Wood Angel

Erin Bow (author)

Chicken House, UK: Australian release 2011

ISBN: 9781906427603; 288pp

Genres: adventure, fantasy

Issues: belonging, family, friendship, gifted, resilience, tolerance

When her father dies, Plain Kate loses everything – family, home, protection, and the promise of an apprenticeship and productive career. All she has left is a great talent for carving wood and her cat, Taggle. All too soon she finds that her unusual gifts make her a target. A stranger arrives in the village, turning ong-time friends and neighbours against her. What does he want?

Driven both by need and the stranger's manipulation of those around her, Plain Kate finds herself outcast and in search of a new life. Will she ever find acceptance again? Friends? Family? Or will her uncanny connection to the stranger draw her closer to darkness and death? It seems that the only way to untangle the knot is for Kate to carve – to find the truth in the wood, the beauty that is hidden, the strength amidst the flaws. Through carving she may find herself again.

A rich, compelling, complex narrative, Wood Angel is a beautiful and unusual piece of writing. Erin Bow's story is as layered and dense as the wood her heroine carves. With her pen, Bow carves through to the heartwood, creating smooth, seamless curves that draw the reader into Kate's intolerant, ignorant, fearful world where superstitions rule reason and the step from Accepted to Outcast is very small.

An outstanding first novel, Wood Angel marks Erin Bow as a writer to watch. Such polished, controlled, subtle writing is rare at the best of times. In a first novel it is astonishing. And you'll never look  at wood the same way again.

Highly recommended.

Warning: some scenes will disturb sensitive readers