But here’s the strangest part about the mission. Henrietta will not be left alone while Junior is away for several years. They are building a replica of Junior to keep her company in the meantime. While Junior and Henrietta get ready for this significant change, everything they do is monitored by Terrance, the stranger who arrived on their doorstep that fateful night. Terrance even moves into their home, and he keeps pulling Henrietta and Junior aside to ask prying questions, trying to find out everything about their relationship and the way they live. Junior doesn’t trust any of it; something seems off about Terrance, and Henrietta has been acting strange lately, too.
Foe is an unsettling thriller with sci-fi elements, but what makes this story pull at the heart is the relationship between Junior and Henrietta (or Hen, as he calls her). This novel is an exploration of love and intimacy, written with the kind of spine-chilling, sinister dread that only Iain Reid can convey.
If you’ve seen the movie Foe already, then trust that there is still so much more to know about Junior and Henrietta’s story. And if you haven’t seen the movie yet, read the book first! The way Reid slowly reveals the truth about Junior and Henrietta and the experiment is so artfully done, and the movie definitely will spoil some of that for you. Watch the film after to see the story come to life, but let the book work its magic.
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