In the winter of 1953, Boy Novak arrives by chance in a small town in Massachusetts, looking, she believes, for beauty — the opposite of the life she’s left behind in New York. She marries a local widower and becomes stepmother to his winsome daughter, Snow Whitman.

Fairy-tale romances end with a wedding, and the fairy tales dont get complicated. In this book, celebrated writer Mr. Fox cant stop himself from killing off the heroines of his novels, and neither can his wife, Daphne. It is not until Mary, his muse, comes to life and transforms him from author into subject that his story begins to unfold differently. Mary challenges Mr. Fox to join her in stories of their own devising; and so, through different times and places, the two of them seek each other, find each other, thwart each other, and try to stay together, even when the roles they inhabit seem to forbid it. Their adventures twist the fairy tale into nine variations, exploding and teasing conventions of genre and romance, and each iteration explores the fears that come with accepting a lifelong bond. Meanwhile, Daphne becomes convinced that her husband is having an affair and finds her way into Mary and Mr. Foxs game. And so Mr. Fox is offered a choice: Will it be a life with the girl of his dreams or a life with an all-too-real woman who delights him more than he cares to admit? The extraordinarily gifted Helen Oyeyemi has written a love story like no other. Mr. Fox is a magical book, endlessly inventive, as witty and charming as it is profound in its truths about how we learn to be with one another.

Maja, daughter of a black Cuban couple, was only five years old when the family emigrated to London. Growing up, she speaks Spanish and English, but longs for a connection to her African roots. Now in her early twenties, Maja is haunted by the desire to make sense of the threads of her history; meanwhile, her mother has found comfort in Santerâia--a faith that melds Catholic saints and the Yoruba gods of West African religion. Maja's narrative is one of two parallel voices in this novel. Yemaya Saramaguaspeaks from the other side of the reality wall--in the Somewherehouse, which has two doors, one opening to London, the other to Lagos. A Yoruban goddess, Yemaya is troubled by the ease with which her fellow gods have disguised themselves as saints and reappeared under different names and faces. As Maja and Yemaya move closer to understanding themselves, they realize that the journey to discovering where home truly lies is at once painful and exhilarating.--From publisher description.Chronicles the alternating stories of two young women--Maja Carmen Carrerra, the daughter of a black Cuban couple who longs for a connection to her African roots, and Yemaya Saramgua, a Yoruba goddess in the Somewherehouse in search of the meaning of faith and identity.

The daughter of a British father and a Nigerian mother, Jessamy 'Jess' Harrison is growing up feeling that she is caught between two different worlds, until she is sent to visit relatives in Nigeria, where she comes face to face with a mysterious new friend who apparently remains invisible to those around her. A first novel. Reader's Guide available. Reprint. 25,000 first printing.