In Darkling Wood

December 1, 2016
A modern Gothic tale of fairies, fractured families, and healing. Fifteen-year-old Alice's younger brother, Theo, will die without a heart transplant. Alice's never-married parents split just before Theo became ill, and her father has become distant, seemingly unconcerned about his son and unavailable to help them. When a heart is found, Alice's mother thrusts her into the care of her paternal grandmother, Nell, a strange, terse woman Alice doesn't remember. Nell lives alone outside a small English village in Darkling Wood, three acres of ancient trees she plans to cut down, but the townspeople are against the wood's leveling. Then Alice encounters a girl her own age, Flo, who implores her to intervene: Darkling Wood is home to the fairies. Alice is a pragmatic, modern girl, but Flo insists that if Alice can truly believe in the fairies, then the wood--and, somehow, Theo, who is suffering complications--will survive. Interspersed through Alice's present-tense narration are letters from a young girl to her brother fighting in World War I. A great deal of family tragedy unfolds with gentle realism. Neither Alice nor Nell is a sentimental character. Both white, they're beautifully drawn, and the pragmatic prose and completely modern language (except for the letters) ground the story. The fairies aren't covered in pixie dust here. Carroll is becoming well-known in her native England; this book should win her American fans. (Fiction. 10-16)

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Starred review from January 1, 2017

Gr 5-8-When Alice's younger brother is summoned for heart transplant surgery, her mother sends her to stay with her paternal grandmother, Nell, a curmudgeonly woman she has never met. Learning to deal with prickly Nell is one more stress for Alice, added to her worries about her brother and her frustration with her father, who seems to be avoiding his family, including his estranged mother. Soon Alice discovers that her grandmother is a local pariah for planning to cut down three acres of trees on her property, the Darkling Wood. Wandering in the woods one day, she meets Flo, a young girl near her own age. Flo attempts to convince an unbelieving Alice that she must stop her grandmother from cutting down the woods or the resident fairies will take revenge. Interspersed throughout the narrative are letters from an unnamed young girl to her brother, who is serving in World War I, confiding that she has seen fairies in the woods behind their home. As Alice begins to feel the magic of the wood, she tries to unravel the past events that led to her father's alienation from his family. From the very first sentence, readers are caught up in the tapestry Carroll weaves, though the full picture is not revealed until the very last pages. This is a tale brimming with emotion and atmosphere. The pacing is deliberate-each thread of the tale is woven with care. VERDICT Absorbing and well written. Hand this to readers who enjoy fantasy, fairy tales, and magical realism.-Nancy Nadig, Penn Manor School District, Lancaster, PA

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from January 1, 2017
Grades 5-8 *Starred Review* The call comes in the middle of the nightthere is a heart available for Alice's little brother, Theo. While her parents tend to Theo, Alice is shuttled off to the home of her paternal grandmother, Nell, whom she barely knows. Nell's house is surrounded by a forest called Darkling Wood, and the old woman hates it, since the trees' roots are undermining her house's foundation. She plans to cut them all down, though as Alice stays on and starts school, she learns that not everyone is happy about Nell's plan, including Flo, the strange girl she meets in the woods, who claims to see fairies there. Interspersed with Alice's story are letters from an unnamed girl to her brother, a soldier declared missing in the final days of WWI. Slowly, Carroll weaves together the far-flung pieces of Alice's story, as connections are made and remade and long-held secrets begin to well up, right up to the satisfying conclusion. The characters are believable and appealing, and Carroll avoids pat characterizations, letting the characters speak for themselves and develop depth throughout the tale. In Alice's first-person narrative, the story deftly captures the mystery and confusion she undergoes on a personal level while simultaneously coming to recognize the vastness of the world around her. A haunting and poignant exploration of family, loss, and redemption.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)