#Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher (2023)
Publication Date: 15 August 2023
Page Count: 129
Rating: 🏰🏰🏰🏰🏰
‘There's a princess trapped in a tower. This isn't her story.’ - cover tag line
My thanks to Titan Books for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘Thornhedge’ by T. Kingfisher.
This was my first experience of Kingfisher’s writing and based on this experience it certainly won’t be the last. It was a beautifully crafted faerie tale that captured my heart from its opening page.
At the hour of her birth a baby is stolen from her cradle and a changeling left in her place. In the Faerie world she is raised by the greenteeth, slimy swamp-dwelling fae. They name her Toadling. When she is fifteen the Hare Goddess comes to her and carries her away to a backwater faerie court where she is educated by the catfish-faced Master Gourami.
She eventually learns that she was born human, the daughter of the king of a small kingdom. While years have passed in Faerie only five days have passed in the mortal world. Master Gourami says that her education will continue and that she will then be sent back to the mortal world to stand on the seventh day as faerie godmother to the changeling baby who had taken her place!
Centuries later, a young Muslim knight named Halim approaches an impenetrable wall of brambles. He is the younger son of a poor noble family and had come across an old book with a tale about a tower and a maiden under a curse. Of course, he felt that as a knight it is his duty to seek the tower, break the curse, and rescue the maiden. Then he encounters Toadling, who will do anything to uphold the curse.
You will need to read this little gem of a novel yourself to find out what happened at the christening, why Toadling is guarding the wall of thorns and the tower hidden within as well as how Halim fares on his quest.
This excellent storytelling is accompanied by a wealth of descriptions of the peoples of Faerie, including a silver furred hare goddess with eyes full of moonlight, fickle natured kelpies, and of course Toadling, who is able to change from her woman-shape into a toad. This lyrical tale is tempered by touches of the macabre and dark humour.
I especially enjoyed the interaction between Toadling and the gentle Halim from their first encounter when she seeks to think him on his way and then sneaks up on him while he sleeps too close to her brambles and starts to weave elf-knots in his curly hair through to its magical final pages.
I felt that ‘Thornhedge’ was an enchanting reimagining of ‘Sleeping Beauty’, a perfect faerie tale. I loved it so much and now plan to explore T. Kingfisher’s back catalogue.
Very highly recommended.