Solstice Wood

Solstice Wood, by Patricia A. McKillip, is the sequel to Winter Rose, a love story about a human woman who fell in love with a "fay" man. Solstice Wood is set in the same American town, and the same house, but in modern times. Sylvia Lynn comes from a family that has lived in Lynn Hall for generations. Several years back, she left home rather abruptly, moving across the country, but now she must return for the funeral of her beloved grandfather. Sylvia is stunned to learn that Lynn Hall is now hers, according to her grandfather's will. She plans to stay only a few days, and on her last evening, attends the Fiber Guild, a women's club that has met at Lynn Hall for a century. It becomes more and more clear that something peculiar is going on, for the guild members seem unusually intent upon their designs and stitches. I won't set down any spoilers about what happens to Syl and her family. This is an enticing story, part reality, part fantasy, with more than a touch of magic yet somehow credible. It incorporates many classic folkloric motifs and themes, but the one that most interested me is the needlework connection. In mythology and folklore, spinning, sewing, and threads play an important role. In story of the labyrinth and the Minotaur, for example, a thread is laid so the hero can find his way back out. The 3 Fates, spinning, weaving, and finally cutting the thread, represent the cycle of life. Fairy tale heroines prick their fingers on needles or spindles, or are forced into a life of endless spinning. In Solstice Wood, the Fiber Guild's creations are designed to protect one world from another, using age old methods known to wise women everywhere. Today fiber artists recognize and appreciate the stress relieving properties of needlework. By reading such books as Solstice Wood, and by studying the magical properties of women's work and women's powers in folklore, I've come to appreciate the fiber arts in another way.

Early one morning, Sylvia Lynn received a call from her Grandmother telling her to come home. She'd avoided that summons for the past seven years, but when she discovers the reason is the death of her grandfather, Liam, she consents to return to the mountains and Lynn Hall. Sylvia knows her grandmother wants her to stay--and her grandfather has left the place to her after her grandmother dies, but Sylvia cannot bring herself to do that. The mountain town is full of secrets--from Sylvia's own mysterious father to the sewing guild her grandmother belongs to. Her grandfather's death helped unbind the gate to faery that her ancestral home had kept sealed for so long. Fae, who'd hung around the periphery are now more visible and more capable of causing trouble. When Sylvia's cousin, Tyler, disappears and is exchanged for a twig simulcrum, she realizes she has to face the truth of her heritage in order to reclaim her young kinsman. "Solstice Wood" is a beautifully written, but somewhat slow paced novel. The characters are engaging and seeing the tale from several points of view does enhance the telling. Patricia McKillip does a decent job of representing both male and female points of view. For me, the plot was somewhat oblique in spots and I think I suffered as a reader somewhat from not having read the first book in this series. Still, "Solstice Wood" can be read on its own and it is very well written.

Most sequels are only pale copies of the original story. But Patricia McKillip writes a sequel like nobody else. Returning to the dreamlike Tam Lin storyline of "Winter Rose," McKillip spins up a new story in modern times. Sure, there are laptops, cell phones and green hair. But her lush writing and glimpses of a sinister, beautiful Otherworld are still firmly in place. Generations of Lynns have lived at Lynn Manor, going back to Lynn Corbett and Rois Melior. Now Sylvia returns to it for her grandfather's funeral, only to find that he has willed the run-down manorhouse to her. She doesn't want it, preferring her urban bookstore to the eerie beauty of her old home. But when she encounters visions of faerie and a sewing circle/coven, Sylvia must deal with the fact that there is magic. And it has taken root in her own family: one relation is besotted with a wood nymph, while her teenage cousin has been replaced by a fay changeling. To save them, Sylvia must confront her own mysterious past... and her fay blood. Don't expect a copy or direct follow-up to "Winter Rose." The two stories are linked here and there, but not so that "Solstice Wood" relies on the past. Instead, it's a haunting story in its own right, which can almost make you believe that a magical, terrifying Otherworld exists right next to ours, and that that knitting-obsessed old lady might be a guardian witch. This book is also written differently: McKillip switches perspective several times, from Sylvia to her grandmother, even to the changeling that replaces Tyler. And during the more contemporary scenes, she switches to less ornate language. But her lush writing hits its stride when the supernatural slips into the story, full of cobwebs, moonlight, water and woodlands. Sylvia is a likable heroine, with a very weird family who is tangled up in the fairy world. She starts as an aggressively normal "working girl", but gradually changes as she explores her otherworldly ancestry. The other characters -- lonely Owen and grieving grandma Iris -- are delicately drawn, and Tyler is probably the most endearing of all, since he seems the most real. Yes, even when kidnapped by fairies. Patricia McKillip spins another magical fantasy in "Solstice Wood," where the real world and the Otherworld collide. Lyrical and captivating.

Gram calls bookstore owner Sylvia Lynn to come home as Grandpa Liam just died after wandering outside in the cold night of mountainous Upstate New York. Her lover Madison offers to accompany her, but Sylvia says no. Sylvia returns to Lynn Hall the same day that Gram beckoned her to come home with all intentions to flee as soon as she can. However, as if she never left, the dilapidated house, the forest and the nearby supernatural creatures seduce Sylvia trying to entice her to stay. Gram introduces Sylvia to the sewing club members of the Fiber Guild, women who meet monthly to insure that the magical barricade that keeps Lynn Hall from the deadly Fay remains in tact. However, the magical barrier is showing signs of wear and tear, which places Sylvia, a hybrid offspring of two worlds, yanked from both sides who feel she is the key to victory over the hated abominations on the other side of the barrier. Returning to the landscape of the classic WINTER ROSE, Patricia A. McKillip provides a deep character driven modern day fantasy that stars a harassed heroine who just wants to leave town as she has never understood why her Gram watches her like a hawk observes its prey. The action-packed story hooks genre fans from the moment that Sylvia knows Gram is calling her before picking up her phone from across the country and never slows down through several brilliant twists that will bring accolades to this dazzling author. A stand alone novel, readers will want to peruse this tale and its award winning precedent. Harriet Klausner