Status
Available
Call number
Series
Publication
New York : Little, Brown and Company, 2014.
Description
Sarah Jane Dillard discovers and helps an injured 'sangman fairy in the Tanglewood Forest, putting herself, her six sisters, and friends Aunt Lillian and the Apple Tree Man in the middle of a fairy feud.
User reviews
LibraryThing member pussreboots
Seven Wild Sisters: A Modern Fairy Tale by Charles de Lint is the follow up / companion piece to The Cats of Tanglewood Forest. A mother and her seven daughters move to a home on a hill, where their only nearby neighbor is an older woman, presumed to be a witch.
Sarah Jane is the one sister who
Things go awry when Sarah Jane rescues a little wooden man, thus taking sides in an ages long faerie battle. Soon she finds family in the middle of the battle as her sisters are kidnapped by opposing sides.
It's a fairly standard faerie war story but it's rendered down to a tightly told story, taking less than 300 pages. Text wise, it's probably only 200 pages but the book is filled with the lovely watercolor illustrations of Charles Vess (who has illustrated a number of Neil Gaiman's books and graphic novels).
Sarah Jane is the one sister who
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believes all the tales of faeries and magic told about the forest. She's desperate to meet a faerie and doesn't realize how dangerous such a wish could possibly be.Things go awry when Sarah Jane rescues a little wooden man, thus taking sides in an ages long faerie battle. Soon she finds family in the middle of the battle as her sisters are kidnapped by opposing sides.
It's a fairly standard faerie war story but it's rendered down to a tightly told story, taking less than 300 pages. Text wise, it's probably only 200 pages but the book is filled with the lovely watercolor illustrations of Charles Vess (who has illustrated a number of Neil Gaiman's books and graphic novels).
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LibraryThing member david_c
About the 3 stars. I liked this book. I am just not quite sure that it contains enough to be 4 star good.
A short tale of seven teen-aged sisters living somewhere in the countryside, close enough to Newport that it appears to be the nearest major city. They accidentally find themselves enmeshed in
A short tale of seven teen-aged sisters living somewhere in the countryside, close enough to Newport that it appears to be the nearest major city. They accidentally find themselves enmeshed in
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an old magical conflict between honey and ginseng. Told from the viewpoint of the middle sister, this tale is sweet and light. Show Less
LibraryThing member jjmcgaffey
An enjoyable story, of a modern(ish) family of sisters encountering fairies and the Otherworld. The way it jumps back and forth in tenses and viewpoints is a little odd, though never confusing. It was interesting, I enjoyed it, I'd read another if there were one (I don't think there is)...but it
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wasn't anything special and I'm not particularly interested in reading it again. Good, not great. Though I would like to see a final version (mine is an ARC) to see the illustrations - this has sketches or just a note for many of them. Show Less
LibraryThing member cindywho
This was a nice detour from Newford. Seven sisters live in the mountains and one has made friends with an old woman who lives off the grid and teaches her self-reliance. A ginseng harvest sends them on a adventure into Faerie - de Lint style.
LibraryThing member LisCarey
The Dillards are a family of eight now; a widowed mother and her seven daughters--including two sets of twins. They're living now on a farm near a small town, and a large forest. There are odd stories about the forest, about fairies and other magical creatures, and strange disappearances. Further
Lily tells Sarah Jane many stories of fairies and other magical creatures, including 'sangmen and bee fairies, the Apple Tree Man, and the Father of Cats, who normally appears, when he does at all, as a black panther. Sarah Jane loves the stories, but she doesn't believe them. Then one day she's out gathering 'sang on her own, because Lily is feeling her age, and discovers a tiny man seemingly made of twigs, shot through with over a hundred tiny arrows, badly wounded but still breathing. She picks him up and carries him to Lily's, and along the way meets the Apple Tree Man.sovolved herself in a fairy feud, between the bee fairies and the 'sangmen. With the bee fairies believing she has chosen to ally herself with their enemies, and the 'sangmen believing she has captured their comrade and will trade him to the bee fairies, she's in danger from both sides.
The Apple Tree Man is an old friend of Lily's, who promises to help. The Apple Tree Man has another friend, a little cat-man who calls himself Lil Pater. Soon they are planning a trip into the fairy world to work out a bargain that will get the 'sangman to safety, and convince the bee fairies that Sarah Jane was merely doing a good deed for a wounded man she knew nothing about. In the process, though, Sarah Jane won't be getting home until the next morning.
Their plan doesn't go well, when they encounter the bee fairies immediately.
Meanwhile, when Sarah Jane doesn't come home when expected, Mrs. Dillard sends the oldest girl, Adie, and one of the other singletons, Elsie, to go fetch Sarah Jane.
The older set of twins decide to go wandering in the woods, "looking for Sarah Jane," but really hoping to see some of the interesting things she has talked about, and run into a strange little twig man who lures them into a trap with music. They're musicians, and they've brought their instrument cases with them, and he challenges them to a musical duel. If he wins, they have to come with him.
Unfortunately, the younger twins have played a nasty prank that, absent the interference of the fairies none of them believe in, would have been harmless. They had followed the elder twins, and saw the kidnapping--and know they have to rescue their sisters.
Soon all the Dillard sisters are confronting the bee fairies and the 'sangmen, and learning more than any of them wanted to know about fairy. It's exciting, and the human characters are believable and likable, while the various fairy characters have the colorful characteristics, the charm, and the danger that fairies ought to have.
And of course, Charles Vess's illustrations are beautiful and enhance the story.
Highly recommended.
I bought this book.
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into the woods than the Dillards' home is the little house of Lillian Kindred. Lily is an old woman who lives alone, and grows and processes most of her own food. She also collects wild-growing ginsang, or as she calls it, 'sang, to sell in town and buy the few things she can't make herself. A lot of the work is hard, heavy work, though, and when Lily and the fourth of the Dillard girls, Sarah Jane, and Lily take a liking to each other, Mrs. Dillard doesn't object to Sarah Jane spending her free time helping Lily Kindred.Lily tells Sarah Jane many stories of fairies and other magical creatures, including 'sangmen and bee fairies, the Apple Tree Man, and the Father of Cats, who normally appears, when he does at all, as a black panther. Sarah Jane loves the stories, but she doesn't believe them. Then one day she's out gathering 'sang on her own, because Lily is feeling her age, and discovers a tiny man seemingly made of twigs, shot through with over a hundred tiny arrows, badly wounded but still breathing. She picks him up and carries him to Lily's, and along the way meets the Apple Tree Man.sovolved herself in a fairy feud, between the bee fairies and the 'sangmen. With the bee fairies believing she has chosen to ally herself with their enemies, and the 'sangmen believing she has captured their comrade and will trade him to the bee fairies, she's in danger from both sides.
The Apple Tree Man is an old friend of Lily's, who promises to help. The Apple Tree Man has another friend, a little cat-man who calls himself Lil Pater. Soon they are planning a trip into the fairy world to work out a bargain that will get the 'sangman to safety, and convince the bee fairies that Sarah Jane was merely doing a good deed for a wounded man she knew nothing about. In the process, though, Sarah Jane won't be getting home until the next morning.
Their plan doesn't go well, when they encounter the bee fairies immediately.
Meanwhile, when Sarah Jane doesn't come home when expected, Mrs. Dillard sends the oldest girl, Adie, and one of the other singletons, Elsie, to go fetch Sarah Jane.
The older set of twins decide to go wandering in the woods, "looking for Sarah Jane," but really hoping to see some of the interesting things she has talked about, and run into a strange little twig man who lures them into a trap with music. They're musicians, and they've brought their instrument cases with them, and he challenges them to a musical duel. If he wins, they have to come with him.
Unfortunately, the younger twins have played a nasty prank that, absent the interference of the fairies none of them believe in, would have been harmless. They had followed the elder twins, and saw the kidnapping--and know they have to rescue their sisters.
Soon all the Dillard sisters are confronting the bee fairies and the 'sangmen, and learning more than any of them wanted to know about fairy. It's exciting, and the human characters are believable and likable, while the various fairy characters have the colorful characteristics, the charm, and the danger that fairies ought to have.
And of course, Charles Vess's illustrations are beautiful and enhance the story.
Highly recommended.
I bought this book.
Show Less
Awards
World Fantasy Award (Nominee — Novella — 2003)
Sunburst Award (Longlist — Young Adult — 2015)
Locus Recommended Reading (Novella — 2002)
Best Fiction for Young Adults (Selection — 2003)
Language
Original publication date
2002-05
Physical description
260 p.; 22 cm
ISBN
9780316053563
Local notes
Circle of Cats, 3
DDC/MDS
| Fic Childrens de Lint |