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The Winter Garden and Other Stories
Strange music from a legendary haunted glade can only be heard by a special boy. A grieving young man turns to the dark arts to bring his deceased lover back. A soiled and tired knight protects the innocent from the threat of a dragon. Young love blooms in a desolate garden.
Familiar and original fairy tales, myths, and legends explore the complexities in a gay teen’s coming-of-age through allegory and metaphor. Rain-drenched circuses, old wives’ tales involving candles in windows, water-irises deep in a wood, lonely fairy kings, and magical Christmas parties not only present valuable lessons, but also provide an escape into worlds in which a gay teen can see himself as the amazing, resilient hero of adventures and romance.
Contains the Clouds' Illusions, Erl-King, Out of the Depths, The Bridge, The Dollhouse, The Haunted Glade, The Knight, The Water-Irises, and The Winter Garden.
Familiar and original fairy tales, myths, and legends explore the complexities in a gay teen’s coming-of-age through allegory and metaphor. Rain-drenched circuses, old wives’ tales involving candles in windows, water-irises deep in a wood, lonely fairy kings, and magical Christmas parties not only present valuable lessons, but also provide an escape into worlds in which a gay teen can see himself as the amazing, resilient hero of adventures and romance.
Contains the Clouds' Illusions, Erl-King, Out of the Depths, The Bridge, The Dollhouse, The Haunted Glade, The Knight, The Water-Irises, and The Winter Garden.
194 pages, Paperback
First published February 26, 2012
About the author
Hayden Thorne
102 books83 followersI write gothic fiction, fairy tales, and ghost stories with a touch of gay romance. For a complete and updated list of my published books,
please visit my Books2Read store
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
December 30, 2016
I really enjoyed this collection of fairy-tale-feeling short stories, all with a m/m romantic slant to them. They're all very creative and inspired!
Thanks to my friend Octobercountry, who's been telling me to read Hayden Thorne for years. :-)
Thanks to my friend Octobercountry, who's been telling me to read Hayden Thorne for years. :-)
March 10, 2012
4.5 stars
Review posted at Brief Encounters Reviews.
I will say this up front. While this story was sweet and constantly made me smile, it also made me cry. I leave it up to you! I do recommend this one though. LIke always, Hayden Thorne knows how to tell a story.
Nicholas is sick. It is 1822 and he’s confined to his parent’s garden as he always has been. It is a refuge and a prison. His wasting illness has kept him sheltered, yet also innocent and pure. He’s stifled. He can’t live the life he wants. He’s confined to the garden with no hope that he’ll ever leave it.
One day another boy comes by the garden and starts to talk to him through the iron bars. Adrian says to him:
Smelling of wine and never asking permission, Adrian sweeps into Nicholas’ life and becomes his lifeline. Through their daily meetings in the garden they grow quite close. They’re almost complete opposites. Where Nicholas feels trapped and restless while simultaneously weak and fragile, Adrian seems to dazzle Nicholas with his experience and knowledge. They liken themselves to a tree and the wind.
What is so wonderful about this story are the characters. Hayden Thorne knows how to write young characters and this is especially shown in this story. While their disparate qualities seem to feed a need in the other, they’re often quite alike, though they don’t recognize it. Through the idealism and romanticism of youth, they both seem to ache for some things they other has. They envy one another.
The story is told by Nicholas, but even though I ached at times for his character, Adrian’s came through to me just as well. I think that style of writing, heavy on narration and voice, works well for Hayden, and also well for the character in this story. The first person past tense works well to bring forward that romanticism in the prose, which is what drew me in — and ultimately broke my heart just a little bit.
I really don’t want to discourage readers, because I know a lot of you don’t like “bittersweet” stories. I wouldn’t classify this story as such, because I think the sweet so outweighs the bitter. Yet, I will warn you that there is some. I think it worked very well for the story, yet it is the way in which Hayden wrote the transition between the two (which I won’t go into further) that so affected me. It might not be that way for other readers. I suppose that is what I love about her writing — I’ve yet to read one of her books or stories where I didn’t sink so far into the characters voice.
So, it is short and well worth reading. I’ve yet to be let down by this author and I have a feeling that I will always enjoy her stories. Definitely Recommended!
Review posted at Brief Encounters Reviews.
I will say this up front. While this story was sweet and constantly made me smile, it also made me cry. I leave it up to you! I do recommend this one though. LIke always, Hayden Thorne knows how to tell a story.
Nicholas is sick. It is 1822 and he’s confined to his parent’s garden as he always has been. It is a refuge and a prison. His wasting illness has kept him sheltered, yet also innocent and pure. He’s stifled. He can’t live the life he wants. He’s confined to the garden with no hope that he’ll ever leave it.
One day another boy comes by the garden and starts to talk to him through the iron bars. Adrian says to him:
“Are you a prisoner?”
“Well, no. I live here.”
“What’s the difference?”
“I haven’t done anything wrong.”
Smelling of wine and never asking permission, Adrian sweeps into Nicholas’ life and becomes his lifeline. Through their daily meetings in the garden they grow quite close. They’re almost complete opposites. Where Nicholas feels trapped and restless while simultaneously weak and fragile, Adrian seems to dazzle Nicholas with his experience and knowledge. They liken themselves to a tree and the wind.
What is so wonderful about this story are the characters. Hayden Thorne knows how to write young characters and this is especially shown in this story. While their disparate qualities seem to feed a need in the other, they’re often quite alike, though they don’t recognize it. Through the idealism and romanticism of youth, they both seem to ache for some things they other has. They envy one another.
The story is told by Nicholas, but even though I ached at times for his character, Adrian’s came through to me just as well. I think that style of writing, heavy on narration and voice, works well for Hayden, and also well for the character in this story. The first person past tense works well to bring forward that romanticism in the prose, which is what drew me in — and ultimately broke my heart just a little bit.
I really don’t want to discourage readers, because I know a lot of you don’t like “bittersweet” stories. I wouldn’t classify this story as such, because I think the sweet so outweighs the bitter. Yet, I will warn you that there is some. I think it worked very well for the story, yet it is the way in which Hayden wrote the transition between the two (which I won’t go into further) that so affected me. It might not be that way for other readers. I suppose that is what I love about her writing — I’ve yet to read one of her books or stories where I didn’t sink so far into the characters voice.
So, it is short and well worth reading. I’ve yet to be let down by this author and I have a feeling that I will always enjoy her stories. Definitely Recommended!
June 14, 2013
Several short, original fairy stories using elements of traditional legend and fairytales, but with GBLT protagonists. 'The Haunted Glade' tells of a wood that keeps out or gets lost everyone but certain young men who don't quite fit into society. 'Out of the Depths' describes how far a young sorcerer will go--and how many people he will sacrifice--to bring back his dead lover. 'The Dollhouse' inhabitants wake every Christmas midnight to find that once again, they've been put with the wrong people and have to find their true friends and lovers. 'The Winter Garden' is a ghost story. 'The Knight' tells of a knight who fights to save a sacrificial prince from a dragon. The protagonist in 'The Erl-King' fights between his desire for his nature-spirit lover, and the predictability of the life his abusive father wants for him. 'Clouds Illusions' describes a time warp at a carnival (I think--I didn't quite get this one). 'The Bridge' is a story of helping two lonely souls find each other. 'The Water Irises' describes how a scientific young tutor came to see that perhaps there was something in nature magic after all.
As in all short story collections, there were some of these I liked and some I didn't care for so much. The Dollhouse was probably my favorite, because it was mostly happy, and I liked 'The Bridge' because it was sweet. A couple of stories felt a little too didactic--I don't need the message delivered by 2x4. I did like the evident love of nature magic and old legends associated with it, because those have always fascinated me as well, and it's nice to see them shown in a more positive light--wild magic may be dangerous, but not inherently evil. I did find the Pygmalion story very disturbing, as I think it was meant to be--too gothic for me. Perhaps Louisa May Alcott would have liked it better! Overall, interesting.
As in all short story collections, there were some of these I liked and some I didn't care for so much. The Dollhouse was probably my favorite, because it was mostly happy, and I liked 'The Bridge' because it was sweet. A couple of stories felt a little too didactic--I don't need the message delivered by 2x4. I did like the evident love of nature magic and old legends associated with it, because those have always fascinated me as well, and it's nice to see them shown in a more positive light--wild magic may be dangerous, but not inherently evil. I did find the Pygmalion story very disturbing, as I think it was meant to be--too gothic for me. Perhaps Louisa May Alcott would have liked it better! Overall, interesting.
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September 28, 2013This is not the first time I have the pleasure to read a Young Adult novel by Hayden Thorne, and the tastefully setting is always confirmed, story after story, novel after novel. The fantasy elements can be more or less marked, but in any case, the alternative-historical universe is always an asset.
In the main story, The Winter Garden, the story reminded me the Secret Garden, one of my favorite young adult novel when I was young. The setting is a Victorian undefined city, perhaps even London, the time is beginning of XIX century. The plot develops around two boys, to a modern concept teenagers, but for the time, practically adult; and indeed one of them, is already working with his father, behaving like a young man, drinking and talking of girls; the other instead is sheltered by his own parents due to his weak constitution and mostly spends his time in their walled garden, the same wall that the other boy climbs to meet with him and turn upside down that sheltered life.
While to an adult eyes, you can see it’s a romance between the two boys, to a reader of the same age it can be the story of a friendship lasting forever, cause no sex, not even a kiss is shared between the two boys. But that doesn’t mean the feelings are less stronger, or not real; they are so strong and real that will overcome even the realm of possible to become fantastical. That is another asset of this author, the ability to mix reality with fantasy and still maintain the story touching and moving, near to the heart of the reader. I personally was really moved by the story of these two boys, and even if they have their happily ever after, it’s bittersweet.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/147505727X/?...
In the main story, The Winter Garden, the story reminded me the Secret Garden, one of my favorite young adult novel when I was young. The setting is a Victorian undefined city, perhaps even London, the time is beginning of XIX century. The plot develops around two boys, to a modern concept teenagers, but for the time, practically adult; and indeed one of them, is already working with his father, behaving like a young man, drinking and talking of girls; the other instead is sheltered by his own parents due to his weak constitution and mostly spends his time in their walled garden, the same wall that the other boy climbs to meet with him and turn upside down that sheltered life.
While to an adult eyes, you can see it’s a romance between the two boys, to a reader of the same age it can be the story of a friendship lasting forever, cause no sex, not even a kiss is shared between the two boys. But that doesn’t mean the feelings are less stronger, or not real; they are so strong and real that will overcome even the realm of possible to become fantastical. That is another asset of this author, the ability to mix reality with fantasy and still maintain the story touching and moving, near to the heart of the reader. I personally was really moved by the story of these two boys, and even if they have their happily ever after, it’s bittersweet.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/147505727X/?...
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews