A Perilous Land

 Nettle by Bex Hogan (Zephyr, 2024)

Faerie is a perilous land, and in it are pitfalls for the unwary, and dungeons for the overbold.

- J.R.R. Tolkein

There are few books that properly cast the spell of the folk tradition. All too often - and especially in literature for young people - 'faery' is translated with a sweetness that is as far from the dark danger of the source as cheese is from chalk. Those few successful examples, however, are great indeed: Neil Gaiman's Stardust, Hope Mirrilees' Lud-in-the-Mist and, perhaps the masterpiece of them all, Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell. In all of them, an 'English' quality is essential to their success - a resolute honesty that veers from whimsical  charm to sinister shadow. It is unsurprising, then, that Bex Hogan's Nettle, in its juxtaposition of these two opposing forces, is indeed that rare beast, the authentic English faery novel. 

Nettle is a girl who wanders into Faery through a hidden portal. There she encounters a stable boy (who, like her, has been tricked into Faery) and a shadow faery. She is brought to the court of the Faery King who in traditional folkloric fashion sets Nettle three challenges. Thank goodness that Nettle listened to her grandmother as, armed with her knowledge, she stands a fighting chance against the tricksy faery world. 

Throughout the book, there are subtle but strongly felt echoes of the source folk tradition, so subtle that at times they almost go unnoticed, woven so beautifully as they are into the texture of Hogan's storytelling. But their curious strangeness resonates. One example occurs early on in the book where Nettle meets a woman who, like her, has been trapped in Faery. The woman has been bewitched, cruelly, by a Faery and cannot remember quite the correct way to say goodbye. In trying to wish Nettle farewell, her palm brushes Nettle's recalling some long-forgotten gesture...but no, its true meaning is lost.

The construction of the novel itself also derives from  native tradition. Each chapter is headed by a picture of a flower or plant; the names and, according to folklore, the significance of these plants is given at the end of the book with the reader being invited to make their own connections between the content of each chapter and the original source folklore. 

As with the great fairy tales there is some light romance and in keeping with the great Faery tradition, there are also moments of discomfort, even quite shocking horror. Nettle will be very much enjoyed by those readers of 12 and up who have explored the imaginings of Sophie Anderson and Kiran Millwood Hargrave. I very much look forward to reading more from Bex Hogan...especially The Owl King, advertised in the final pages of this book! 

Nettle was published on 10th October by Zephyr and is available from all good bookshops. With many thanks to Katey Pugh for inviting me onto the blog tour to celebrate publication.