I Wish I Could Fly to Fairyland, Too!

Cheryl Fassett ♦ August 22, 2015 ♦ Leave a comment

In 2011, Caherynne M. Valente (1979- present) wrote a wonderful book called The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of her Own Making. It is one of those magical stories that will sweep you up and away and drop you back home changed for the better. With characters named September and Saturday, Gleam and my personal favorite, A-Through-L (a dragon/library hybrid!) how could you go wrong? It is full of childhood fantasy, but has adult humor that make it entertaining for adults as well. In his cover remarks, Neil Gaiman described it as a “glorious balancing act between modernism and the Victorian Fairy Tale.” Sounded a little bit steampunk to me! That was good enough to peak my interest!

First published online, this first book won the Nebula/Andre Norton Award in 2009 – a first for a book to win before traditional publication!

A prequel was released in 2011 called The Girl Who Ruled Fairyland – For a Little While. This tells the story of the girl who became the evil Marquess of Fairyland.

Ms. Valente went on to write The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There (2012.) In this, September returns to Fairyland and attempts to reunite with her Shadow who was lost there. The personification of the shadow ala Peter Pan has always been a favorite plot of mine. 🙂

The Girl Who Soared Over Fairyland and Cut the Moon in Two was released in 2013. Here, September must save her friends from the moon-Yeti.

The Boy Who Lost Fairyland came out in March of this year. A young troll named Hawthorne is stolen from Fairyland by the wind and lands in Chicago.

I haven’t completed the series yet. Fairyland is waiting for me on my Kindle. 🙂 I have read through the second book (but haven’t yet read the prequel) and the series is wonderful!

Ms. Valente is an American writer. She has had her short fiction appear in World Fantasy Award-winning anthologies. Her novels have been nominated for Hugo, World Fantasy and Locus Awards. In researching this post, I learned of other novels this author has written for adults as well as a number of shorter works of fiction that intrigue me.  I need to zip over to Amazon to pick a few up! 🙂