Here is another gem of a book from an American author, although it is totally different from some of the others I have found most recently; this one is much more of an actual children's book (broadly 8-12?) rather than a young adult read. It was a delightful change, too, to come across fiction for this age group that isn't trying to be trendy or jokey. Not that there isn't a place for the cross-dressing, wimpy schoolboy Dracula and his cyber bathroom adventures with a grimy grandmother. There certainly is. But, sometimes . . .
Although not published here in the UK, The Witch's Boy can easily and quickly be sourced on line. Normally I strongly advocate supporting local bookshops, particularly independent ones. If we don't then we are in danger of losing a wonderfully enriching community resource. However, I have to say that it is a strong plus for our internet world that we can so readily discover and access books published elsewhere. It would be a great pity to miss reading delights like this one.
Whilst most definitely sited in an imagined world, this book does not inhabit the realms of 'high fantasy'; its core elements of setting, character and storyline are much closer to those of Fairy Tale, as is much of its style. Here are a mother who sews the soul of her dead son into the chest of her surviving one, giants who have been turned into stone and a stache of dangerous magic kept in a pot, There is even a deep, dark forest with a wolf, although in this case the creature in question is not particularly big and certainly not bad. This is a not a retelling of an existing tale, nor is it a pastiche; it is a highly original and entertaining story in its own right.
One of the endorsements on its back cover is from Anne Ursu, and it does not surprise me that the publishers chose this particular writer to offer comment. Although no clone, there is certainly a fairly close affinity between the tone of The Witch's Boy and Breadcrumbs, or perhaps especially her truly wonderful The Real Boy. Kelly Barnhill's book also put me in mind several times of Astrid Lindgren's classic Ronia the Robber's Daughter, first published in English in 1983, and not only because this one has a bandit's daughter too. In my mind, this is certainly not an invidious comparison, quite the opposite. Ronia is a book that in my long-past days of class teaching I read several times to different children, always to my own great pleasure and their evident delight. I would count it as one of my twentieth century greats.
There is much that is very skillful about the writing and construction of the 'Fairy Tale' that is The Witch's Boy. Whilst fully acknowledging the potency of traditional Fairy Tales, Philip Pullman points out in his introduction to his own retelling of the Grimm Tales (Penguin Books, 2012) that they are typically fast paced narratives with stock elements and little in the way of detailed description or characterisation. And this is essentially how Kelly Barnhill's book starts. However she quickly but subtly eases the reader into sharing the thoughts and feelings of her characters, particularly those of the story's two young protagonists, the witch's son and the bandit's daughter. Even though these characters are never realistic, they do soon become very real in the reader's mind. Indeed they are truly lovable, despite, or perhaps because of their undoubted flaws. They may essentially be there to represent love and friendship and real courage, but they do so most endearingly. So Kelly Barnhill's story quickly develops into into an expansion and considerable enrichment of the original genre, without altogether losing its fairy tale feel. She also pointedly, and very properly, avoids some of the gender (and animal) stereotyping associated with the traditional tales. In her story you will find that the good, wise monarch is a queen, not a king, that neither the witch nor the wolf are evil, and that some councillors, soldiers, bandits and indeed woodcutters are, quite naturally, female. The story expands considerably too from the limits of traditional Fairy Tale, not only In length and complexity, but in scope and scale. Indeed its theme of a king and his army invading a neighbour to reclaim lost territory almost approaches the world of 'high fantasy' which is so far from its starting point.
Yet despite its length and authorial sophistication, its split narratives and its rich and diverse cast of characters The Witch's Boy has a logic and integrity which enables all its threads to be comfortably brought together in an ending which coheres everything into a satisfying whole. There are elements of the story's denouement that perhaps verge on sentimentality, though certainly no more so than, say, those of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. However, they are also strong, positive and life-affirming and that is no bad thing in a book for children. Indeed there are times when those of us much older appreciate such affirmations too. And amongst the self-sacrifice, the celebration of family and friendship, of goodness and of love, there are moments of touching poignancy too, and lightness and humour. Perhaps more than anything there are moments of wonderful lyricism, for scattered throughout this beautifully written and crafted tale are frequent felicities of wording and phrasing that are truly poetic, in a way that truly enriches the flow of language rather than over embellishing it. This is unobtrusively stylish writing and most effective storytelling.
All in all, The Witch's Boy is not quite the excitingly ground breaking work that some of my other recent finds have been. However it is one of the most unashamedly enjoyable reads I have had for quite a while. It provoked a nostalgia for childhood like nothing else recently and I take that to be a very good indicator. It is a bedtime book in the best sense. Even when it is frightening or saddening it has somehow cosy undertones. And it is constantly engaging; you would want to continue reading it with a torch under the bedclothes long after lights-out. Much of this is because it is so skilfully written, both in the structure and pacing of what is a fairly long story, and in its language, which is all the more effective for being unpretentious. Although relatively complex, its narrative has a logic and cohesion which slowly reveals itself as the tale unfolds. It is, at heart, a completely refreshed and reimagined version of a core classic (possibly the core classic) of children's fiction. A boy and a girl each in their own way grow up and discover the joys and tragedies of life, learn to be themselves, and ultimately leave their comfortable homes to face a future that is unknown but exciting. The Witch's Boy is made of the very stuff of a great children's book. It will be a much loved and, I suspect, a long enduring one. UK readers don't miss out - and don't let your children or grandchildren miss out. Books like this feed and grow the imagination and indeed the 'soul'. They are the perfect antidote to too much time thumbing a tiny keypad.
This book is not Kelly Barnhill's debut. I most seek out her earlier works and add them to my reading pile.
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