Rabbit, Fox, Tar

A mesmerizing, fable-like debut novel about a mysterious young Black woman whose arrival in an insular neighborhood threatens to shake its foundations

When Baby appears in Original Hill, her name is on everyone's lips. A young Black woman is a rare sight in this part of town, and she sits all day on the Foxes’ garden wall, swinging her bare feet and speaking to no one. That is, until the charismatic Lucius “Lucky” Foote comes along and touches her, sparking their romance. Arm-in-arm with Baby, who seems to exert a seemingly supernatural pull on the other residents, Lucky is confident he will secure the open city council seat away from Baby’s uncle Eugene Fox, the back-from-retirement white incumbent.

With protestors reopening old wounds around the Black neighborhood that was leveled by the nearby highway decades ago and Lucky threatening his position, Fox believes it’s not just a city council seat at stake, but the “soul” of Original Hill.

As Baby is woven further into the unraveling community, she begins to stray from Fox’s strict rules and question everything, from where she came from to who—and what—she truly is.Debutiful, A Most Anticipated Book of the Year

"Verrone's sparkling reworking of American folklore's tar baby tale compels, haunts and delights all at once—a remarkable debut!" —Claire Messud, author of This Strange Eventful History

"P.C. Verrone’s debut novel Rabbit, Fox, Tar is as haunting as it is enchanting. Innovative in its play on one of America’s best known folktales, adroit in its exploration of themes ranging from gentrification, political campaigning and racial dispossession to the complexities of race, desire and selfhood, and written with incomparable lyricism and verve, Rabbit, Fox, Tar offers a striking new take on a quintessential American story." —John Keene, author of Punks

"Rabbit, Fox, Tar is a reminder that history clings to us, and we can never completely escape its grip. Verrone demonstrates a true tenet of Sankofa, going back into the past to retrieve what is important and bringing it forward to assist with the troubles of today and prepare for the future. Inspired by Black American folklore and rooted in West African principles, this is magical realism that is relevant, timely, and haunting." —Eden Royce, author of Hollow Tongue

"Rabbit, Fox, Tar moves like a story that knows where it comes from and reads like a conversation between folks who understand Black life not as spectacle or lesson, but as a gift and an inheritance." —Natashia Deón, author of Grace and The Perishing
P.C. VERRONE's work has appeared in FIYAH, PodCastle, Nightmare, and numerous anthologies. He has been a Tin House Resident, a Playwrights’ Center Fellow, and a WNDB Black Creatives Revisions Workshop winner. He graduated from Harvard College and holds an MFA in creative writing from Rutgers University–Newark. He lives in Dallas with his husband, a historian.