Books › In the night garden
In the night garden
First published 2006 · 516 pages
A lush, labyrinthine tapestry of dark fairy tales and shifting myths spun by a lonely girl with stories inked on her eyelids.
What it feels like
Reading this book feels like wandering through a labyrinth of dreams, where stories loop, twist, and fold into one another. It is a lush and meandering experience, driven not by a rushing plot but by the hypnotic rhythm of a storyteller's voice. The prose is deeply lyrical and enchanting, casting a spell that draws you into a shadowy world of shape-shifting witches, beast princesses, and living stars. Beneath the wondrous surface of these dark, reinvented fairy tales lies a thoughtful exploration of shifting identities and hidden histories. It is a breathtaking, spellbinding tapestry crafted for grown-up readers who want to lose themselves in the magic of mythmaking and the transformative power of a perfectly spun tale.
- Mood
- dreamlike
- wondrous
- shadowy
- spellbinding
- Tone
- lush
- lyrical
- enchanting
- mythic
- Pace
- meandering
- Themes
- the power of storytelling · hidden histories · shifting identities · reinvented myths · dark fairy tales
- The writing
- Lush, lyrical, and intricately woven, designed to cast a hypnotic spell like an ancient oral storyteller.
- The arc
- Begins with quiet, lonely curiosity and expands into a sprawling, wondrous immersion in dark and shifting myths.
- Who it's for
- Grown-up readers who crave intricately nested, dark fairy tales and lyrical fantasy that plays with gender and identity.
Content notes
- dark fairy tale themes
- unspeakable fates
About the book
A Book of Wonders for Grown-Up ReadersEvery once in a great while a book comes along that reminds us of the magic spell that stories can cast over us--to dazzle, entertain, and enlighten. Welcome to the Arabian Nights for our time--a lush and fantastical epic guaranteed to spirit you away from the very first page....Secreted away in a garden, a lonely girl spins stories to warm a curious prince: peculiar feats and unspeakable fates that loop through each other and back again to meet in the tapestry of her voice. Inked on her eyelids, each twisting, tattooed tale is a piece in the puzzle of the girl's own hidden history. And what tales she tells! Tales of shape-shifting witches and wild horsewomen, heron kings and beast princesses, snake gods, dog monks, and living stars--each story more strange and fantastic than the one that came before. From ill-tempered "mermaid" to fastidious Beast, nothing is ever quite what it seems in these ever-shifting tales--even, and especially, their teller. Adorned with illustrations by the legendary Michael Kaluta, Valente's enchanting lyrical fantasy offers a breathtaking reinvention of the untold myths and dark fairy tales that shape our dreams. And just when you think you've come to the end, you realize the adventure has only begun....From the Trade Paperback edition.
Description from Open Library.
Books like In the night garden
See why they match
PalimpsestCatherynne ValenteA lush, erotic fever dream of a hidden city accessed only through the skin of another.
RadianceCatherynne M. ValenteA glittering, tragic space opera told through a collage of scripts and secrets, exploring the stories we invent to survive the people we lose.
The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making (Fairyland #1)Catherynne M. ValenteA lush, bittersweet portal fantasy that wraps the sharp edges of growing up in a cloak of wild, linguistic whimsy.
The DevourersIndra DasA lush, blood-soaked fever dream that blurs the line between human desire and monstrous hunger.
Kissing the WitchEmma DonoghueA hypnotic, subversive unspooling of familiar folklore that centers female desire and queer awakening.
BeautySheri S. TepperA dark, time-bending fable that weaves feminist critique and ecological warning into a tapestry of fading magic.