- The Good: Sweet, ethereal, and eerie winter fairy tale
- The Bad: Too short
- The Literary: Insightful afterward
Nineteen-year-old Merowdis Scot is only ever happy when she’s walking in the woods. Together with her dogs Pretty and Amandier and her pig Apple, Merowdis goes to the woods to tell them her deepest desire. They meet a blackbird and a fox, and the forest shows Merowdis what her future could be.
The Wood at Midwinter is an enchanting short story, enhanced by gorgeous illustrations. It’s a simple fairy tale, a Christmas story, rich in wind and snow, and best read slowly with a warm cup of tea.
I love the quiet eery magic of religion in this story. Merowdis is referred to as a saint by both her sister and her animals, and if she is, then the woods are her cathedral. She rejects marriage but is not obedient enough to be a nun. The animals and trees talk with Merowdis, telling her of the child born at mid-winter. What would a forest think of the child born on Christmas day? Think Christianity interpreted by the wild and pagan wood. What kind of child deserves a mother’s love? Imagine the categories of things we love could be bigger.
Highly recommended for animal lovers and fans of quiet atmospheric stories!
A church is a sort of wood. A wood is a sort of church. They’re the same thing really.