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Summary
Summary
This full-color, illustrated companion novel to The Cats of Tanglewood Forest includes "beautiful bookmaking, lovely storytelling, and wondrous illustrations....Readers will be enchanted" ( Kirkus Reviews , starred review). This captivating adventure from two masters of modern fantasy is a story of magic, family, and the power in believing in both.
Sarah Jane has always wanted to meet a fairy, but she has no idea that the tiny wounded man she discovers in the Tanglewood Forest is about to ensnare her in a longtime war between rival magical clans. When her six sisters are kidnapped and split up by the opposing sides, she'll need the help of several friends--from the reclusive Aunt Lillian to the mysterious Apple Tree Man--to bring them home. But if they don't untangle themselves from the feud quickly, they could all be trapped in the fairy world forever. In a starred review, Publishers Weekly noted "the lyrical narrative blends a contemporary setting with a fairy tale that might have been plucked from a distinctly different time and place.
Author Notes
Charles de Lint, an extraordinarily prolific writer of fantasy works, was born in the Netherlands in 1951. Due to his father's work as a surveyor, the family lived in many different places, including Canada, Turkey, and Lebanon. De Lint was influenced by many writers in the areas of mythology, folklore, and science fiction.
De Lint originally wanted to play Celtic music. He only began to write seriously to provide an artist friend with stories to illustrate. The combination of the success of his work, The Fane of the Grey Rose (which he later developed into the novel The Harp of the Grey Rose), the loss of his job in a record store, and the support of his wife, Mary Ann, helped encourage de Lint to pursue writing fulltime. After selling three novels in one year, his career soared and he has become a most successful fantasy writer.
De Lint's works include novels, novellas, short stories, chapbooks, and verse. He also publishes under the pseudonyms Wendelessen, Henri Cuiscard, and Jan Penalurick. He has received many awards, including the 2000 World Fantasy Award for Best Collection for Moonlight and Vines, the Ontario Library Association's White Pine Award, as well as the Great Lakes Great Books Award for his young adult novel The Blue Girl. His novel Widdershins won first place, Amazon.com Editors' Picks: Top 10 Science Fiction & Fantasy Books of 2006. In 1988 he won Canadian SF/Fantasy Award, the Casper, now known as the Aurora for his novel Jack, the Giant Killer. Also, de Lint has been a judge for the Nebula Award, the World Fantasy Award, the Theodore Sturgeon Award and the Bram Stoker Award.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (5)
Publisher's Weekly Review
"Course there's spirits in the hills. How could there not be?" muses Aunt Lillian, the backwoods wise woman whose interaction with bee fairies and 'sangmen (tiny ginseng root fairies) sets up the connection the wild red-haired sisters have to the magical Otherworld in this appealing contemporary fairy tale from Canadian de Lint (Moonlight and Vine). It is a wild connection, indeed, because "it's dangerous for humans to be with fairies. It wakes things in you that can't be satisfied, leaving you with a hunger that lasts until the end of your days." These cautionary words come from old Aunt Lillian's true love, the Apple Tree Man, after young Sarah Jane Dillard rescues an injured 'sangman and unwittingly becomes involved in a romantic 'sangman vs. bee fairy conflict, which originated when a bee fairy princess fell in love and ran off with the wounded 'sangman. The middle child of a collection of engaging and sometimes downright incorrigible sisters, Sarah Jane, along with Adie, Laurel and Bess (musical twins), Elsie, Ruth and Grace (the youngest twins), are all drawn into this Otherworldly feud that can be resolved only after much delightful malingering by storyteller de Lint. This long-awaited collaboration between de Lint and noted illustrator Charles Vess, World Fantasy Award-winning artist and past collaborator with Neil Gaiman and Jeff Smith, weaves a gentle and at times humorous enchantment, suitable for fantasy fans of all ages. (Mar. 19) FYI: De Lint's last book in his Newford series was The Onion Girl (Forecasts, Oct. 22) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
In this stand-alone novel set in the same world as The Cats of Tanglewood Forest, middle sister Sarah Jane and elderly Aunt Lillian inadvertently drag Sarah Jane's sisters into a battle among fairy clans. De Lint maintains distinct personalities for the many human and magical characters, and Vess's detailed illustrations add to the old-fashioned feel of this tale set in modern times. (c) Copyright 2014. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
In his latest novel, de Lint leaves his familiar setting of Newford, Ontario, behind and heads for the hills in a mystical fairy tale written with a naturalist's passion. Everything changes for teenager Sarah Jane Dillard, the fourth in a family of seven daughters, when she befriends her neighbor, the reclusive Aunt Lillian, who lives on a remote, forested homestead. Here, Sarah Jane learns about plants and herbs, but most enticing are Lillian's wild stories of the forest's spirit world--a world that Sarah Jane plunges into after an encounter with a forest fairy. Sarah Jane and her sisters are all drawn into the bizarre politics and battles of the Other Side before everyone emerges with a fairy tale's typical happy ending. Magic and herbalist lore mix with contemporary details (cell phones, the Discovery Channel, and even a passing reference to a Go-Go's song), romance, and an appealing backcountry, yarn-spinning voice. Suspenseful, unique, and unexpected fantasy for de Lint fans and newcomers alike. Gillian Engberg.
School Library Journal Review
Gr 3-7-The girl from The Cats of Tanglewood Forest (Little, Brown, 2013) returns as elderly and reclusive Aunt Lillian. This delicious companion novel, set many decades after the first story, features Sarah Jane Dillard (the middle daughter in a family of seven redheaded sisters), who befriends Aunt Lillian and unwittingly gets involved in the fairy world. Sarah Jane tells her parts of the story in first person, while her sisters (two sets of twins and two singletons) weave theirs in third person. When Sarah Jane stumbles upon an injured spirit called a "sangman" and assists him, she angers the bee fairies, who have a longstanding feud with the sangman. Aunt Lillian has always told Sarah Jane stories about fairies and the Apple Tree Man, so she is the one Sarah Jane turns to for help. Soon Sarah Jane's sisters are kidnapped, half by the bee fairies and the other half by the sangmen. Aunt Lillian and Sarah Jane attempt to rescue the girls before they are killed or trapped in the fairy world forever. The sisters each have distinct skills and personalities, which de Lint develops marvelously. In an artist's note, Vess informs readers that his novel was previously published in a limited edition with black-and-white pen-and-ink drawings. Here he has added 26 new illustrations, which are beautifully colored with sepia tones and carefully applied color. After a satisfying conclusion, hints are made that more stories will be forthcoming, possibly with a love interest for Sarah Jane.-Michele Shaw, Quail Run Elementary School, San Ramon, CA (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Beautiful bookmaking, lovely storytelling and wondrous illustrations make for a splendid sequel-of-sorts to The Cats of Tanglewood Forest (2013). The little girl of the earlier tale is now "Aunt" Lillian, a woman in her 80s who lives alone and who fascinates young Sarah Jane Dillard, the middle of seven red-haired sisters. Sarah Jane tells parts of the story in the first person, while her sisters (two sets of twins and two singletons) figure in third-person sections woven in and around Sarah Jane's account. Harvesting ginseng, or 'sang, for Aunt Lillian by herself for the first time, Sarah Jane finds an injured 'sangman. By helping him, she angers the bee fairies who had attacked him. Aunt Lillian enlists the aid of the Apple Tree Man to negotiate in the Otherworld but not before all of the sisters become entangled in the fight on one side or another. The skills of the sistersAdie at action; Laurel and Bess at music; Elsie at observation; and Ruth and Grace at raising hellall play into the resolution, although not without a bit of eldritch assistance. The language is as pretty on the page as it is in the speaking, with rich echoes of fantasy tropes. The story and the art are reworked from a limited edition of some time ago, described by Vess in an artist's note. There is a promise of more stories at the ever-so-satisfying end, which comes with the tiniest hint of romance past and futurereaders will be enchanted. (Fantasy. 8-12)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
