THE UNDEAD FOX OF DEADWOOD FOREST

Change is coming to Deadwood Forest, and Clare is afraid for his livelihood.

Lonely Clare, a silver-tailed fox, was run over as a kit six years ago, but he didn’t go on to the Afterlife. Instead, he resides in Deadwood Forest, the splendidly realized world where he serves as Usher to the four realms: Peace, Pleasure, Progress, and Pain. He believes himself to be hideous, with his patchy fur and empty eye socket, reminders of the accident that brought him here, so he wears a cloak and a monocle. Clare gives the woodland creatures who knock on his cottage door tea and his attention as he tells them about their altered circumstances—they are dead—and explains that “each soul is drawn to the world where they will be most comfortable.” Clare fears the realm of Pain for himself: He knows that only the worst of creatures go through that portal, yet he believes that Brickbane, his predecessor and mentor, foretold such a fate for himself. When a lively badger spirit arrives, full of questions, but Clare is strangely unable to guide her to the correct realm, he’s dismayed to realize that his work as an Usher may be over. Hartman gracefully balances poignant and comic moments, wry observations, and moments of kindness. The narrator opens by directly addressing readers and provides a lovely and consoling revelation in the epilogue. Final art not seen.

Heartbreaking, marvelously funny, and generously redemptive.