Xenobe Purvis
British writer and literary researcher
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Early life
Purvis was born in Tokyo[2] to British parents. She and her older sister Kerensa founded the Anglo-Japanese cross-cultural art and design platform Nomikomu.[3]
Purvis studied English at Oxford University.[4] She graduated with a Master of Arts (MA) from Royal Holloway, University of London.[5]
Career
After completing her MA, Purvis continued her literary research. She worked as an assistant researcher for Katherine Bucknell's biography of Christopher Isherwood before joining the Christopher Isherwood Foundation.[2]
In November 2023, Hutchinson Heinemann acquired the rights to publish Purvis' debut novel The Hounding in August 2025.[6] The novel is based on physician John Freind's 1700 Oxfordshire account of five sisters "seized with frequent barking in the manner of dogs".[7][8] The Hounding was a New York Times Book Club pick,[9] an American Booksellers Association Indies Introduce pick,[10] and named a must-read book of 2025 by Time Magazine.[11]
Works
Novels
- Purvis, Xenobe (5 August 2025). The Hounding. London: Hutchinson Heinemann. ISBN 978-1-250-36638-2. [12][13][14]
Select essays
- "Groaning Glaciers" in The London Magazine (2019)
- "A weakness for toads: How Christopher Isherwood foretold his own betrayal" in The Times Literary Supplement (2022)