Unraveller by Frances Hardinge
Award winning author, Frances Hardinge, has written a blog for us focused on her latest novel, Unraveller. She shares some of her inspirations as well as some details sure to entice readers to this mystical story.
My latest book, Unraveller, is set in an imaginary country called Raddith. At first glance Raddith seems a sensible, practical sort of place, with its canals, bureaucracy and bustling hill-top market towns. On second glance, however, one notices the Wilds, a strip of marshy woodlands running along the coast. Venture down among the trees, and you will find yourself in an unexpectedly vast realm of mystery, dark dreams and strange creatures.
In the Wilds, anyone you meet might be anything. Every chance encounter in these misty, moss-covered marsh-woods could be a trap.
That mysterious light glimpsed at night might be the lantern of a Dancing Star, a deathly creature of bones and smoke. Cross its path, and it will burn your soul in its lantern, as it continues its cold and lonely search for something it may never find.
That black horse wandering unharnessed among the trees is not really a horse at all. Do not approach it or try to ride it. This is a marsh horse, and its harmless-looking muzzle hides dagger-sharp teeth.
In the deepest Deep Wilds, where the forest mingles with the sea, you may even stumble upon the Moonlit Market. There you may gain wonders, but at the cost of your dreams, your memories, your shadow or your soul.
You might even buy a tame marsh horse, in exchange for one clear-sighted human eye. If you make this trade, the horse with follow and obey you for the rest of your life, but you will never be the same. You will be stranger, paler and more vulnerable to iron and rowan. Some essence of the Wilds will be forever mingled in your blood…
When I wrote Unraveller, I drew heavily upon folklore for my misty, mysterious marsh-woods. Fairy tales are full of forests, wild regions where one is quickly lost and a thousand dangers lurk. Marshes are also treacherous and mysterious – mermaid-places that are half-land, half-water, where even the ground beneath one’s feet cannot be trusted.
In the Wilds you will find shape-shifting braags, like those said to roam the Northumbrian marshlands, luring the unwary into dangerous swamps. The Dancing Star evolved from stories of will-o’-the-wisps, whose cold hypnotic lights beguile travellers into leaving the safety of the path. The marsh-horses are inspired by Scottish tales of kelpies, water-dwelling creatures who take the form of horses so that they can feast on anyone foolish enough to climb on their backs.
Another legend that I drew upon was that of the Tiddy Mun, a child-sized old man who was believed to frequent the Lincolnshire Fenlands. In the seventeenth century some of the fens were drained, enraging the Tiddy Mun. He wrought his revenge upon humans through pestilence and a host of other misfortunes, until the locals found ways to appease him.
In the same way, the people of Raddith once tried to drain the marsh-woods of the Wilds. The consequences were so terrible that this will never be attempted again.
The denizens of the Wilds may be troublesome as neighbours, but they are far more frightful when angered…
UNRAVELLER by Frances Hardinge is published by Macmillan Children’s Books, September 2022
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