From the Bookshelf of Into the Forest…

A Knot in the Grain and Other Stories

Robin McKinley

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Jun 18, 2015 Margaret rated it really liked it

Shelves: contemporary-fantasy, fairytale-myth-inspired, 2nd-world-fantasy, short-stories

I see the word 'quiet' a lot with reviews of this short story collection, and certainly that is an accurate word. The plots of these stories are often muted, the characters quietly rebelling against expectations.

In "Healer," the protagonist Lily is literally quiet in that she is born mute and has never uttered a word. Yet she rebels against expectations by becoming a successful healer in her village. When she meets a former mage, both are changed.

In "The Stagman," the princess Ruen's voice and I see the word 'quiet' a lot with reviews of this short story collection, and certainly that is an accurate word. The plots of these stories are often muted, the characters quietly rebelling against expectations.

In "Healer," the protagonist Lily is literally quiet in that she is born mute and has never uttered a word. Yet she rebels against expectations by becoming a successful healer in her village. When she meets a former mage, both are changed.

In "The Stagman," the princess Ruen's voice and freedom is quieted by her uncle when her parents die, and then her choice is taken away by a mage she thought would help her. But again there is a quiet rebellion that occurs, though only after many decades of acquiescence.

"Touk's House" combines many fairy tales. When a father steals an herb from a witch's garden to save one of his daughters, he promises to give his pregnant wife's child to the witch to raise. But unlike Rapunzel, the witch is not cruel, and she raises her child, Eranu, like she would her own, along with her son a half-troll. Both the troll and Eranu are quieted by the way society treats them--the troll as a monster, Eranu as a poor woman incapable of choice.

"Buttercups" also contains fairy tale elements with a fae-flowered field on an otherwise productive farm. When a farmer marries a younger woman, at first they live a happy, productive life together, until the secrets they're hiding from one another threaten their relationship. This story illustrates the power and need of speech in relationships, of not letting the unspoken things come between love.

In "A Knot in the Grain," the final story, 16-year-old Annabelle is forced to move to a new town and home, leaving behind her friends and boyfriend. She's silenced in that she's too young to make decisions in the family, but she's also silenced by her shyness and her unwillingness to make others unhappy. But she finds agency in an unexpected place when she discovers a secret room in her new home. This may be my favorite of the stories.

The title "A Knot in the Grain" speaks for all the stories--the grain is smooth until the knot appears--a choice made, a quiet rebellion. ...more

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