Cover art: Saara Söderlund
Comfort not challenge
The finest children’s fiction is often highly original, thought-provoking and relatively challenging. However there are also times when children want, and need, comfortable escapism. (Me too sometimes.) It is a good while since I discovered such enchanting ‘comfort’ reading for children around 7-10 yrs as Skye McKenna’s Hedgewitch.
As an added bonus, this is a very handsome volume. The cover art by Saara Söderlund is attractive, and the dark green boards are beautifully embellished in gold. However, it is the brilliant interior line drawings by Tomislav Tomic that are the physical book’s crowning glory. They seem to capture the feel of the story perfectly, ‘old fashioned’, in a very good way; somehow reminiscent of pictures that might be found in an old book of Fairy Tales, yet charmingly warm at the same time.
In this, her debut novel, Skye McKenna mixes a recipe of the familiar ingredients from children’s fantasy, yet does so with such captivating skill, that she produces a dish of reading delight. Here we have lonely Cassie, a supposed orphan; escape from bullies at a dreary boarding school; an encounter with a talking cat; a determined quest to find a mother only she believes is alive; discovery that her aunt is a famous witch, training sessions for a group of would-be young witches; a magical test to be passed; mysterious dangers in a deep, dark wood. The list is endless. Yet it is all a glorious indulgence in magical enchantment,
Delightful world-building
Much of the story’s magic is very gentle. Apart from the proximity of the dark ‘Hedge’, the border between the real world and that of faery, the village of Hedgely, where Cassie comes to live, is something of a cross between Diagon Ally and a hamlet in the Cotswolds. As a little bonus, the delicious description of Widdershin’s bookshop is enough to send the heart of any book-lover soaring. (Independent bookshops for ever!) Excepting the odd goblin, most of Hedgely’s inhabitants are charmingly quaint, Despite its uniform of black cloak and pointy hat, the Coven of Young Witches, is far more of a Brownie Guide pack than an indoctrination into occult practices. The competitive exhibition of spells, in which Cassie and her young witch friends are expected to participate, takes place at what is essentially a village fete.
On top of all the incident of life in this magical village, the tale is threaded through with evocative description of nature and the the countryside, which pulls everything even closer an idyl of rural life. This quality of writing also goes into the conjuring of its characters, particularly protagonist Carrie, so that the reader quickly engages with her and invests in her story.
But then, as befits a good tale, which this certainly is, darker forces begin to put in an appearance and events become gradually more sinister, building towards an exciting climax, before the eventual warming resolution (for now!).
One for the shelf of cherished books
You might say that this new novel will fill the sort of reading need that Enid Blyton provided for the children of the 1950s. However, this is a far finer book. (In fairness there was far less choice around in the 50s.) With its ethos of rural magic, rather than high fantasy, it reminded me slightly of Terry Pratchett’s glorious Tiffany Aching books (although those are for slightly older readers), but it is perhaps even more akin to Michelle Harrison’s brilliant Pinch of Magic series, and particularly James Nicol’s delightful Apprentice Witch trilogy. Readers who enjoyed any of these will likely revel in Hedgewitch, and vice versa.
This is a book lots of children should have on their own shelves (as I’m sure future generations will too), not just to read once, but to return to when the need arises, as it surely will. Despite, or perhaps because of, its moments of excited trepidation, it is a warm and comforting read. It is ideal for any youngsters just coming to fantasy, as well as the myriad who are already fans. It is also made for those many, of any age, who still look for a book to snuggle down with on a (metaphorically) cold or rainy day.
Clearly there is more of Cassie and her friends to come, a prospect for which we should all be hugely thankful.