2006, Orion's Children's
320 pages, Paperback
Personal Copy
Historical, Children's
Cushions: 5
Daggers: 1
Smiles: 2
Tissues: 3
Yunaleska's recommended rating: ♥♥♥♥♥
Summary from Orion
The story is told by Coriander, daughter of a silk merchant in 1650s London. Her idyllic childhood ends when her mother dies and her father goes away, leaving Coriander with her stepmother, a widow who is in cahoots with a fundamentalist Puritan preacher. She is shut away in a chest and left to die, but emerges into the fairy world from which her mother came, and where time has no meaning. When she returns, charged with a task that will transform her life, she is seventeen.
The back of the bookdoesn't give the same blurb as the summary above. I'm pretty sure it didn't mention anything about fairies, magical silver shoes, an enchanted fox or suspended animation. I bought it because a friend's daughter recommended it. I started, and initially I thought it was going to be a nice, not necessarily dynamic tale about the 1650's. I was so wrong. Coriander's voice drew me into a world where magic exists, but it is hidden from her for good reason. Her life is in danger because of who her mother was. I can't think of many books where a BLANKED TO PROTECT SPOILER helps save the day. I feared for Coriander's safety through most of the book, with plenty edge of the seat moments. It's a magical read which I'll be reading again and again. I like the woven feel of the front cover (it can't be seen on the picture, but it isn't printed on standard paper).
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