Fire and Hemlock and Diana Wynne Jones

I’ve written before about my adoration of Howl’s Moving Castle, both the film and the book. The film that spurred my Miyazaki love was also the one that led me to Diana Wynne Jones. Since she passed away last March after a long career encompassing over 30 novels, I figure it’s a good time to write about her. I’ve read several of her books since Howl: two Chrestomanci novels, Charmed Life and The Lives of Chrisopher Chant; the two sequels to Howl’s Moving Castle, Castle in the Sky and The House of Many Ways; two of the Dalemark books, Cart & Cwidder and Drowned Ammet; and the amazing Tough Guide to Fantasyland. These books (with the exception of Howl, which I adore) are all on a scale between absorbing-but-not-particularly-memorable, and perfectly charming. All have a magical touch that is unique to Diana Wynne Jones, but each is different. I’ve only read a fraction of her books, but from what I understand, they never repeat themselves, even those in a “series” (which is why she's featured in my series rant).

Last week I read Fire and Hemlock, and I must say, I think it has replaced Howl as my favorite. A modernized retelling of the ballad of Tam Lin, the heroine is nineteen year old Polly Whittaker, who discovers while looking at an old photograph that she has two sets of memories. The nearly forgotten memories take her back to when, as a young girl, Polly meets a man named Thomas Lynn. Polly and Mr. Lynn begin an odd little friendship that blossoms in all sorts of directions as Polly grows up. Gradually, Polly begins to realize that her Mr. Lynn is tangled up in something she knows nothing about, and she is the only one who can save him from a dark fate.

The story is a little slow and a little disturbing at the beginning (the grown Thomas Lynn and ten-year-old Polly hanging out alone?). Jones never even brings up the suspicion of something pervy going on (although she could have been making a statement about Polly’s mother’s neglect), but she takes steps to show that at least their peculiar friendship is not obsession at first sight on Polly's part. Polly has a life of her own, and Mr. Lynn’s periodic packages of books are her only reminder of their first encounters. Much of the novel covers Polly’s memories of her parents’ issues and her adolescence with painful verisimilitude. It was at this point that Jones cast a spell over me. The book has been haunting me for days.

Never have I read a fantasy novel that depicted growing up so realistically and changing relationships so seamlessly--but with a magical thread that comes into the foreground only when Polly realizes her murky memories, the mythology of her own life, are real as rock. The "Now Here" and "Nowhere" elements, as well as the workings of the “fairies”, remind me strongly of the dual spacial realities in the brilliant Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. Also impressive is how as Polly grows older, Thomas Lynn grows younger--in her perception. Because her perception, and ours with it, changes as she matures. These characters are the most realistic of any I've read by Jones. They may be on the cusp between likability and the reverse at times, but they are nonetheless fascinating.

Something about this book doesn’t sit right with me. It could be the confusing ending (I had to read the last 20 pages twice, but that could possibly have been because I was in the car the first time), it could be the "romance" between two characters who start out as a grown man and a little girl. It could be the tangle of contradicting memories and truths that are never quite smoothed out. But this very sense of something being not-quite-right is one of the novel's greatest strengths. It will take another reading to sort out how I feel about it but reading it was an experience, which is more than can be said about most other fiction. I read most of the second half while waiting for my folks to pick me up from a flight, and I’ve never spent a more pleasant 3 hours in an airport.

Incidentally, Fire and Hemlock is about to be reprinted in March (with a forward by Garth Nix). All I can say is, it's about time! I've been checking bookstores for this for over a year, and finally found an old hard back at my trusty Half Prince Books on Thanksgiving weekend. I was afraid I paid too much for it, but now I don't regret one penny.

I am sad that Diana Wynne Jones is no longer here to continue her magic, but not nearly as sad as I would be if I didn’t have a couple dozen more of her books to read!