Fox's
Earth
By Anne
Rivers Siddons
In the
late 1800's, Ruth Yancey is born to excruciating poverty. The only
light in her life is the big white house in town called Fox's Earth.
The moment she first sees it, she resolves that someday she will
own it.
When
Ruth is ten, she meets Alicia Fox, the mistress of Fox's Earth.
Alicia longs to transform the lives of the poor. In Ruth she finds
the perfect candidate for her benevolent project.
Ruth
moves into Fox's Earth to be raised with the family's only
child, Paul. He's half in love with Ruth already. Over the years
Ruth cooly insures that he falls the rest of the way. Eventually
they marry. Ruth's dreams are beginning to come true.
In time,
Ruth produces the required grandchild - a daughter named Hebe. Rip,
a young black woman, is hired take care of Ruth and Hebe. Only Rip
recognizes what Ruth is - a conniving she-devil who will stop at
nothing to get what she wants. And what she wants is a dynasty of
Fox women.
Rip
discovers that Ruth has been cruelly pinching Hebe, causing the
infant to cry incessantly. Ruth informs Rip that she must cover
for Ruth or she will be discharged. Ruth also warns that "there's
just no telling what might happen to Hebe" if Rip isn't there
to protect her. So Rip keeps her mouth shut and stays.
Hebe
is subjected daily to Ruth's subtle brand of physical and psychological
torture. She grows into a fearful woman who marries a spineless
man. He provides her with the requisite daughters and also a totally
superfluous son. And so begins the torment of another generation
under the evil thumb of Ruth Yancey Fox.
This
book spanning three generations is fascinating in the same manner
as a car wreck. Toward the end of the book there is objectionable
language and a somewhat graphic love scene, but overall this is
a clean, if disturbing, book. One would like to discover if Ruth's
grandchildren fair any better than her child did. Unfortunately,
since this is a re-release of an earlier book, a sequel is unlikely.
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