Having been intrigued by the idea of fairies since I was a child, I felt a connection to Frances and understood her fascination with these amazing creatures, her love of the Beck (where the fairies roam), her wanting to keep her meetings with the fairies secret, safe within her heart, but knowing the bursting need to make others understand. I could feel the sadness she must have when everything came out, losing herself and the child she once was to infamy. She was no longer the child who could spend hours at the Beck in Cottingley, listening to the waterfall and spying flashes of light flitting around the flowers. As children, we hold secrets that we do not believe adults would understand or grasp, or would try to explain away, but children also demand to be heard and taken seriously when they reveal something important. Olivia's story clung to me as I read, my favourite part of the book was her tale. The weaving of histories and connections. How her story becomes entwined with Frances's. Olivia lost her mother at a young age and lived with her grandparent's, she then loses her grandfather. It is at this point, when she inherits his bookstore that she starts to distance herself from her life and fiancee in London. She is entrenched in a role of adulthood and responsibility that seems to have strayed from the life she believed she would be leading. The fairy story roots her to a new life, as well as a lost past and a connection to the generation of women who came before her. Touching, sad, heart-warming and mystical, I could not put that book down. I appreciated every fantastical reveal and mourned with both Frances and Olivia, for their loss of childhood, their loss of youth and wonder, their loss of the ability to believe in the "fairies at the bottom of the garden." Why does adulthood exclude magic and mystical romance? The bookstore adds to the magic, especially for readers. The romance of books, the mystery of their origins, the love inscribed on their pages. The bookstore is shelter for Olivia, a shift in perspective. The shelves hold memories of Olivia's life and family, comforting and reliable. Something Old also allows her to build something new and wonderful for herself. Her relationship with Ross Bailey, the Writer is so different from her fiancee (her stiff, work obsessed fiancee). He keeps her grounded. I also liked that the book very much held to the premise that believing should not be linked to seeing. The importance of the fairies existence is not in finding them and proving they are real, but in knowing they are there, that you can leave a wish and know it will be granted. A beautiful narrative, that had me remembering my youth, my passions, and my dreams.
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
Currently ReadingHorror
Epic Fantasy
Archives
March 2024
|