Books › The little foxes
The little foxes
162 pages
A masterclass in familial venom where ruthless ambition tears a dynasty apart from the inside out.
What it feels like
Reading this play feels like being trapped in a suffocatingly hot parlor with a family of vipers. It is a masterclass in tension, driven entirely by razor-sharp dialogue and the sheer, unadulterated greed of its characters. The pacing is brisk and relentless, pulling you through a web of extortion, betrayal, and moral decay as the siblings tear each other apart for a piece of the pie. There is no warmth here, only a chilling, cynical look at the rot beneath the veneer of Southern gentility. It will absolutely delight readers who revel in claustrophobic family dramas, biting dialogue, and watching deeply flawed, ruthless people maneuver against one another in a high-stakes game of survival and supremacy.
- Mood
- claustrophobic
- tense
- venomous
- suffocating
- Tone
- cynical
- biting
- ruthless
- unsentimental
- Pace
- brisk
- Themes
- corrosive greed · familial betrayal · moral decay · ruthless ambition · the rot of aristocracy
- The writing
- The dialogue is razor-sharp, economical, and dripping with venomous subtext.
- The arc
- Simmering familial resentments steadily escalate into a chilling display of absolute ruthlessness and moral bankruptcy.
- Who it's for
- Readers who love watching deeply flawed people maneuver against one another in claustrophobic, high-stakes family dramas.
Content notes
- emotional cruelty
- terminal illness
- spousal death
- familial betrayal
About the book
An acting edition of the 1939 drama in which brothers Oscar and Ben Hubbard steal money from their ailing brother-in-law in order to fund a cotton mill, only to be caught by their sister Regina who demands they give her a seventy-five percent share of the business in exchange for keeping them out of prison.
Originally published: New York: Dramatists Play Service, 1942.
Description from Open Library.
Books like The little foxes
See why they match
The Children's HourLillian HellmanA claustrophobic, devastating masterclass in how a single, malicious lie can dismantle an entire world.
Cat on a Hot Tin RoofTennessee WilliamsA sweltering, claustrophobic pressure cooker of family secrets, repressed desires, and devastating lies.
All My SonsArthur MillerA suffocating, slow-burn tragedy where the ghosts of the past dismantle the fragile facade of a post-war family.
Buried childSam ShepardA surreal, claustrophobic descent into the rotting heart of the American family, where the past refuses to stay buried.
OleannaDavid MametA claustrophobic masterclass in miscommunication where every interrupted sentence is a weapon in an escalating war of power.
Driving Miss DaisyAlfred UhryA quietly moving portrait of two stubborn souls finding profound kinship across the divides of race, class, and time.