant and controversial today as it was in the fifteenth century.