The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse

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The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse
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🎙️ The Books Insider Recap – The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy

“What do you want to be when you grow up?”
“Kind,” said the boy.

Hey friends,
This week’s episode of The Books Insider wasn’t about plot. It was about pause. About presence. About those quiet truths that find you when you’re too tired to keep performing.

We opened the pages of The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse — and for the next twenty minutes or so, we just breathed. Because this book doesn’t need analyzing. It needs feeling.

And that’s what we gave it.

🐾 Four Souls, One Conversation

We talked about how these four characters — the boy, the curious mole, the silent fox, and the wise horse — aren’t meant to be explained. They’re parts of us.

The boy is our hope.
The mole is our hunger — for cake, for comfort, for belonging.
The fox is the part that’s been hurt, that doesn’t speak much anymore.
And the horse is our deep, buried wisdom — the kind that speaks gently when everything else is quiet.

There’s no real plot. Just a walk. A few words. But somehow, it hits harder than most 300-page novels.

✨ Quotes That Stayed With Us

We shared our favorite lines in the episode — and honestly, it became a kind of group therapy. A moment to reflect, to feel held.

A few that stood out:

“Sometimes just getting up and carrying on is brave and magnificent.”
“Being kind to yourself is one of the greatest kindnesses.”
“Everyone is a bit scared… but we are less scared together.”

Listeners wrote in saying they cried. Not because they were sad, but because they finally felt seen. And we get that.

💬 What We Talked About Most

  • Why this book is for adults as much as for children. Maybe more.

  • How simple words can hold the heaviest truths.

  • Why we all need reminders that softness is strength.

One listener said,

“It felt like sitting next to someone who wasn’t trying to fix me. Just be with me.”

That’s exactly what this book — and this episode — offered.

Final Thoughts from the Pod
This wasn’t just an episode. It was a rest stop. A moment to return to ourselves, without judgment. The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse isn’t a book you read once. It’s a book you come back to on hard days, on soft days, on days when you don’t even know what you need.

If you haven’t read it, do.
If you have, read it again.
And maybe listen to the episode when you’re walking. Or curled up. Or needing something gentle.

Until next time,
Be kind — especially to yourself.

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