The Blackthorn Branch

LoveReading4Kids Says

Shortlisted for the Week Junior Book Awards 2023

Elen Caldecott’s new novel is rooted deep in the folklore of Wales, where she was born and grew up, but reaches beyond that to involve classical and Arthurian legend too.

It’s full of atmosphere and, counter to what you might expect of a story about fairy folk, is rich in real family love and relationships. Cassie is angry with her brother, Byron. She knows he’s deeply affected by the death of Taid, their grandfather, as is their father, but she’s still cross at his selfish behaviour. Together with her cousin Siân, she follows him as he storms out of the house, watching as he meets three other teenage boys. Cassie doesn’t recognise them so the girls follow the group down the old railway tunnel and are shocked to find it leads to Annwn, the Underworld, kingdom of the tylwyth teg or fairies. They manage to drag Byron home but he will have to return unless they can win him back from the fairy leader, Gwenhidw.

As the girls learn more about the tylwyth teg and the creatures around Gwen, the threat of losing Byron forever becomes more real, together with a growing sense of human loss and grief. Their efforts are linked to the need to restore the balance between the human and natural world, and it’s a story of courage, redemption and recovery. Readers are immersed in the story from the very first page, and setting, plot and character are handled with such skill that events chime true from start to finish. A superb fantasy adventure.

Readers will also enjoy Philip Womack’s story Wildlord or Philip Reeve’s Utterly Dark which also pitch humans against the supernatural.

Andrea Reece

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