The Hazel Wood

Starred review from November 13, 2017
Alice Proserpine has grown up on the run, haunted by a book her mother, Ella, has forbidden her from reading: Tales from the Hinterland. It’s a collection of unsettling fairy tales written by a grandmother Alice has never met, a recluse with an obsessive fandom. Then Althea, the grandmother, dies, and Ella cryptically declares them free. Alice is focused on how they can turn their straw existence into a brick one after so many peripatetic years, and she’s bitterly disappointed with Ella’s solution: marry up. Shortly after, Ella goes missing, sending Alice and classmate Ellery Finch directly to the place Ella warned Alice to avoid: the Hazel Wood, Althea’s estate, where Alice painfully unravels the mystery of her childhood. Albert’s debut is rich with references to classic children’s literature; Alice’s sharp-edged narration and Althea’s terrifying fairy tales, interspersed throughout, build a tantalizing tale of secret histories and magic that carries costs and consequences. There is no happily-ever-after resolution except this: Alice’s hard-won right to be in charge of her own story. Ages 12–up. Agent: Faye Bender, Book Group.

Narrator Rebecca Soler sets an appropriate tone and perspective for Alice, a 17-year-old who is filled with discomfort and anger. This is the case, in part, because Alice's mother, Ella, continually moves her from one place to the next without reason or warning. Soler also portrays the tension that comes from Alice's unresolved feelings about her estranged grandmother, who writes dark fairy tales she's never been allowed to read. Alice's cynicism turns to fear and confusion when odd characters appear in her world and Ella disappears. Alice finds comfort from her caring friend, Finch, who knows the stories she has not been allowed to read. The suspense heightens when Alice is plunged into her grandmother's sinister fairy-tale world and must tell her own story. S.W. � AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine