Young Woman in a Garden: Stories

by Delia Sherman

Paperback, 2014

Status

Available

Publication

Small Beer Press (2014), 300 pages

Description

Fantasy. Fiction. Mythology. Short Stories. HTML: Praise for Delia Sherman's previous books: "Multilayered, compassionate, and thought-provoking."â??Kirkus Reviews, starred review "Fantastic in every sense of the word, Sherman's second novel (Through a Brazen Mirror) is a skillfully crafted fairy tale that owes as much to E.T.A. Hoffman as to Charles Perrault. . . . The Porcelain Dove is no dainty vertu but a seductive, sinister bird with razored feathers."â??Publishers Week-ly In her vivid and sly, gentle and wise, long-anticipated first collection, Delia Sherman takes seemingly insignificant moments in the lives of artists or sailorsâ??the light out a window, the two strokes it takes to turn a small boatâ??and finds the ghosts haunting them, the magic surrounding them. Here are the lives that make up larger histories, here are tricksters and gardeners, faeries and musicians, all glittering and sparkling, finding beauty and hope and always unexpected, a touch of wild magic. Delia Sherman was born in Japan and raised in New York City. Her work has appeared most recently in the anthologies Naked City, Steampunk!, and Queen Victoria's Book of Spells. She is the author of six novels including The Porcelain Dove (a New York Times Notable Book), The Freedom Maze, and Changeling, and has received the Mythopoeic and Norton awards. She lives in New Yor… (more)

Rating

(12 ratings; 4.1)

User reviews

LibraryThing member gnomereviews
I received a free copy of this book from Edelweiss.

This book is a collection of Delia Sherman’s short fiction, featuring ghosts, mermen, and fairies.

Some of the stories are quite good, particularly the ghost stories. “The Red Piano” is especially creepy, and the collection is worth reading
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just for this story. Next door neighbours have matching pianos, and the situation is much less innocent than it seems. “The Ghost of Cwmlech Manor,”adds a steampunk twist to the ghost story genre.

“The Parwat Ruby” was another standout. A man wills his treasured ruby ring to his sister, but the family fights over the ring; the resulting karmic smackdown was both unexpected and satisfying.

These stories are written in an old-fashioned style, which sometimes works, and sometimes doesn’t. Some of the stories were set in the past, so the writing style helped to set the scene, while the modern day stories were weighed down by the old-fashioned language.

The ebook expired only one week after the download, a decision from the publisher that meant the gnomes didn’t get to read the last few stories.

This review originally appeared at gnomereviews.ca.
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LibraryThing member janerawoof
3.5 out of 5. Short story collection of fantasy-based, each set set in different times and places, with dialogue attuned to its location and era. Clever, highly original, with all kinds of magic and strange creatures: a ghost, werewolf, an alchemist, a half human/half selkie, a merman. Some stories
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had twists at the end.
My favorites:

"The ghost of Cwmlech Manor": ghost haunting this place knows of a hidden treasure.

"The red piano": a creepy story of two twin red pianos and their owners.

"The fiddler of Bayou Teche": in Louisiana, musicians, fiddles, a dance competition and the Loup-garous [i.e., werewolves] told in Cajun dialect by a young woman, Cadence.

"Walpurgis Afternoon": what happens when two witches move in next door to the heroine.

"The printer's daughter": in Puritan England, a printer, Hal, fashions a doll from spoilt pages of his printing--both sacred and profane--and an alchemist who has given him a commission, transforms it into a daughter who the printer calls Frisket.

Recommended.
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LibraryThing member jennybeast
This is an extraordinary collection -- rich, witty, whimsical and alluring. The stories are strong -- they whisk a reader immediately away into strange shores and dialects, into song and time.

For the dancing story, for the printing story, for Frisket's dear and bawdy speech, thank you. It's a rich
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magic, and I am grateful.
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Language

Original language

English

Original publication date

2014-11-11

Physical description

300 p.; 8.5 inches

ISBN

1618730916 / 9781618730916
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