Ratings8
Average rating3.8
Acclaimed author Graham Joyce's mesmerizing new novel centers around the disappearance of a young girl from a small town in the heart of England. Her sudden return twenty years later, and the mind-bending tale of where she's been, will challenge our very perception of truth. For twenty years after Tara Martin disappeared from her small English town, her parents and her brother, Peter, have lived in denial of the grim fact that she was gone for good. And then suddenly, on Christmas Day, the doorbell rings at her parents' home and there, disheveled and slightly peculiar looking, Tara stands. It's a miracle, but alarm bells are ringing for Peter. Tara's story just does not add up. And, incredibly, she barely looks a day older than when she vanished. Award-winning author Graham Joyce is a master of exploring new realms of understanding that exist between dreams and reality, between the known and unknown. Some Kind of Fairy Tale is a unique journey every bit as magical as its title implies, and as real and unsentimental as the world around us.
Reviews with the most likes.
This is the first book I have read by Graham Joyce. The story was well written with descriptive language. The characters were flushed out with great detail and interesting. The pacing of the story was slow at times, which made it easy to put down. One thing that jarred me was some language Tara uses at one point in the story. It seemed out of place and pulled out some of the believability from the character.
I had to keep myself from reading this in one big gulp. The premise of a woman who's been missing for 20 years coming back and saying she's been with the fairies is appealing to me by itself, but this book has much more to offer than a good humans-encounter-fairies story. It is also a beautifully detailed story about family relationships and healing of friendships. In particular I loved the side story about the young boy Jack unwillingly being drawn into a friendship with Mrs. Larwood, the “mad old bitch” across the street. I really loved this book and wish there was more of it to read!