The Onion Girl by Charles de Lint.
Read for: Once Upon a Time Challenge
So apparently, de Lint has written several other books that take place in Newford, his fictitious city but I’ve never read any of the others. I read some where that I probably wouldn’t want to read this book if I’d never read any of the others from Newford. A lot of the supporting characters in this novel have starred in their own novels prior to appearing in this one. I did not find that a problem for me. I kept wishing I had already read them, but not because I felt I missing any of the story but just because the little tidbits the readers were given about their lives were so compelling.
This particular novel is about Jilly Coppercorn (for those of you who have read the rest of the Newford books) who has appeared in several, if not all of the other books in the Newford series. Anyway, the book begins with Jilly being hit by a car and subsequently waking up in the hospital unable to move one side of her body. This is a huge problem for her because she is an artist and uses that side of her body to paint. Another side effect of her accident is her new ability to visit the other world or manido-aki in her dreams. Manido-aki is a basically a parallel place where anything is possible. I don’t know much about native american mythology, but I think most of what goes on in this other world is based on that mythology. (Correct me if I’m wrong!) She has friends there that are shape shifters and she befriends a man who was brought into life by an author who had imagined him for several of her stories.
As Jilly is trying to recover from her accident she is told that in order for that to happen she’s going to have to look inside first to heal an old hurt before she will be able to heal her physical body. Jilly has had a hard life and as she looks back at the things she’s had to endure the story shifts to someone from her past that may be able to help her heal those internal hurts.
My favourite part of this book was the dreamlands and the way that de Lint wove it into the story. I am looking forward to reading more books about the people of Newford that are able to travel back and forth between the World As It Is (what they call our world) and the dreamlands. Some people are able to travel back and forth at will and others must enter through their dreams. The book dealt with some pretty heavy issues (sexual abuse, drug use and prostitution) but I didn’t feel bogged down or depressed by these parts of the book. De Lint didn’t going into descriptive detail about these things but more sensitive readers might want to avoid this book. But overall, it was an enjoyable read and I will definitely be picking up some of the other books from the Newford series.
Tags: Charles deLint, Jilly Coppercorn, Newford
April 5th, 2009 at 4:33 pm
hey, cool new blog!
Is that your bookshelf?
April 5th, 2009 at 5:22 pm
That is one of my book shelves!
April 6th, 2009 at 1:23 am
I loved this book. There’s also a direct sequel, Widdershins, that came out a couple of years ago, which continues with Jilly’s healing process.
April 6th, 2009 at 6:03 am
Enjoyed your review! I only discovered Charles de Lint about two years ago, and absolutely love the Newford books. My favourite books are all either about Jilly or Christy Riddell, but I haven’t read this one yet.
April 6th, 2009 at 8:16 am
This Newford novel sounds excellent. So far I’ve read one short story anthology in the series, Dreams Underfoot, and am currently reading The Ivory and the Horn. All have been and are excellent, but I do need to get to some of his Newford novels.
April 6th, 2009 at 6:25 pm
A sequel? I’m definitely going to check that one out! I am excited to read more de Lint. I can’t believe I’d never read any of his books before now. Thanks for all your comments!
April 8th, 2009 at 5:23 pm
I also read this without having read any other Newford stories before, but I actually felt like I was missing something sometimes. Not anything major, though, and I still enjoyed it overall. I’m glad you did too
April 13th, 2009 at 9:43 pm
I read this recently too, and loved it. I also read the ‘sequel’ — Widdershins, which, if you liked this, you will love. I would recommend starting with Dreams Underfoot, however, since that gives you a lot of background on everyone… I love Charles de Lint and I hope you keep reading his amazing novels!