Just at the moment in the UK it is hard to miss this book. It is piled high on the stands and prominent in the in the windows of many a high street bookstore. That is because it is the current Waterstone's 'Book of the Month'.* And this time they seem to have got it right. This is not just the next big seller. It is also a fine work of children's literature - a thoroughly enchanting read, in every sense.
We seem to have done remarkably well recently for new authors writing children's fantasy with strong female leads. In fact this one really has two - probably! Readers of this blog will know that I recently enormously enjoyed Abi Elphinstone's new series (see post from March of this year). This even newer book is probably for just slightly older readers. Although still very accessible, and enormously enganging, for a 'Middle Grade' audience, as well as those egding above, this is a more sophisticated and multi layered read.
The Girl of Ink and Stars is set in a fantasy world, and a somewhat indeterminate time, but one feeling rather earlier than our own. The island on which the story is enacted, which could indeed be considered a character in itself, has once sailed the oceans a free spirit. However, it now finds itself anchored to the sea bed through some sort of volcanic fusion. In the classic way of fantasy lands, it comes complete with hand drawn maps, too. Indeed maps are an integral element of the narrative as well as a feature of the striking physical design of the book itself.
Fantasy setting apart, however, this book is rather hesitant to commit itself fully to this particular genre. It could almost be called a be called a story in search of an identity - but in a good way, in a very good way. In fact 'indeterminate' is an apt word with which to describe this novel. And therein lies its great strength, its mesmerising hold. It is elusive. Wonderfully, originally elusive. In an entirely enchanting way. Its magic is not in the spells of wizards, but in the power of dream.
For me the telling had different, and most intriguing resonances at different times. It is the tale of a young girl's journey but it takes the reader on a (literally) fascinating one too. In the early stages it feels like a story of schoolgirls in a bygone age, almost Anne of Green Gables. It then turns into a narrative about a repressive regime, which reminded me rather of cotton plantations in the southern states and their despotic 'overlords'. Later when protagonist, Isa, sets off into the forgotten and uncharted regions of the island in search of her lost friend, Governor's daughter, Lupe, she is as part of a very mixed party with the 'villain' and his thugs. It then reminded me at least a little of Jim's uneasy alliance with Silver et al when exploring Treasure Island.
However when the heart of the book, and the heart of the island, is reached myth and reality mingle inseparably in a thrilling and thought provoking way. Here the fantasy horrors may or may not be actual but they are indisputably real. This is a book where readers learn to understand more deeply, perhaps more intuitively, that myth can be a part of reality rather than an alternative to it. That there may be no outside that is truly separate from what is inside a head. That life and imagination are part of each other. Here the writing gently approaches the numinous, the metaphysical. And if the fulfilment of Isa's fantasising about her mythical heroine is not quite as she imagined it, this gives all the more power, and yet another layer of depth, emotion and thought, to a wonderful story. In the end the island is free to roam once more the oceans of imaginative reality. So is Isa. And, perhaps, the reader is just a little more free to do so too.
This is such an important theme, and quite beautifully handled by this young author in her in lyrical, enigmatic book. Her use of language is never less than evocative, often powerful and, at its best, can capture images which evoke real insight without ever tipping into new writing pretentiousness.'The threads of problems dangled in front of me, and I tried to think of a way to weave them into a solution,' says Isa, at one point. Good stuff indeed. This is a story that will map itself onto the reader's skin.
Great news for young readers across the pond too. It looks like this book is shortly to be published in The States as The Cartographer's Daughter. (To my mind, a slightly less engaging title, but let's not worry about that.) It well deserves to be widely read and will, I'm sure, soon become much loved.
Note:
*It would still be better to buy it from an independent bookshop, where that is an option. Please support them when you can.
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