Tag: keith donohue

The Stolen Child by Keith Donohue

The Stolen Child by Keith Donohue

If you must give me a name, call me hobgoblin. Or better yet, I am a changeling- a word that describes within its own name what we are bound and intended to do. We kidnap a human child and replace him or her with one of our own.” pg 7, ebook.

The Stolen Child is the story of a changeling and the boy whose place he took, Henry Day.

The chapters alternate between the real Henry Day and the false Henry Day. It is a captivating story about magic, family and belonging.

Photo by Gary Barnes on Pexels.com

“This is my confession, too long delayed, which I have been afraid to make, and only now reveal because of the passing dangers to my own son. We change. I have changed.”

It also addresses the issues of the modern world and how technology and humanity has driven nature into corners.

The changelings are basically immortal children (but they can die through accidents) who live in the woods until their turn comes to rejoin the human world. Years before, they were all ripped from their families and made a part of the same group their replacement just deserted.

Their world is brutal, cold and always on the verge of collapse. One of their only rules is they don’t discuss a new changeling’s prior life during his new one.

Photo by Stijn Dijkstra on Pexels.com

The adjustment period from human to changeling is difficult enough without keeping the memories alive through the long years of their unchanging childhood.

But things aren’t much easier on the changelings who take the child’s place. If they are discovered, in the past, the changelings have been killed or their family members have gone mad from the strain.

They must carry a secret with them for the rest of their lives. It is as a lonely an existence as the changeling group separated from humanity in the forest.

Photo by ArtHouse Studio on Pexels.com

I enjoyed this story. Keith Donohue has a way with making the fantastical seem real and the miraculous into the mundane.

But that ending. It didn’t complete the excellent characters and storyline Donohue had constructed, in my mind.

Recommended for those who like to read modern fairy tales. Just don’t expect a life-changing finale.

Thanks for reading!

The Motion of Puppets by Keith Donohue

The Motion of Puppets by Keith Donohue

The Motion of Puppets is a clever play on an ancient Roman myth.

Orpheus was a musician who was so talented he could charm the birds from the sky and make the forest spirits weep. He madly loved a woman named Eurydice.

One day, she stepped on a serpent and died. Orpheus nearly lost his mind out of grief for her. So, he made his way to the underworld to beg Lord Hades for his bride.

Photo by Ekaterina on Pexels.com

Orpheus plays such sweet music that Persephone weeps and Hades allows the bard to take the shade of his dead wife back to the living world. There’s one condition, he can’t look back to see if she’s following.

I think we all know what happened then. This book takes that tragedy and places it in the modern world.

Everything is fine until Theo’s wife, Kay, goes missing. “She should be more responsible, should know that he would worry, but he could hear her laughing it off when she came home. You’ll give yourself ulcers, she’d say. You fret too much. I just went out for croissants.” pg 18

Photo by Daria Shevtsova on Pexels.com

He assumes she stumbled into the bed of one of her coworkers and is sleeping off a hangover. But the truth is much worse.

Kay has been transformed into something else, something magical and monstrous. “We lucky few can move about as long as the people are not watching. Midnight to first light, we are free.”pg 41

She is trapped in a metaphorical “underworld,” ruled over by an ancient power and his minions. “You cannot go home,” he said. “You cannot ever leave the Back Room.” pg 76

Even if Theo can figure out where she’s gone, how on earth will Kay go back to the shape she had before?

Keith Donohue has crafted a clever and haunting novel, putting a horror-tinged lens on the myth.

Photo by Irene Lasus on Pexels.com

“And, besides, let me tell you a secret: all art needs a little sadness in it, a small tragedy to balance the human comedy.” pg 111

Like Moulin Rouge, Baz Luhrmann’s musical take on Orpheus and Eurydice, the elements of the original story are in both works of art. I think The Motion of Puppets is more weird and other-worldly.

To truly enjoy this tale, you have to be willing to believe in magic.

Highly recommended for readers who like twists on mythology or not-too-terrifying horror stories.

If you like mythological re-tellings, you may also enjoy The Snow Child or Circe.

Thanks for reading!