Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert (2018) – A book of strange fairy tales written by her reclusive grandmother is the center of young Alice Proserpine’s life. She has never been allowed to read them, and the book itself is almost impossible to find. When Alice realizes that people from the “Hinterland”, the setting for the fairy tales, have kidnapped her mother, she heads to the most frightening story of all. Her own.
Over the last decade, fairy tales have moved back into the mainstream. Movies, televisions shows, and books bring new visions of stories that have been with us for centuries. Here, the author takes us in a new direction. Not old stories, but new ones. The stories created by Alice’s grandmother Althea Proserpine, are dark and filled with death. If your only exposure to fairy tales in from the Disney versions, that will seem strange. In reality, the old stories are grim, beyond the comfort level of modern society. The stories in “Tales From the Hinterland” are all of that.
They also form the context of Alice’s existence. She lives an odd life with her mother, Ella. Her father is an unknown of whom nothing is ever spoken. Her grandmother is a figure of legend to a young girl. There’s an issue between Ella and Althea, one that Alice still doesn’t understand at 17. Their life is a constant flight from bad luck. Never living for long in any one place before something bad happens and they have to move again. Alice doesn’t understand any of it, but it’s the only life she knows. She and Ella are the only family or friends either have. Everything is temporary, except for the bad luck that follows them.
The Hazel Wood offers a range of classic storytelling elements. It’s a quest story, it’s a fairy tale, it’s a horror story, it’s a story about what qualifies as a family and the search for self-identity. There’s just a taste of the story of John and Sarah Connor in the “Terminator” movies. And Albert handles all the elements with skill and assurance.
All those parts result in a story that kept me reading. Watching as Alice unwraps the mystery of her life is fascinating. Dealing with the innumerable questions about who she is, who Ella is, who Althea is, the location of the Hazel Wood (Althea’s estate), and the final revelation about the Hinterland and her part in it, creates a book that made me make time for it in a busy week.
I’m on a roll this year with the books on my list. The “Best of the Year” list will be long. My bet is that this one will grab one of those slots.
Rating: **** Recommended
Stories Are My Life 