The Stolen Child

When I saw this tree at Richmond Park during our recent trip to London, I thought it would be the perfect hide out for any number of small creatures. Maybe the deer that roam this park make it their home when all is quiet, a small child could easily make this hide-a-way their own, or maybe something else, some other creature that is not seen, but lives in our imagination and the stories we read. This image lead me to the new and highly acclaimed novel, The Stolen Child by Keith Donohue (FIC DON). Keith Donohue has a wonderful Amazon site for this book, including a video interview in the Amazon Fishbowl, an author profile, and an insider’s look at the “story inside the story.” In this description Donohue writes, “The very first image that came to me when I began The Stolen Child was of a young boy hiding in a hollow tree, face pressed against its wooden ribs, determined not to be found by anyone.” The Stolen Child has been described as an “adult fairy tale” inspired by a poem by William Butler Yeats. In this novel seven year old Henry Day is taken by the changelings (think wild fairy children,) and they make him one of their own, living in the woods. In his place, a changeling takes on the life of Henry Day with his family in the modern world. To read more about this book take a look at the conversations people are having in Library Thing by finding it in the Pesky Library, Library Thing collection.