The Onion Girl by Charles De Lint

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The Onion Girl by Charles De Lint

Pub: Gollancz. 508 page enlarged paperback. Price: £10.99(UK). ISBN: 0-575-07272-5

Check out website: www.orionbooks.co.uk

Jilly Coppercorn is a young artist who paints fairies, pixies, gargoyles and other fantasy figures in everyday setting. With tangled hair and paint spattered jeans and a perceptual smile on her lips, she seems to believe in everything but there is a dark secret from the past which she struggles to forget.

She is one of the three 'small fierce women', a group of women who albeit not blood-related are sisters to each other. People come and go from this group but the three core members, Jilly, Sophie and Wendy, always remain.

Life changes dramatically when Jilly is hit by a car and finishes up in intensive care. All her friends rush to her when they hear the news. She is left paralysed. 'The Broken Girl' as she calls herself. Although after the accident she is given access to the spiritworld or MANIDÒ-AKÌ through dreams. Her friends in the spiritworld tell her that her present hurt cannot be fixed until her old ones are dealt with.

The book is really Jilly's story, starting after the aftermath of the accident. Jilly has appeared in previous 'Newford' novels (Newford, for those who are unfamiliar is a fictional town in North America or maybe even Canada) starting with the book 'Memory And Dream' and as explained by De Lint at the start of the book he says, 'I didn't have the heart to recast the events for the book simply to say it in new words.

Jilly goes through enough already with what happens to her in this novel.' This is his explanation for the short story, 'In the House of My Enemy', from the collection of short stories 'Dreams Underfoot' being reprinted in entirety.

This is good for readers who are new to De Lint's books and I think for those who have read it before will see that it appends only to the background story of Jilly. This book is very accessible even if you haven't read any of the 'Newford' tales before.

De Lint takes ideas from an eclectic mix of folklore, fairy tales, myth and legends with a good dose of urban reality and, most of all, magic both in the real world and in MANIDÒ-AKÌ. It definitely puts a new spin on the wolf in Little Red Riding Hood.

He creates a self-contained world with vast depth and feeling. It feels very real and complete as do the characters. Both worlds have multiple layers as do the people (and spirits) that inhabit them. After read this book, you want a world of magic and wonder, as Jilly says, 'If there's no magic there's no meaning.'

Jilly's dreams into the spiritworld take up much of the book as does her history along with another character from her past. Jilly's history deals with some difficult topics and issues, peeling back the layers to show a cold hard reality.

This sometimes makes for an uncomfortable read and maybe the theme of child abuse is returned to just a bit too often. Also, the characters in the real world do seem to be those who believe in magic and MANIDÒ-AKÌ and those who don't.

For some, they might find the stories unfold a little too slowly but the book has such wonderful descriptions of people, spirits and places it's worth the ride. The close mix of reality and fantasy - 'urban fantasy' as De Lint describes his work is just a wonder to behold.

This really is a book for those who don't normally read fantasy (and those who do). This is far removed from Tolkien style fantasy.

I look forward to reading a lot more from this author.

Phil Jones

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