Everywhere she turns, this girl faces a new dilemma, or rather, each time she tries to solve one problem, she seems to create a new one. She is so vital and good and bad and full of self-doubt that she feels completely true as you are reading.

The best thing about this book is its characters, especially Briony. When Briony gets angry, terrible things happen. Briony can feel herself getting angry, and that's not good. He quickly sees the wildness in her that Briony has been trying to hide.Ĭedric is sure he's in love with Briony, too, and a girl named Leanne starts getting her claws in Eldric. Eldric has a good heart, but he's also a mischief-maker. Clayborne's son Eldric is staying at the vicarage, and he and Briony are instantly attracted to each other.

Clayborne's crew to stop draining the swamp to build a railroad.

He promises Briony he'll withdraw the disease, but only if she can get Mr. Briony tries to be careful, but it doesn't help when the Boggy Mun sends a fatal coughing disease into the village. If anyone finds out her secret, she will hang. What's more, Briony is pretty sure she's a witch, since she can see the Old Ones, the nature spirits and other eldritch creatures who inhabit the Swampsea. She hates herself, especially for what she did to her sister Rose, who hasn't been quite right ever since. No, wait: actually, they'd get eaten by one of Billingsley's marvelous British folktale monsters, like the Boggy Mun or maybe Mucky Face.īut we really should talk about Briony. Alligators would feel right at home here. But from there, this book might as well be set in the bayous of New Orleans, since the Swampsea is just that swampy. I think my first thought was Pride and Prejudice because of the banter between the two leads, plus the Victorian setting. Is it horror? Is it fantasy? Is it a gothic novel set in a swamp? Well, yes. Megan Whalen Turner is one, and, as Franny Billingsley proves with her long-awaited book Chime, she is another. It's probably not a coincidence that they are among the best writers out there. There are a couple of authors working in the field of children's books who take three to six years to write each book. Only not at all, because we're talking Franny Billingsley, okay?

Jane Austen meets the lovechild of Terry Pratchett and Diana Wynne Jones, with Neil Gaiman as godfather and Libba Bray as godmother.

Well wished by franny billingsley