Lady Into Fox · Characters
Character guide
Key figures in Lady Into Fox by David Garnett.
Skim names here — open a free preview to see character cards and Character Web beside the page as you read.
Mr. Richard Tebrick
major
Also known as Mr. Tebrick, poor Mr. Tebrick, Thus Mr. Tebrick
Mr. Tebrick is a happily married gentleman of Rylands, accustomed to quiet manor life and the company of his wife Silvia, whom he courts and walks with like a lover. When she transforms in the copse above their home, his bewildered devotion becomes the story's central ordeal: he must decide whether the creature beside him is still his wife. His struggle to preserve their life together drives the early and middle arc, making him the reader's lens for grief, tenderness, and the slow erosion of the human.
Mrs. Tebrick
major
Also known as his wife, Silvia Fox, Silvia, fox, Poor Miss Silvia
Silvia Tebrick is twenty-three, small, beautiful, and quietly self-possessed, raised strictly by a governess and her uncle yet suspected by her old nurse of being 'always a little wild at heart.' She dreads the hunt and hangs back when her husband drags her toward the hounds, and in that moment of resistance she becomes a bright red fox. Her beseeching gaze — asking pity, asking recognition — anchors the novel's central question of identity and love across an impossible divide.
Little Polly
minor
Also known as Polly
A young girl who interacts with the Tebricks, possibly a servant or neighbor.
Esther
minor
A servant or household member in the Tebrick household.
Janet
minor
A servant or household member in the Tebrick household.
Nanny
minor
Also known as Old Nanny, old Nanny
An elderly nurse or caretaker in the Tebrick household.
Rev. Canon Fox
minor
Also known as Fox, Canon Fox, The Rev. Canon Fox
A clergyman who may be a relative or acquaintance of the Tebricks.
Angelica
minor
A minor character, possibly a servant or local woman.
Nelly
minor
A minor character, possibly a servant or local woman.
Kasper
minor
A minor character, possibly a servant or local man.
Selwyn
minor
Also known as little Selwyn
A minor character, possibly a child or young relative.
Puss
minor
Also known as Sweet Puss
A term of endearment for Mrs. Tebrick after her transformation.
Mrs. Cork
minor
A neighbor or acquaintance of the Tebrick family.
