In The Heart Of Hidden Things by Kit Whitfield (book review)

One of the problems with ‘high’ fantasy is that it tends to concentrate on the players in the larger picture, the leaders of a country and the politics around alliances and the wars between the tyrants and the rebels. Alternatively, there is a quest, which in the end, often serves the rulers best. Magic often plays an important part in fantasy but the magic users are renowned for their ability and are often in the employ of rulers or are the main opposition in a rebellious situation. Without them, quests can fail. Thus it is refreshing to find a novel where the ordinary people take centre stage.

  ‘In The Heart Of Hidden Things’, the setting is a rural village in a place with the level of technology pre-Industrial Revolution. There is a Lord of the Manor but his role is minor, other than owning the woods where trespassing and poaching is harshly discouraged. It is a world where the fae and humans live side by side and try to ignore each other. At the centre of the village is the forge and it is where the local people go for help or to have contracts witnessed. Jedediah Smith is known as a fairy-smith, as is his son, Matthew. John is about ten but already learning the skills of a farrier but they are worried that he may have been fairy-touched before birth as he is prone to daydreaming. He wants to do the right thing but it doesn’t always work out that way.

Running between Lord Robert’s forest and the Ware Farm is a lane called Chalk Road. It is not a place to walk at night as, seven times a year, a fae beast called Black Hal runs along it. When he runs, it is usually bad news and he is blamed for the condition of the Ware’s youngest son, Tobias. He is definitely ‘touched’. He cannot speak, will not sleep indoors and will only eat raw meat. Though his brothers can handle him, he has a tendency to run wild. In our society, he would probably be diagnosed at autistic. While the Wares and their neighbours, the Porters, who work the mill make adjustments for the fae, usually referred to as ‘kind friends’ so as not to upset them, they are only tenants of the properties they work.

Every village/plot needs its villain. Ephraim Brady is landlord for many of the properties in the village, including the mill. He is mean and penny-pinching. Despite having comparative wealth, he treats his wife badly, expecting her to be frugal. He is disappointed that she didn’t give him an heir. He has a weakness which is his younger brother, Anthony, who is the only person to whom he shows indulgence. He is not happy when Anthony starts courting the daughter of a man he despises.

While these are background issues, this is very much John Smith’s story. He is fascinated with Black Hal. A bramble bush, which is one of the kind people, was uprooted to stop a hole in the hedge made by Tobias to get into the forest. The boy offended the bush by breaking its branches and was only placated when Jedediah Smith agreed to return it to its original place and promised it would never be bothered again. John, though, annoys it by trying to question it about Black Hal, thus unwittingly setting a chain of events in progress, a mess that John has to clear up.

This is a very engaging novel. The problems the villagers face may be minor compared to affairs of state but they are important in the lives of the characters who are a cross-section of a real society. If there are any issues it is the fact that some of the phrases seem a little too modern for the rural, feudal setting.

Pauline Morgan

July 2022

(pub: Jo Fletcher Books/Quercus. 408 page enlarged paperback. Price: £14.99 (UK). ISBN: 978-1-52941-488-2

pub: Jo Fletcher Books/Quercus. 408 page hardback. Price: £20.00 (UK). ISBN: 978-1-52941-487-5)

check out websites: www.jofletcherbooks.com, www.quercusbooks.co.uk