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The Stolen Child

3.67 of 5 stars 3.67 · rating details · 6,762 ratings · 1,043 reviews

“I am a changeling–a word that describes within its own name what we are bound and intended to do. We kidnap a human child and replace him or her with one of our own. . . .”The double story of Henry Day begins in 1949, when he is kidnapped at age seven by a band of wild childlike beings who live in an ancient, secret community in the forest. The changelings rename their ca...more

Hardcover, 327 pages

Published May 9th 2006 by Nan A. Talese

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May 29, 2011 Nancy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: sf-fantasy, fiction, library-books, faerie

The Stolen Child is a wonderful first novel told from the perspective of Henry Day, who was kidnapped by changelings as a child, and from the changeling who kidnapped Henry. The ancient changeling legend is woven into this very modern story and as the book progresses, the lives of Henry Day and the changeling who assumed his life gradually become intertwined. More than a fairy tale, this is a story about loss, loneliness, love, and finally acceptance. Highly recommended.

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Jan 09, 2008 Tung rated it 5 of 5 stars

I don’t disguise that I’m a big geek, especially when science fiction is concerned. My Star Wars and Lord of the Rings (and Spiderman and X-Men and Batman and . . .) movie obsessions attest to my geekiness. So it is no surprise to anyone that I spent two or three years as a teenager reading only fantasy fiction. I literally read every fantasy fiction book our local library had on its shelves. It happens to be why the Harry Potter series drives me to the brink of rage: people think those awful ex...more I don’t disguise that I’m a big geek, especially when science fiction is concerned. My Star Wars and Lord of the Rings (and Spiderman and X-Men and Batman and . . .) movie obsessions attest to my geekiness. So it is no surprise to anyone that I spent two or three years as a teenager reading only fantasy fiction. I literally read every fantasy fiction book our local library had on its shelves. It happens to be why the Harry Potter series drives me to the brink of rage: people think those awful excuses for fantasy fiction stand up to the classics of Tolkien, Le Guin, Eddings, Donaldson, and all the others I spent countless hours devouring. It has been years since a book made me feel like a child again. The Stolen Child is such a book – and not because its fantasy setting brought back feelings of nostalgia, but because for the first time in I don’t know how long, I had a book in my hand I didn’t want to put down, and whose plot drew me in so completely, finishing the book was both the first and last thing I wanted to do. The book’s basic storyline is based on the mythology of the changeling, a breed of fairies that steal children and replace them with a changeling that looks exactly like the child and that grows up in its place. The stolen child (hence the title) becomes a changeling himself, and waits his time to return to the real world in the form of another child. This unique premise sets up a narrative that swaps back-and-forth between a changeling (Henry Day), and the stolen child whose identity he stole and who now must grow up as a changeling (Aniday). The switching narratives allow the author to present different perspectives on the same event as Henry’s and Aniday’s lives crisscross each other in ways that will surprise you. The simple prose is beautiful and spare in ways that break your heart, and that keeps you reading until you finish it a day later. There is an underlying melancholy throughout the book as you feel the struggle that Henry the changeling has in living a life not his own, and that Aniday has in living a new life while struggling to remember the one he lost. There are many themes at play here – the fleeting nature of memory, nature vs nurture, growing up and leaving childhood, the truth of identity – and the author’s prose and story drive the themes into your subconscious without taking any time to expound on them, leaving the story to linger with you days after you complete it. In fact, I read this book twice in three days, and still keep thumbing through it to reread my favorites scenes. Do not let the fantasy plot prevent you from picking this one up. Other than the changeling mythology, the rest of the book is completely rooted in reality; the fantasy plot is no less approachable a storyline than the mystical powers of the characters in Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children. This book is one of my favorites of the last few years – an elegant and touching fairy tale for adults. I think it’s simply lovely.(less)

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Jun 12, 2007 Brooke rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: contemporary fairy tale fans

Shelves: own, fantasy

The Stolen Child, which takes its name and inspiration from the Yeats poem, tells the story of two characters: Aniday is a human child who is stolen by changelings and lives in their world, and Henry Day is the changeling who takes his place and grows up in the real world. Both spend the next few decades struggling with their identities, as neither is at peace with the change.

The format is interesting; every other chapter flips between the two narrators. Both speak in the first person, but it is...more The Stolen Child, which takes its name and inspiration from the Yeats poem, tells the story of two characters: Aniday is a human child who is stolen by changelings and lives in their world, and Henry Day is the changeling who takes his place and grows up in the real world. Both spend the next few decades struggling with their identities, as neither is at peace with the change.

The format is interesting; every other chapter flips between the two narrators. Both speak in the first person, but it is easy to grasp whose story is being told at the moment. In case there is any confusion, Aniday's side always has a small graphic of a forest at the beginning of the chapter.

Although I finished reading this about a month ago, it took me a long time to decide how I felt about it. Amazon.com promoted the hell out of it (supposedly on its merits, rather than monetary incentives from the publisher) and professional reviews were hailing it as one of the best books of the year, but it left me a little cold. This is probably because most of the characters spend the majority of the story being so unhappy and conflicted. The resolution helps them find some peace, but it's definitely not the Feel-Good Story of the Year.

As I was browsing through Amazon.com reviews after finishing it, I noticed that one of the bigger complaints was that it doesn't explain more about how the changelings turned into humans, why they exist, where the first changelings came from, etc. I thought the level of explanation in the book was satisfactory, since it's essentially a fairy tale. No one ever demands to know how a kiss woke Sleeping Beauty up.

One thing I did think needed more explanation was Aniday's obsession with who had taken his place in the real world. None of the other changelings seemed to have similar issues, and they all encouraged him to forget his past. They had other issues, such as longing to re-enter the real world, but no hang-ups about their histories. Nothing seems to explain why Aniday kept obsessing while the others were able to forget.

The Stolen Child is very well-written and approaches the changeling tale from an interesting angle, but it never made me care for the characters too much. I will definitely look into Keith Donohue's next novel, if he writes one; I think he would do well with a story that's a little less depressing.(less)

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Aug 18, 2009 Whitaker rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy-scifi, e-book, 2009-read

Remember that film Prelude to a Kiss? Meg Ryan gets kissed by an old man, and they swap bodies. She's stuck in his decrepit aging body and he's in her young lithe one. This book is Meg Ryan after the switcheroo.

The book looks like a pretty, fluffy urban fantasy: It is after all a story of a fairy changeling who switches places with a young boy. The changeling becomes Henry Day and grows up in his place; the young boy loses his name and becomes Aniday. But that's only its Meg Ryan surface. Insid...more Remember that film Prelude to a Kiss? Meg Ryan gets kissed by an old man, and they swap bodies. She's stuck in his decrepit aging body and he's in her young lithe one. This book is Meg Ryan after the switcheroo.

The book looks like a pretty, fluffy urban fantasy: It is after all a story of a fairy changeling who switches places with a young boy. The changeling becomes Henry Day and grows up in his place; the young boy loses his name and becomes Aniday. But that's only its Meg Ryan surface. Inside, it's a grumpy old man contemporary fiction book called The Stolen Childhood.

The thing is, once the switcheroo takes place, magic plays little or no part at all. Other than the fact of Aniday being a changeling, he and his band of Lost ~~Boys~~ Children could well be any bunch of grubby kids growing up wild in the forest or on the streets. As for the changeling that took his place, once an ordinary boy, he loses his changeling powers and grows to become an ordinary man.

In this, it shares another similarity with Prelude to a Kiss: the magic that allows the changelings to change form and never age, the whole idea of changelings itself, is never explored: it's just the vehicle that Donohue uses to explore the very human question of having to come to terms with your past to create a future. Unfortunately, he drops this clanking clue of his intent right in the middle of the story when he has a professor of myths tell us how the myth of the changeling was actually a way for medieval parents to get rid of a child too weak, deformed or puny by demonizing it as not their own but an "other".

So, what we get is a tale about how each copes with having lost his original childhood, and how each tries to recover the past. Aniday's tale could well be the tale of a child that runs away from home and survives on his own; Henry Day bis's is as much the story of a man struggling to deal with childhood issues of abandonment and abuse. For what it is, it is enjoyable enough and the intertwined stories of the two are movingly explored.

Would I recommend it? Yes, but if you're expecting Meg Ryan, you're gonna be plenty shocked when grumpy old man shows up instead.

(less)

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May 09, 2012 Tim added it

Shelves: did-not-finish

It's probably not really the book's fault -- the writing wasn't bad, even if it didn't do a good job of grabbing me -- but I just couldn't get into this one. I kept it on my shelf at work for months, but always found something else to read instead. Now that I'm really into the book I'm currently reading on my lunch breaks and have another queued up, I figured it was time to throw in the towel on this one.

I feel a little guilty about it, and am not sure I gave it a really fair chance. If anyone e...more

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Nov 26, 2007 Lola rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery-fantasy, fiction-literature

**SPOILER FREE REVIEW**

What an unexpected read. I can't even remember what i was expecting when i was first intrigued by it on amazon's urging that i would love it based on another book i bought a while ago. But what i found inside its pages was not that. And at first i was disappointed because i just could not get into it, breaking into the first 50 pages was a back and forth struggle between excitement and boredom, but now that i have finished it and go back to look through it again i cannot f...more

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Jul 11, 2007 Irishcoda rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I really enjoy books that are "different" and tell the story well. The Stolen Child by Keith Donohue is one of those books. It's the changeling story, a tale that is not new or different at all. Henry Day, a 7 year old boy, runs away from home one day and goes into the woods. He falls asleep and awakens to find himself being kidnapped by a troup of faeries that call him "Aniday". Meanwhile, another child--one who used to be a faery and has now molded his features to match Henry's exactly--goes "...more I really enjoy books that are "different" and tell the story well. The Stolen Child by Keith Donohue is one of those books. It's the changeling story, a tale that is not new or different at all. Henry Day, a 7 year old boy, runs away from home one day and goes into the woods. He falls asleep and awakens to find himself being kidnapped by a troup of faeries that call him "Aniday". Meanwhile, another child--one who used to be a faery and has now molded his features to match Henry's exactly--goes "home" to take Henry's place.

Here is what I meant by the book being "different":

The new Henry and Aniday narrate the story in alternating chapters. Henry is angry, resentful and fearful of his old troup, calling them "hobgoblin" and "monsters". He is trying to learn how to be the boy who once lived in the house but there are differences that threaten to give him away and raise suspicions amongst family members. He is plagued with flashes of memory to the time he himself was taken by the faeries.

Through Aniday, we learn that there is a structure and a method to the madness of these faeries. There's a hierarchy about who leads and who gets to be the changeling next. They don't just choose any child. The child they decide upon has to be observed for a year and there are rituals to follow. At first Aniday misses his family but as he realizes he can never go back he becomes resigned and learns the ways of his troup. He makes good friends with one of them, Speck, and begins a rudimentary written account of his life with the faeries. Like the new Henry, he has flashes of memory and sometimes resentment against he who took his place.

The years go by. The new Henry grows up and the world changes. The environment is not especially friendly toward the faery troup anymore and they meet with several tragedies. Henry traces the memories of his first life back to Europe and actually finds his identity.

Inevitably, Henry and Aniday meet again. Henry now has a 7 year old son. He is tormented by his past life, his life in the woods and what he's done to Aniday. Does that make the son vulnerable to being kidnapped by what's left of the troup? Does Aniday have vengeance on his mind?

Read to find out! I was hooked right from the first page!(less)

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Dec 11, 2008 Minakshi rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is a strange, sad and beautiful novel inspired by W.B. Yeats poem "The Stolen Child" (1889) about chageling faeries. I vaguely remember reading about the Irish myths when I was younger. Interestingly, the novel touches on rational explanations for changelings: "failure to thrive," physical deformities, or mental illness in children. But Donohue's novel is about loneliness, the search for identity and belonging.

There are two narrators telling two intertwined stories - one adult trying to re...more

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Mar 21, 2009 Kerry rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: everything, sci-fi-fantasy

I am a big fan of literature that retell or reconfigure old myths and fairy tales especially if the author can bring it into a modern setting and so I really liked the concept of The Stolen Child, a modern adaptation of the changling myth in which the fairies steal away a human child and replace it with one of their own. With all this to its credit, I should have enjoyed this book more than I did.

The Stolen Child is based on the poem by Yeats where the fairies lure a human child away from the ca...more

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May 25, 2008 Yosafbridg rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: own-and-read

"The trick of growing up is to remember to grow."
The Stolen Child by Keith Donohue was inspired by the W. B. Yeats poem of the same name (which was also used in the wonderful film~in my ever so humble opinion A.I. {based on the short story Supertoys Last All Summer Long by Brian Aldiss})

The novel seems to be a metaphor for the strangeness of childhood; which is really the life of an outsider and growing up is learning to fit in, which some of never seem to do. I remember when i was a child i s...more "The trick of growing up is to remember to grow."
The Stolen Child by Keith Donohue was inspired by the W. B. Yeats poem of the same name (which was also used in the wonderful film~in my ever so humble opinion A.I. {based on the short story Supertoys Last All Summer Long by Brian Aldiss})

The novel seems to be a metaphor for the strangeness of childhood; which is really the life of an outsider and growing up is learning to fit in, which some of never seem to do. I remember when i was a child i sometimes would feel like i was even outside myself looking in and wonder if i would ever feel like i was truly myself, like maybe when i grew up i would feel like myself. It's kind of funny to remember that now, because i don't ever feel that, even when i stop to observe my own life, does that mean that i've grown into myself now? That i've grown up (perish the thought~for to grow up is to let go of imagination).

A changeling is a member of the fay, a hobgoblin who steals a child and takes his place, the child then becomes a changeling himself until his (or her~don't want to be gender exclusive here) chance to kidnap/return to the human world presents itself. The Stolen Child is the story of both the changeling who steals a child's place, and the child who is then forced to become the changeling. Both feel out of place, and both must learn to find their place.

We all are strangers in this world, and we all wander. I know other adoptees who are convinced that the reason they feel out of place is because they were stolen from their true place, i think that must be too easy an answer. Don't we all need to make our own place in the world? (And what's in a name~to coin a phrase~i mean that's something~most of the time~given to us by parents who don't even know us~though most of us~me included cling to that identity with our very lives~funny really, if you think on it)

This book touched me, perhaps it will touch you, perhaps not. Donohue writes in an artful voice, a voice removed from his characters. It is a voice from another age; some may feel put off by it, but i believe it is appropriate, because his is a tale of days gone by. A tale told to explain away nameless dangers that no longer frighten us. We have new fears now.

*interestingly enough i stumbled on The Other on cable the other night, a movie i had never seen or heard of before, but also on the subject of changelings (why is it that things start popping up once the subject is on your mind~are they always there and you just don't notice them or are there other forces at work? I really had no idea what i was getting into when i clicked that particular OnDemand button...)(less)

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Feb 15, 2008 doreen rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: lovers of fairytales and good fiction

I read this book all in pretty much one day, which is a feat considering work and regular day-to-day life. It's been a while since I had done that, and I have yet to have been so engrossed in a book as I was with The Stolen Child.

I had found out about the novel on NPR, and it intrigued me, so I borrowed it from the library and pretty much devoured it on sight.

Since we have two viewpoints and two stories to tell, although they both are intertwined, I couldn't help but develop a favourite between...more

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Jul 31, 2008 Francine rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Joy Macpherson, John McPartland

Shelves: favorites, modern-lit

What a FABULOUS book - great narrative, beautifully written, utterly captivating, a highly intelligent novel. After reading that abysmal Ken Follett book (Pillars of the Earth), I really felt like I needed something to cleanse me of that dross. Since every review I read about this book pointed towards the positive, I gave it a shot. And what a surprise - I was so completely drawn to it that I finished it in 2 days. I couldn't put it down. In fact, I didn't want it to end. I kept going back to ce...more What a FABULOUS book - great narrative, beautifully written, utterly captivating, a highly intelligent novel. After reading that abysmal Ken Follett book (Pillars of the Earth), I really felt like I needed something to cleanse me of that dross. Since every review I read about this book pointed towards the positive, I gave it a shot. And what a surprise - I was so completely drawn to it that I finished it in 2 days. I couldn't put it down. In fact, I didn't want it to end. I kept going back to certain passages in the text, trying to prolong the story, all the while reinforcing my understanding of these characters and their experiences.

Donoghue is one of those gifted writers - for his first effort as a novelist, this work was just absolutely wondrous. He wrote simply but effectively; he didn't have to resort to outlandish drama or hyperbole. No elaborate plot twists, no florid writing. Just simple storytelling, honest, sometimes raw, drawing on emotions both primitive and complex. He didn't have a need to spell everything out or to tie everything neatly into one square package (he may actually be one of those writers who truly believes that not every particular in a story has to be explained - that mysteries serve a purpose, and that some mysteries are better left undiscovered). Most importantly, he made no assumptions of the reader (I really hate it when writers dumb things down to appeal to all readers, or are so disdainful of "regular" readers that they ostracize them with their condescending tones and know-it-all attitudes) - he just wrote.

It was highly literary - no more so than when two of the changelings discover the library and the wonders within - but it was also accessible. There was enough explanatory material that you didn't feel like you were hobbled by what you didn't know. The corollary to that is also true: that if you did know a good amount about any of the topics in the story, that there was still something you could learn. The entire narrative was a study in dichotomies: the weaving of the two stories, the two different points of views, mortal vs. immortal, young vs. old, wild vs. civilized. The narrative was the epitome of the yin-yang. After all, these two stolen children made up one person, one complementing the other, each one incomplete until their stories and lives commingled at the end. By that point, each one was ready to move on, having accepted their natures and the roles they played in each other's lives.(less)

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Jun 22, 2007 Sammy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: b-the-good

I hope that Donohue writes more novels after this one because if they are as unique and well-written as The Stolen Child I will be first in line to read them. With The Stolen Child being his first novel Donohue definitely does not burst quietly on to the scene. The only problem he may encounter for any future novels is that he now has set the bar pretty high for himself now. A problem not uncommon in the writing world.

What drew me to this book was the unique storyline and I was not disappointed....more

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Dec 10, 2008 penelopewanders rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: rings-rays-loans-traded

Here as a ring.
Very strange book... not quite sure why I didn't really enjoy it as much as I thought I would. While I was reading it I was intrigued by the fairy tale for adults aspect, but that isn't what would bother me - if anything I felt it didn't go far enough. The switching between the two characters chapter after chapter was effective, but perhaps due to the amnesia they suffered from, everything seemed to stay very superficial and hazy. Even the dramatic events and discoveries (the abdu...more

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Jul 13, 2009 Kelly rated it 3 of 5 stars

Light, tangy and juicy like the most perfect wild tangerine plucked in the high of summer, The Stolen Child shines brightly in it's readers hearts. the adventures of a certain Henry Day turns into withdrawals from his family after being captured by the faerie folk. Now, as Aniday, he learns the way of life for the rest of his kind and he gradually becomes accustomed to his surroundings. Meanwhile, the fake Henry Day lives out the real ones life, enjoying almost every minute of it. Fascinating an...more

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Oct 31, 2007 Joyce rated it 2 of 5 stars

I'm not a big fan of fantasy, but I was intrigued by the premise of this book: child-like creatures swap places with children. This examines two such creatures/children. A changeling, once a little boy named Gustav, decides to swap places with 7-year-old Henry Day in a place that appears to be Pennsylvania in the late 1940s. The story, told by both boys in alternating chapters follows the next 30-some years of their lives. The novel never really grabbed me and made me care about either character...more

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Jun 24, 2007 Jennifer rated it 4 of 5 stars

7 year old Henry Day runs away from home, hides in a hollow tree and is taken by changelings. He becomes Aniday and the changeling who takes his place becomes Henry. The book follows both their stories, skillfully interwoven, over the years. The new Henry has memories of his first human life, of playing the piano, and insists on taking lessons, showing tremendous talent from the beginning. Aniday quickly forgets his life as Henry, and struggles to learn who he was before he was taken. A wonderfu...more

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Apr 10, 2012 Beth Cato rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: in, 2008, fantasy, literary, fiction, no-longer-own

This is a peculiar tale told by two narrators - two boys, both stolen by changlings. One of them, after a hundred year wait, assumes the identity of Henry Day and goes on to lead a full human life; the real Henry Day is renamed Aniday and endures life with a dozen other wild children in the woods, each awaiting their own chance to become a true human again. If that is even possible.[return][return]It took me about halfway into this book to become engrossed, and then I was in deep once the storie...more

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Mar 27, 2009 Lizz rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book is great for anyone who is fascinated by changelings or holds fairy tales in high regard. The writing style is more "telling" than "showing," which may make the reader feel as if he is trapped in the minds of the characters. This isn't so bad with the changeling character of Anaday because his life is more adventurous and unknown to humans, but this approach falls flat with the character of Henry Day. The chapters in his voice are somewhat boring with the constant self-reflection and s...more

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Jan 10, 2009 Kim rated it 5 of 5 stars

If you've ever read Peter Pan and detected a note of bittersweet in the story of the boy who never grew up, this book is for you. There's no direct link between Donohue's story and Barrie's, but reading this novel I was constantly thinking of the Lost Boys, transplanted from Neverland to our world and living a rough subsistence lifestyle.
The Stolen Child is the story of a boy, Henry Day, who runs away one day when he is seven years old, and is abducted by a group of hobgoblins. These creatures,...more

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Dec 28, 2008 Lightreads rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, historical, fantasy

In 1949, seven-year-old Henry Day is stolen by hobgoblins and replaced with one of their own. This is both their stories, intertwined in a double first-person narrative. The imposter Henry Day grows up, discovers his gift for music, falls in love, has a child of his own, is haunted by the memories of his time with the hobgoblins and the even more distant echoes of the autistic German boy he was a century ago, before he himself was stolen. The “real” Henry Day becomes one of the hobgoblins, agele...more In 1949, seven-year-old Henry Day is stolen by hobgoblins and replaced with one of their own. This is both their stories, intertwined in a double first-person narrative. The imposter Henry Day grows up, discovers his gift for music, falls in love, has a child of his own, is haunted by the memories of his time with the hobgoblins and the even more distant echoes of the autistic German boy he was a century ago, before he himself was stolen. The “real” Henry Day becomes one of the hobgoblins, ageless wild children living in the forest, each waiting their turn to change places with the next chosen child. The two narratives are facing mirrors, as the man who was a hobgoblin and the hobgoblin who was a child remember and forget and hover obsessively at the edges of each other’s lives.

There’s a rich vein of mythology to draw on here, and Donohue drinks deep. The worldbuilding is really excellent, the mythos laid on with just the right weight to intrigue the reader literate in the context, but delicately enough not to disturb the unknowing reader. The hobgoblin community is particularly well done – their stunted sexuality is disturbing, and the toll the modern world begins to take on the feral band is also cleverly drawn. This is a book gently seasoned with the wild, wailing strangeness of faerie, and of the changeling legends. “Not any boy or girl will do, but only those rare souls baffled by their young lives or attuned to the weeping troubles of this world.” And Donohue is conscious of how legend works. There’s a fabulous scene where Henry discovers a journal article about how the changeling legends are the work of medieval European parents who had a sickly baby or a child who could not thrive, searching for justification for the economic necessity of leaving them out to die of exposure. It’s touches like this that layer the book in the way that legends are layered in our consciousness – the real and the explicable bound inextricably to the ancient and the unexplainable, so we can hold both conceptions at once.

The writing is also quite good, especially in a debut novel. My chief complaint is partly taste, but not all. Like so many debut novelists, Donohue lets his blooming obsession with the creative process show through a bit too much. It’s pretty much impossible to introduce a character who is a writer (the hobgoblin half of the duo) or a character with some other specific creative outlet (Henry Day’s symphony composition) without having those creative acts take on a great deal of thematic weight. And, well, it was just too much weight for this reader who is frankly sick of that really damn old trick.

A good book, an excellent conceit executed competently with a lot of depth behind the story. I enjoyed reading it in the way you enjoy watching an interesting machine work – an involving diversion, yet ultimately an act of observation, not participation. This book engaged my mind, not my heart – one or the other is fine when done well like this, but I will always wish for both.

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Apr 07, 2013 LG (A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions) rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-2009, format-print, acquired-library, 3-star

This book follows two intertwined lives, alternating chapters written in the perspectives of the two people. The first chapter is from the perspective of a changeling, describing how he switched places with a 7-year-old child named Henry Day. As time passes, this impostor Henry tries his best to appear like any other human and not draw unwanted attention. He is able to fool many people, but not everyone, including Henry's father, really believes that he's who he appears to be. Settling into his...more This book follows two intertwined lives, alternating chapters written in the perspectives of the two people. The first chapter is from the perspective of a changeling, describing how he switched places with a 7-year-old child named Henry Day. As time passes, this impostor Henry tries his best to appear like any other human and not draw unwanted attention. He is able to fool many people, but not everyone, including Henry's father, really believes that he's who he appears to be. Settling into his new life, Henry demonstrates amazing skill as a pianist, and he becomes consumed with a desire to find out more about his former human self, the one from whom his musical skills come. When he is older, he eventually marries and has a child, but he can never quite erase the fear that changelings will come and take the life he has built for himself away.

The chapters written from the perspective of changeling Henry alternate with chapters written from the perspective of Aniday. When the changeling replaced Henry Day, the real Henry Day was taken into the woods and reborn as Aniday, a new changeling. Aniday tries to hold on to his past and the boy he once was, always longing to return to his family. The older changelings he lives with tell him that he can never go back to his own family - eventually, it will be his turn to find a child to replace, and then he'll get to go back to the world of humans again. Aniday gradually gets to know and care for many of the changelings, especially a female changeling named Speck. Although the changelings can't die of old age or diseases, tragedy still befalls the group, which rapidly grows smaller as certain members die or leave. Aniday has to figure out what to do about his budding feelings of love for Speck and his obsession with going home.

I don't think this is something I would normally have read, but my book discussion group chose it as the book for the month. I found the initial chapters fascinating and read them quickly, but it eventually got harder for me to stay interested. Part of my problem was that I loved Aniday's part of the book, but I didn't really like Henry's.

Aniday was a great character. I could understand his obsession with going home, and I was actually kind of surprised that he wasn't angry and resentful of the changelings who took him aways from his family. Even though he eventually wanted to leave, Aniday didn't keep himself distant from all the changelings. He got to know them all as much as they would let him - few of them ever wanted to talk about what their lives were like back when they were human - and he got as much joy out of his life as a changeling as he could. He connected the most with Speck and discovered his favorite place, the public library, with her help. His love for Speck felt genuine and allowed the reader to get to know her better than any other character besides Aniday or Henry.

Henry, on the other hand, was much more focused on himself, despite the fact that there were many more people in his life than there were in Aniday's. Although he loved several people, including his mother and his wife, as much as he was able, it didn't feel as though he was able to love very deeply. As a result, the reader never really got to know the people in Henry's life very well, other than as beings he either loved or didn't. While Speck stuck in my mind, Tess, Henry's wife, didn't, because Henry never really seemed to talk with her about important things. A big part of the problem was probably that Henry couldn't confide the most important secret in his life, his existence as a former changeling, to anybody. He couldn't tell his parents that he replaced their 7-year-old son, and he could never bring himself to tell Tess anything, which also meant that he couldn't tell her anything about looking into Gustav Ungerland (his former self) and his reasons for doing so. He, like Aniday, was bound by his past, but because he couldn't/didn't confide that past to anybody, his relationships were much more superficial than Aniday's.

I also wasn't entirely a fan of the book's fairly open ending. Donohue leaves it to the reader to decide if Aniday and Henry end up with lives that are happier and more satisfying than what they had had throughout the book. I like to assume that things go well for them both, and I think it's reasonable to think that things may go well for Aniday, but I was frustrated that Donohue took what I percieved as the easy way out when it came to Henry and his relationship with his family. (view spoiler)

(Original review, with read-alikes, posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)(less)

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Jan 24, 2013 Sian Jones rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: first-person-narrator, fantasy-scifi

Donohue uses the right kind of fairies -- what I think of as the Brian Froud-Alan Lee kind -- the vibrant, violent kind, the kind who drown people with glee, whose world has its own bright anarchy. And in the end, the fairies steal the book away. The narrator in the human world -- Henry Day, the hobgoblin who's posing as human -- doesn't have nearly the depth that the narrator in the fairy world -- Aniday, the child who becomes the hobgoblin. As a reader, I ultimately didn't have much invested i...more

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Dec 21, 2012 Blablabla Aleatório rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: nubia

Pode alguém assumir o lugar de outro a perfeição? Keith Donohue nos mostra que sim, pelo menos à primeira impressão em seu livro A Criança Roubada. O autor nos apresenta os hobgoblins ou fadas das florestas, criaturas que permeiam o imaginário popular e que mostram ser muito reais e capazes de um ato terrível… ao se tornar um changeling essas criaturas trocam de lugar com uma criança, escolhida à dedo, assumem suas feições, sua vida e a criança torna-se um hobgoblin.

Foi o que aconteceu com o gar...more

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Jul 03, 2012 Melissa rated it 4 of 5 stars

An interesting story - two stories, really - of a child stolen by hobgoblin, or faeries, or what-have-you, and the changeling who is sent back to the civilized world to replace him. The author follows both boys through the years and as the lives of the two boys continue to overlap. Each boy has his own story, and each wrestles a little predictably with their past and their identities. There are a few spots, maybe, with a little too much hand-wringing angst, but for the most part this is a well-w...more

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Feb 17, 2012 Jon Huff rated it 3 of 5 stars

I've been captivated by this title from the moment I saw the cover. Someone give the designer a bonus. The premise was intriguing, so after much hand-wringing, I finally purchased it. The opening had me a bit worried. Since the book switches its focus between two main characters, it takes about twice as long as another novel for you to get a grasp of the main characters (especially the ones with faerie names) and for the plot to really start moving forward.

The book is a fairly easy read, but th...more I've been captivated by this title from the moment I saw the cover. Someone give the designer a bonus. The premise was intriguing, so after much hand-wringing, I finally purchased it. The opening had me a bit worried. Since the book switches its focus between two main characters, it takes about twice as long as another novel for you to get a grasp of the main characters (especially the ones with faerie names) and for the plot to really start moving forward.

The book is a fairly easy read, but there are times when it seems light on dialogue. It's clear that dialogue is not the author's strong point. When characters speak, they speak in largely the same voice, which is a shame. The characters other than Henry Day and Aniday (and to a slightly lesser extent Speck) are really only rough sketches of characters. You come to feel for some of the characters only because you are told that the main characters feel for them. There is no sense of loss when the deaths come, because you don't know the characters enough to feel for them.

The Stolen Child is more concerned with the emotional struggle of the two main characters, how they are both the same people and separate people and how they struggle with their half-lives. It's a great set-up, but the execution fails at times. There's a great sense of melancholy and loss that fills the book, and parts of it are beautifully written. At other times, some of the passages seem far too "on the nose" and clumsy. Since the book seems mainly concerned with the inner struggle of the main characters, and the main characters only have one struggle, it can get repetitive.

Also, its really hard to be completely satisfied with the ending. There is one massive coincidence needed for the ending of the book to work properly and the book doesn't earn it. Also, the end feels very rushed. I didn't mind the final resolution, but it felt a bit easy and lacked drama. It utilizes the old "main character has a moment of clarity and realization and all is healed" chestnut and it feels forced.

It may sound like I didn't enjoy this book. I did, and I'd suggest others check it out. I don't believe every book has to be perfect. It's important to realize that it's a good, but severly flawed book; it's pretty and intriguing but it lacks some internal consistency and probably could have used some refining. However, it's still a highly enjoyable, easy read to while away a few hours.(less)

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Feb 05, 2012 John rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy

Great Contemporary Fantasy on Searching for One's Identity

Inspired by the W. B. Yeats poem "The Stolen Child", Keith Donohue's novel of the same title is a fine addition to the fantasy literature genre, yet told with the ample realism one expects from great works of mainstream literature.

It is truly a gripping, page-turning "bedtime story for adults", which will appeal to those familiar with novels replete with magical realism like recent bestsellers "Life of Pi", "Jonathan Strange and Mr. Nore...more Great Contemporary Fantasy on Searching for One's Identity

Inspired by the W. B. Yeats poem "The Stolen Child", Keith Donohue's novel of the same title is a fine addition to the fantasy literature genre, yet told with the ample realism one expects from great works of mainstream literature.

It is truly a gripping, page-turning "bedtime story for adults", which will appeal to those familiar with novels replete with magical realism like recent bestsellers "Life of Pi", "Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell", and "The Confessions of Max Tivoli". Whether "The Stolen Child" is a work of fantasy worthy of comparison with those by J. R. R. Tolkien - and will interest those familiar with Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" - is indeed an excellent question. I, for one, am inclined to think not, since "The Stolen Child" barely grasps at the Christian religious symbolism that occurs throughout most of Tolkien's writings.

However, in its own right, "The Stolen Child" is a fascinating, often compelling, exploration of self-awareness and personal identity, through the difficult rite of passage from childhood into adulthood. It is a far more serious, often darker, exploration of these themes, than what I recall in Neil Gaiman's recent bestsellers "American Gods" and "Anansi Boys". Those expecting the ample humor present in Gaiman's fiction will be startled by Donoghue's bleaker literary style; a style that is as well wrought as Gaiman's, heralding the advent of another fine prose stylist in fantasy literature.

Donoghue's intricately woven tale shifts back and forth between the real Henry Day and his changeling doppelganger. Seized by changelings near his rural Pennsylvanian farm, Henry Day joins their small band as Aniday - a hobgoblin blessed with eternal youth, never aging beyond his physical age of seven; but he is cursed knowing that he must await his turn as the band's newest member, before he can be transformed back into human form as a changeling sometime in the distant future. He shares in the band's many and tribulations across years and decades, enduring a bleak feral existence made tolerable only by his obsessive desire to acquire the skills of reading and writing. The changeling who becomes the adult Henry Day, rekindles old, almost forgotten, memories of a childhood in 19th Century Europe and America. Memories that are revived through his splendid piano playing in his youth--a skill absent in the real Henry Day - and a strong desire to compose great works of contemporary classical music.

Memories that shall take him eventually back to Europe in search of his own past, accompanied by his sympathetic, yet unsuspecting, bride, ignorant of his true identity. Donoghue deftly weaves between these two parallel stories, leading to a heart-wrenching, all too brief emotional climax, that is remarkable because of the author's skill in setting it up, in his terse, yet often lyrical prose. Without question, "The Stolen Child" is a remarkable contemporary twist on the changeling fantasy saga, and one worthy of a wide readership whose literary tastes range from realism to fantasy.

(Reposted from my 2006 Amazon review)
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Feb 13, 2011 Scott Taylor rated it 3 of 5 stars

Just your standard book about a child who gets abducted by changlings and becomes a changling, and the changling who takes his place as a human. What?

While reading the first few chapters of this book, I wanted a motivation for the changelings and to know more about why they did what they did. The author never really acknowledges their penchant for stealing children and replacing them with one of their own in any kind of moral way. In fact, this book contains little to no meta-commentary about wh...more

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Sep 07, 2010 Carmen Carroquino rated it 5 of 5 stars

Keith Donohue optimizes the use of whimsy and fairytales for adults in his dark and tragic story of a young boy named Henry Day who runs away from home and gets kidnapped by a band of fairies, where one takes Henry's place in the human world and lives the life that wasn't his to begin with.

The story's theme is sort of "be careful what you wish for" because fairies are unhappy children who have run away from home. The theme and the dark, twisted fairytale notion worked well. Donohue executed whi...more

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Dec 30, 2009 Andrea rated it 4 of 5 stars

I love stories with a magical element that takes place in the “real” world. Perhaps that’s why “magical realism” appeals to me so much - writers like Salman Rushdie and Gabriel Garcia Marquez. So when I told our local librarian this, and she pulled The Stolen Child by Keith Donohue off the shelf, I was pretty excited to find new writers in this style (can it be called a style?).

The book tells the story of Henry Day, a seven-year-old boy who is stolen by the changelings (faeries, hobgoblins - pic...more I love stories with a magical element that takes place in the “real” world. Perhaps that’s why “magical realism” appeals to me so much - writers like Salman Rushdie and Gabriel Garcia Marquez. So when I told our local librarian this, and she pulled The Stolen Child by Keith Donohue off the shelf, I was pretty excited to find new writers in this style (can it be called a style?).

The book tells the story of Henry Day, a seven-year-old boy who is stolen by the changelings (faeries, hobgoblins - pick your name of choice) and replaced with one of their own who has made himself look just like them. The book is structured with alternating chapters, one from the perspective of the changeling made boy living in Henry Day’s life and one from the perspective of Aniday, the boy who becomes changeling. The intertwined perspective allows the reader to develop sympathy with both boys while still scorning each “world’s” view and interaction with the other.

I really enjoyed Donohue’s use of the changeling myth to explore the ways we all - at least I think we all - feel unlike everyone else around us. I can distinctly remember thinking that the reason I felt so alone, even in the midst of my family and friends, as a child was because right now I was just watching my life on a big projection screen, God at my side, while everyone was else actually living theirs. Soon, I would get to come to earth and then I could change what I wanted and really be connected with everyone. I never did really think through whether or not those other people would then just be watching a movie of their own lives then. All I knew was that this idea seemed to help me feel less alone.

The story of these two boys also does a wonderful job of blending together myth and reality while giving us believable, culpable characters who we love even when they are distant. Henry Day’s father, for example, is complex and deep, even though we never learn his name.

The other element of this novel that strikes me as well-developed and articulated is the way that these two characters’ stories start out very intertwined and then spread apart before finally resolving again into an intimate connection between the two boys who are neither who they are or who they were (again, here, magic recreates reality.)

I thoroughly enjoyed the novel and hope to read more by Keith Donohue. His latest novel, Angels of Destruction, is a Washington Post Best Book of 2009. Guess I”ll be hunting that one down next. (less)

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What exactly do you think Henry's mother had 'Known all along?'	1	8	May 16, 2013 05:01am
Too much for a 12 year old?	5	55	Feb 19, 2013 06:07am
What's The Name o...: Changeling children [s]	6	38	Nov 30, 2011 06:07pm
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About Keith Donohue

Keith Donohue is an American novelist. His acclaimed 2006 novel The Stolen Child, about a changeling, was inspired by the Yeats poem of the same name. His second novel, Angels of Destruction, was published in March 2009.

Born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he earned his B.A. and M.A. from Duquesne University and his Ph.D. in English from The Catholic University of America.

Currently he is D...more

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“As I let go of the past, the past let go of me. ” — 22 people liked it

“I am gone and am not coming back, but I remember everything.” — 9 people liked it

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