In anticipation of the upcoming rerelease of several Diana Wynne Jones titles, I am reviewing Fire & Hemlock, one of my all time favorite DWJ books, for my April column. FIre & Hemlock is a modern retelling of the "Tam Lin" and "Thomas the Rhymer" ballads and opens with Oxford student Polly realizing she has blocked out a significant part of her past. Through a long series of flashbacks she recalls her lost memories and then, in the book's final section, discovers her connection to the old ballads and understands how her life has taken a decidedly mythic (and dangerous) turn.

I read Fire & Hemlock on the heels of another mythic fiction title, The China Garden by Liz Berry (sadly it's out of print). In that novel, Clare is spending her last summer at home before college when her widowed mother surprises her by announcing she has taken a home health care position with an elderly man in the distant village where her family is from. She expects Clare to stay in London with friends but something compels Clare to dig in her heels and insist on going along. Once they arrive she learns that everything she thought she knew about her mother was incorrect and the entire village knows all about Clare and there is an expectation that she will contribute to the area's rejuvenation. Clare has no idea what is going on but bit by bit she learns that her bloodline, and specifically she herself, is critical to everyone. There is a movement to sell critical land for the storage of nuclear waste, (could there be a greater metaphor for poisoning the land?) and Clare is the one to stop it. She has no idea how (or why it is her) but as the pages unfold and the mystery is revealed and Berry shares clues about standing stones, maze construction and even the story of Demeter and Persephone, readers begin to realize that this novel is about old myths, not something of recent construction like so much current teen fantasy. (Not that there's anything wrong with that, of course.)

In sharp contrast to paranormal fantasy, Mythic fiction hearkens back across centuries. It challenges us on what we believe both as a culture and personally. Coming from an Irish family which is, by habit, rooted deep in superstitions both social and religious (don't even talk to me about St Patrick), I found a lot of both The China Garden and Fire & Hemlock to be quite affecting. These books reminded me of what I find lacking in a lot of modern paranormal titles for teens. For all the thrills and chills with zombies or bloodsuckers or, on the flip side, dystopian nightmares, those titles just don't seem to have staying power for me. When you read DWJ and Berry you realize how old stories have a special resonance and power. No one thinks Twilight will come true but read about standing stones in The China Garden and you wonder because we still don't know why those stones are out here with us or what their power is.

I love both of these books and strongly recommend them. Here's hoping The China Garden will someday enjoy the reissuing attention that some of DWJ's greats will receive in April (More on that as the books appear.)

[Post pic of Stonehenge in winter taken by Reuters.]