Fire and Hemlock
Diana Wynne Jones

This is the story of nineteen-year old Polly Whittacker. She finds herself one morning packing her bags preparing for college and suddenly realizes that she has two sets of memories spanning nine years of her life; one with her pretty normal albeit a bit rebellious life as a daughter of two divorcing parents, and the other abnormal, adventurous life being friends with a cellist named Thomas Lynn she met when she was a ten-year old running after a friend and eventually finding herself inside a house where a funeral is being held.

Whew.

The sudden realization that she indeed met and befriended Thomas Lynn when she was ten brought forth a surge of other memories, one after another of times she shared with Thomas Lynn which started with the two of them making up adventures through a handful of letters, stories and books as a hero understudy so to speak and went on for years which somehow stopped after Polly did something awful, something even she couldn't remember.

And yet no one from her immediate family remembers Thomas, no one. Is Polly losing her mind? Is Thomas Lynn even real?

So ends my thoughts on the plot.

This is a wonderful modern fairy tale that has its roots from well-loved old stories called Thomas the Rhymer and Tam Lin. Diana Wynne Jones created this tale of many layers as a reinterpretation of those two. Every chapter is introduced with quotes from either of the two stories which makes me want to read those two as well. I haven't read them but this book shows how much DWJ respects those stories and understands the allure of bargains made with fey folk and the consequences in entering such by creating her own spin and adapting such in this modern setting.

How many reasons can I use to tell you why I love this book? Let me count the ways without spoiling things.

First, if you forget the plot for a moment this is a book about stories! Books! And I don't mean just the two books DWJ based this story on. It's obvious how DWJ adores books by citing lots and lots of books interspersed in the story of Polly and Thomas. Books! There were times I feel like I missed out on a well-read childhood with all the books mentioned that I haven't read or have read only when I reached my late teens! Gah!

Second, again forgetting the plot for a moment the story is much a like a love letter to writing. Or at least being creative. The young Polly opened her mind to fantastic plots. Thomas as well. They nurtured the love of stories when writing to each other thinking of plots for their make-believe hero challenges. And that's how stories are made, really. Make believe.

Third, it's not just a fairy tale. Heck, it doesn't pretend to be a fairy tale. But it is if we look hard enough. Is there a damsel in distress? Check. Wait, I'll rephrase the question. Is there a strong female lead character who can be mistaken for a damsel in distress? Check. Hahaha! But the female lead, while strong and all that suffer from all-too human flaws like each and every one of us. She's rebellious but timid. She's in love. She's jealous. She's in love. She strives to get what she wants. She's in love. Oh well.

Fourth, gee do you still need a fourth reason? This is a Diana Wynne Jones book for goodness sake! I worship the ground she walks on!

Ok, my biases aside this is indeed a great read. It defies expectations from the start no matter how much the story is firing up your neurons in shaping a worthy ending to the tale. Because all those creative juices will pale in comparison to the actual ending, believe me. That's what I always adore in DWJ's stories. Well-crafted, tricky and yet the elation at the end and how everything ties up is well worth every held breaths, every awkward pauses, every curses hurled at the villains. But every one I've read of her has more than satisfied my thirst for a good read. That and how her stories stand up to a rereading.

But more than that Fire and Hemlock is a powerful story of love and its many guises: romantic love, love of self, parental love, friendships and all that. And of foibles in each one of us whether in love or otherwise. Of course I'm summing things up into universal themes which doesn't do justice to the book. Did I say this is a terrific book? Well, it is.

I think this one will pretty much survive rounds of rereading and yet I'll probably smile each of those times. I hope so. I think I've to reread it and see before it can dislodge my obviously sentimental DWJ favorite Howl's Moving Castle from my best DWJ book ever. But I digress.

Need more convincing that this is a great book? Check the interesting points of view below:

Epiphany
Geranium Cat's Bookshelf
Rhinoa's Ramblings
Things Mean A Lot
Valentina's Room

If you've read and reviewed Fire and Hemlock as well, please leave your link to the comments section so I can put it up here too.

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This books falls under the "J" Author for the A-Z Reading Challenge hosted by Joy.