Book Review: Leila And The Blue Fox

Hetty Monksea
2 min readJun 4, 2024

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This review as been a long time coming. I have been the biggest fan of Kiran Millwood Hargrave for a long time and I am always excited to read her new books however as I’m sure many people are aware life can simply be too busy to enjoy the books we really want to! When I finally did sit down and read this wonderful story I remember just how much I love Kiran’s beautiful poetic storytelling and how brilliantly it goes with Tom de Freston’s art.

beautiful book cover

Out on the ice Fox is on her own journey through forest and frozen ocean to get to where she’s going.

Leila is excited. However she’s nervous as well. She’s meeting with the mother who she hasn’t seen for many years. As she lands in the airport Tromsø she has no idea what adventure she is about to embark on, through snow and ice as she and her mother rebuilds their relationship and chase after a special artic fox. As Leila and Fox’s tales tangle together can they help each other out?

Amazing! I loved this story so so so much. It was so beautiful, I was utterly enthralled by Fox and her sections in the book and how her story weaved in perfectly to Leila and her mother’s journey too. The journey Leila and her mother go on throughout the book feels so tangible and real and made me reflect on how we can all feel isolated physically but also emotionally from our family at times even if we aren’t miles apart from each other. Fox’s part in the book is equally important and special. It shows us how we can all connect to nature in some lesser or greater degree and how we can long to be part of an animal’s world and much we awe we have for the natural world around us as experienced by both Leila and her mother in this book. The setting itself was vivid and well written that I almost felt like I was myself travelling through the Artic Circle with the crisp cold air and ice. What Kiran does best is to write poetically and beautifully with real raw human emotion and feeling that it can make you feel alive through her words and the world she is building with her stories. Put that together with Tom’s stunning visual art and illustration and you have a power house of storytelling for all generations. Thoroughly enjoyed. 5/5 stars!

Thanks for reading!

Hetty Monksea

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Hetty Monksea
Hetty Monksea

Written by Hetty Monksea

A bookworm and cat/guinea pig lover. Writing a story... Follow me on Twitter/Pinterest/Substack: @ATaleofJourneys