A Game of Fox and Squirrels

After a traumatic incident shatters their family, eleven-year-old Samantha and her older sister Caitlin are sent to live with their Aunt Vicky in rural Oregon while they heal from the abuse inflicted by their father. When Aunt Vicky gives Sam a mysterious old card game called 'Fox & Squirrels,' Sam begins encountering the game's charming but increasingly unsettling fox character, Ashander, in the woods, and must complete his morally questionable challenges to earn a wish that could take her back home. The story features a loving same-sex couple, Aunt Vicky and her wife Hannah, who provide a safe and supportive home for the sisters, and uses magical realism as a powerful allegory for domestic violence, generational trauma, and the long road to healing. Themes of family dynamics, resilience, sisterhood, and finding the true meaning of home run throughout this emotionally honest middle grade novel.