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Some Kind of Fairy Tale
Book - 2012
It is Christmas afternoon and Peter Martin gets an unexpected phonecall from his parents, asking him to come round. It pulls him away from his wife and children and into a bewildering mystery. He arrives at his parents house and discovers that they have a visitor. His sister Tara. Not so unusual you might think, this is Christmas after all, a time when families get together. But twenty years ago Tara took a walk into the woods and never came back and as the years have gone by with no word from her the family have, unspoken, assumed that she was dead. Now she's back, tired, dirty, dishevelled, but happy and full of stories about twenty years spent travelling the world, an epic odyssey taken on a whim. But her stories don't quite hang together and once she has cleaned herself up and got some sleep it becomes apparent that the intervening years have been very kind to Tara. She really does look no different from the young women who walked out the door twenty years ago. Peter's parents are just delighted to have their little girl back, but Peter and his best friend Richie, Tara's one time boyfriend, are not so sure. Tara seems happy enough but there is something about her. A haunted, otherworldly quality. Some would say it's as if she's off with the fairies. And as the months go by Peter begins to suspect that the woods around their homes are not finished with Tara and his family.
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Publisher:
London : Gollancz, 2012.
ISBN:
9780575115286
Characteristics:
393 p. ;,22 cm.
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Add a CommentEven though this book is billed as a fairy tale of sorts be forewarned that there is quite a bit of profanity and sex in this novel. Definitely a book for mature audiences.
This book is totally sweet and has great characters. It centers around a supposed abduction - perhaps by fairies. Don't call them that though! :)
This novel is amazing. The late Graham Joyce is one if my favorite authors and this novel just hit me straight to the soul.
This book was mesmerizing--I could not wait to see what was going to happen. There were twists and turns I did not expect. I enjoyed both the plot and the characters. It is unlike any other book I have read.
Came in expecting and hoping to love it but it fell kind of flat for me. We started out strong - missing child appears twenty years later without having aged at all (turns out for her it's only been six months) - but it never seemed to live up to that strength for me. The fairies never seemed as menacing to me as they've been in other books that I've read with this sort of story. I did like the look at how this all affected the family.
A modern take on an ancient theme, the 'taking' of a human by the elves. Complete with appropriate time warps, and the psychological complications that are the consequence. Enjoyed very much. Very smooth writing. This author is worth looking up.
I left another book halfway in when I read the first chapter of this story.
Credit to Mr. Joyce for imagination.
I'd love to know the chant for banishing mice.
Vivian!!!??
This is the first novel by Graham Joyce I've read. After finishing Some Kind of Fairy Tale, I immediately put another on hold. Joyce's writing is clear and a joy to read. The plot is fairly predictable, but it's the characters we come to care about most. Tara struck me as somewhat hollow, and my favorite character was only a minor one: Dr. Underwood. Still this was a good read. Recommended.