When you can find me an acre of land,
Every sage grows merry in time,
Between the ocean and the sand
Then will you be united again.
INSPIRED BY THE CHILD BALLADS 2 & 19
So begins a beautiful and tragic quest as a heartbroken mother sets out to save her lost daughter, through the realms of the real, of dream, and even into the underworld itself.
But determination alone is not enough. For to save something precious, she must give up something precious, be it a song, a memory, or her freedom itself . . .
Beautifully illustrated by Bonnie Helen Hawkins, this is a stunning and original modern fairytale.
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They say the madcap Queen of May once fell in love with a man of the Folk, and followed him into his world, forsaking her life and memory. ONE
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(@gollancz, 3 September 2020, 224 pages, hardback, bought from @AmazonUK)
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I thought this was an incredible book. Harris has used The Child Ballads to inspire her work before ( The Blue Salt Road) so I expected to enjoy this. I loved every word. If anything, it's too short and I wanted to stay with Fay and Daisy for another couple hundred pages. I loved the way the author blends the real world with Daisy seemingly killed though the circumstances are hinted at but never fully explained and the world of the Fay and dreams. The illustrations are beautiful and really compliment the story. This is a beautifully written, illustrated tale.
