Heart-tugging Fantasy Book from Newberry Winning Author

Sat, 08/06/2016 - 11:06am by mansii

Fans of Karen Cushman--Newberry winner for The Midwife’s Apprentice, and author of a lifetime of other beloved historical fiction novels--will be absolutely enthralled by her latest novel, Grayling’s Song. Without leaving behind her usual depth and heart-tugging characters, Cushman brings a new world to life with a pinch of magic.

Confronted with a task far larger than she feels capable of managing, Grayling—an ordinary girl with a magical mother—grows in maturity and compassion through the choices she must make. Despite her sense of inadequacy, when an unknown evil steals the Grimoire (their book of spells) and roots her mother to the ground, Grayling must go out alone to rescue her mother and the book. With each new magical friend she meets along the way, Grayling’s hopes rise that they will be the one to conquer the evil. She meets a weather witch, a complaining helpless ward, an enchantress, and a diviner of cheese. But though each have “bits and pieces” of usefulness, making a team of unlikely heroes, only Grayling can lead the way. Only she can sing a song that beckons an answering tune from the Grimoire which they must find.

Through a series of circumstances that stretch her heart till she almost has nothing left to give, Grayling gradually becomes the hero she never imagined she could be. Rather than leaving us with the wish to escape to another reality where magic makes hardship better, Grayling’s world reminds us that in winning our battles what we need is not the extra talent of another that we so easily envy. Instead, what triumphs in our trials is the strength of character that builds itself by small choices in the right direction. This precious story inspires an overflowing heart, and hope in the journey that’s it’s adding up to something worth every scab.