The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse

The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse received both considerable critical acclaim and popular success on publication in 2019. The book’s simplicity and message of hope and friendship were welcomed by audiences and critics over the years 2019-21, a time of uncertainty, disruption, and, for many, bereavement, caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Although Mackesy wrote the book just before the pandemic, it was conceived as a consolation in response to loss. Mackesy, a visual artist, began the illustrations to cope with the tragic and unexpected death of a friend. He first drew the picture in which the boy and mole are shown riding the horse, the fox walking alongside, facing away from the reader. The boy asks, “What is the bravest thing you’ve ever said?” and the horse responds, “Help” (55). Mackesy put this drawing and these words on Instagram and then forgot them, but, he says, “the next thing I knew was that hospitals […] [were] using it, and the army [was] using it for PTSD […]. Occasionally I’d get emails saying ‘I hope you don’t mind we used it in our therapy unit, it’s helping people realise it’s a brave thing to show weakness’” (Flood, Alison.