Hi everyone! I hope you’re all well. It’s Friday again, meaning it’s time for another review. This week, I am reviewing the novella ‘Thornhedge’ by T. Kingfisher.
Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher was first published in August 2023 by Macmillan, and (my copy) is 100 pages long.
The Plot
In this retelling of Sleeping Beauty, a fairy is tasked with keeping watch over a beautiful princess with a dangerous secret.
Characters
The Fairy/Toadling
The fairy is the story’s protagonist. Born human and stolen away by fairies, she has spent much of her life ensuring the ‘sleeping beauty’ in the tower she’s guarding doesn’t wake up. She has tried her utmost best, using her magic, to ward off any ‘roving princes or penniless younger sons’ – and, for the most part, she’s managed. For more than two hundred years, she has kept a lonely vigil, speaking to nobody at all, until one day, a knight stops by.
At first, She thinks the knight will leave after stopping for a night’s rest, and when he doesn’t, she begins to worry that he’ll find his way through the brambles, bushes and thorny hedge and into the tower.
When she finally does convince him to leave, he promises to return, believing her to be cursed and telling her he will find a way to break it.
Slowly, the two build an unlikely friendship, learning about one another’s lives and cultures.
The knight/Halim
The knight has spent a long time reading about the legend of an old keep that used to be in the area, and he has grown curious as to why there’s no sign of it. Deciding to stop for the night by the brambles and thorns, he meets the fairy.
Convinced that the fairy is cursed, the knight finally sets off to gather supplies to break it. When he returns, after trying and failing to break the curse, the fairy- as she’s been trying to do the whole time, convinces him that she isn’t the one whose cursed. Finally, she relents, and helping him to cut his way through the overgrown foliage, she allows him to enter the tower.
Fayette
Fayette is a child who is the very definition of beauty but hides a very dark secret within. I can’t say more than that, or else it won’t be worth reading the book because Fayette’s character is the reason for almost everything in the story.
Writing Style
I love how this story is told. The author has a gift for pulling you into the story world and making you want to explore it. The book’s descriptions are excellent. The way the author has described the thorny bushes surrounding the tower as having ‘thorns like sword blades and stems and thick as a man’s thigh’ is very evocative. I could immediately see the tower with its thorny barrier in my mind. I also love how the fairy is described: ‘The fairy was the greenish-tan colour of mushroom stems and her skin bruised blue-black, like mushroom flesh. She had a broad, frog-like face and waterweed hair’. She feels like such a unique but very alive character to me.
The author seamlessly weaves the narrative between present and past events, allowing the reader to follow the backstory of the fairy without feeling bogged down in information. It was so smooth a read that I sometimes forgot that I was actually reading – I felt so immersed in the story that I only dipped out when I couldn’t keep my eyes open any more.
Final Thoughts
I have such a fondness for fairytales, and in my experience, good retellings are hard to come by, so I was pleased when I was recommended this retelling of the classic Sleeping Beauty.
I highly recommend reading Thornhedge if you enjoy well-known and well-loved tales that are told from a different perspective than what’s expected. It’s a terrific short read but with an incredibly immersive feel.
I am giving Thornhedge a full and deserved 10/10.
Do you enjoy fairytale retellings? Which is your favourite?
Thanks, as always, for stopping by to read my review. It means the world, and I appreciate your time.
Until next time,
George
© 2023 GLT
Categories: Book Reviews, Reading
GEORGE L THOMAS 
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