Jane Hollings

Sable has always known the old routes. The woodland corridor. The boundary stone. The thicket where generations of foxes have raised their young. It has always been enough. Until the machines arrive. When hedgerows are torn from the earth and ancient trees fall in hours, Sable’s territory collapses around her. With three cubs too young to survive alone, she must navigate a world that is changing faster than instinct can adapt - prey disappearing, landmarks erased, displaced foxes flooding into shrinking habitat. The routes passed down through generations are gone. The den is destroyed. And the machines are not finished. As hunger tightens its grip and the wild spaces fracture into raw earth and open ground, Sable must decide whether to cling to what remains of her territory or risk everything on a desperate journey into the unknown. Embers in the Bracken is a haunting, emotionally powerful novel about survival, motherhood, and the quiet devastation of a landscape undone. Told with immersive realism and deep respect for the rhythms of the natural world, it explores what happens when the ancient balance between land and life is shattered. For readers who loved the emotional weight of animal-centered literary fiction and the stark beauty of environmental storytelling.