A Black Fox Running

If you’ve been a book lover all your life like I have there are undoubtedly many books on your shelves that you have bought over the years but have never read. I discovered one such just last week. It is entitled A Black Fox Running by Brian Carter. I thought I might have purchased it in England but the publisher is American so I probably found it on sale or remaindered somewhere. I like foxes a lot and have read several books about them. This book is fiction, however, and it takes place on Dartmoor in Devonshire, England. It was about a black fox living there, his exploits and adventures, his romance and becoming a father. There are humans in the story, including a poacher and his greyhound who are intent on killing the Fox.

Brian Carter has obviously spent a lot of time on Dartmoor. He knows the animals and birds very well, and his descriptions of the seasons and topography of Dartmoor are excellent. I have spent much more time on Exmoor but I know many of the places that Carter names and describes. There’s a wonderful feeling in a reader when he can say “Oh, I know exactly where that is. I’ve been there.” The names of the villages roll off his tongue; Widecombe, Ilsington, North Bovey, Chagford, Bovey Tracey, Lustleigh, Peter Tavey. When he names the cider apples, Bloody Butchers, Slack-ma-Girdles, Grenadiers, Kingston Blacks, I can remember stopping at roadside orchards and tasting their ciders and scrumpies. I wouldn’t recommend this book for everyone, but would suggest it to those with a love of wildlife or would like a taste of village life on this small piece of southwest England.