Ms. Hen reviews The Stolen Child

The Stolen Child

Keith Donohue

Anchor Books

2006

Ms. Hen decided to read this because she thought it sounded like a scary Halloween novel. She read two other books the previous fall seasons by Keith Donohue, and he hasn’t disappointed her yet. His novels are about the other side of reality, and things that do not exist but in our imaginations. THE STOLEN CHILD was his first novel.

This book is about changelings, young hobgoblins or fairies that live in a forest near a town who steal children and trade places with them. A young boy, Henry Day, is stolen and a hobgoblin takes his place. Henry Day, in turn, becomes a spirit in the forest, running around with the other fairies, scavenging for food, trying to survive. The changelings christen him Aniday, because it sounds like Henry Day, and they don’t want him to remember his real name.

Henry Day, after the change, becomes a different seven-year old boy when he is found. He is good to his mother and has musical talent. The other Henry Day, the one who was stolen, did not like to help his mother with his baby twin sisters, and was selfish and didn’t like to share. The hobgoblin that takes his place wanted a better life than the one in the forest. The changelings take turns stealing children, and before the deed is done, the one who plans to make the change has all the others from his group spy on the child to learn that child's movements and personality.

When Ms. Hen read this, she felt sorry for the spirit who becomes Henry Day, and also for the changeling the boy becomes. She couldn’t figure out whose side she was on. The novel is written in alternating chapters, one from the voice of Henry Day, the fairy who became human, and the next from Aniday, the boy who became a changeling. At first Ms. Hen thought it sounded fun to live in the forest and forage for food and not live by society’s rules, but that did not last long for the fairies. Progress creeps into the forest, and soon the fairies do not have a home. This novel takes place from the late 1940s to the 1970s when expansion in the United States was growing faster.

The one thing that Ms. Hen does not like about this novel is the ending. She wanted more excitement, explosions, and razzle dazzle. She thinks the conclusion falls flat. She doesn’t think that is a reason not to read the book, but she thinks that since this was the author’s first novel, he was still learning how to write. She forgives him for this, because the other novels she has read by him have ended in dramatic and wonderful ways.

There are some chickens in this novel that Ms. Hen enjoyed. Henry and his mother decide to sell eggs to pay for his piano lessons, “Each morning, my hand went under the warm bellies of the chickens, collecting eggs, and each afternoon, my fingers upon the keyboard, perfecting my technique.” Henry and his mother eventually sell enough eggs to buy their own piano for him to practice. Before he had to practice at the school. The chickens help Henry’s dream of learning music come true. Ms. Hen thinks that chickens are useful for lots of things.

Ms. Hen thinks that this book is dark enough for the Halloween season. She read it at the end of October and the beginning of November, which are also All Saints Day and Day of the Dead. Ms. Hen thinks that sprits can be in touch this time of year, and this novel helped her imagine that there could be other sides of the world which we cannot see, hidden beneath it all.