Colin Dann's The Animals of Farthing Wood series takes a tragic turn in this fourth installment, as adventurous fox cub Bold, the son of Fox and Vixen, leaves the safety of White Deer Park and heads out into the wide world, determined to experience the real wilderness. Well-meaning but rather naive, Bold can sometimes be arrogant, a quality that soon leads him into trouble, as he underestimates the dangers, both of the natural world, and of his human adversaries. He is permanently maimed when he is shot by hunters, and his eye is injured when he comes to the aid of Shadow, his badger friend. When his earth is destroyed by two men, who dig him out in a terrifying ordeal, Bold takes to living upon the waste left behind by humans in a nearby town. Here, a former shadow of himself, Bold meets Whisper, a vixen who takes him in and tries to nurse him back to health. In one of many examples of the long-reaching influence of his father, which Bold had been trying to outrun, Whisper knows of his lineage, and is determined to eventually live in the safety of White Deer Park with her cubs. But will Bold and Whisper make it back together, or will Bold find that sometimes, you can't go home again...?

Every bit as engrossing as its predecessors, The Fox Cub Bold is also quite a bit darker. It isn't that suffering and death play no role in the previous books - on the contrary, animals die in every one. But there is a sad bleakness to Bold's story, and to its conclusion, that isn't to be found in the earlier titles. Our young vulpine hero is an engaging and sympathetic character, for all his flaws, so it can be difficult to watch his slow demise, over the course of the book. He tries so hard to distance himself from his father, only to slowly become aware that this is impossible, and that the entire animal world knows of the "Fox of Farthing Wood" and his famous adventures. He tries so hard to be independent, only to discover how vulnerable he is, and, in the end, how much he longs for fellowship. There were so many poignant moments here, not just with Bold, but with some of the animals he encounters. Rollo the dog, for instance, who is neglected by his human and longs for affection and companionship, was a melancholy figure, although he did find happiness in the end. The conclusion here, in which Bold doesn't quite make it back to the park, but dies surrounded by his family, is terribly sad, and I think if I had read it first as a child, I would have been beside myself with grief. As it was, I read it with tears in my eyes. Recommended to fans of the previous books, with the caveat that they be aware that it doesn't have a happy ending. ( )