The Bone Lantern by Angela Slatter
Publisher – Absinthe Books
Published – Out Now
Price – £18 hardcover
When a strange creature approaches Selke’s campfire, intent on filling its stomach with who knows what (or whom), Selke disarms it with her own meal and the promise of stories, eager to prolong her life while she searches for salvation.
There follows the tale of Gwynn, a young witch determined to survive the prince’s court and avoid the fate of his many wives; the story of a dital harp, imbued with the magic of its maker to aid in her quest for revenge, and lastly, the tale of Selke’s search for the bone lantern, and through it her salvation…
Tales within tales are a concept used for a very long time. From the Arabian Nights to Hamlet we see stories told that have their uses to divert, inform and always entertain. Who does not like to be told a story it is one of the oldest ways to hear the old tales. In Angela Slatter’s fabulous dark novella The Bone Lantern we get three folk tales all wrapped into one and possibly these stories all deserve further attention.
Slatter’s tale takes place in the Sourdough universe that many of their tales do. You do not need to have read any of those other stories just be aware this a world where characters and plots stories and tales all live and cross paths creating even more new stories – in this world anything can happen. The tale starts in the woods with an immortal character known as Selke finding a creature known as a stone wolf waiting outside her caravan and wanting to feed on her. To put off being a late supper Selke tells a couple of tales which may or may not be true.
This is a joy to read. Slatter’s prose is as always rich, dark and can in a few sentences tell you a great deal about a character or situation. There may be facets of each story that sound familiar, but each here feels itself like a unique tale and yet manages the clever trick of sounding like its always been a folk tale; even if the focus and messages actually have modern audiences in mind. In the first of the stories named The Tale of A Necklace we find a small kingdom where witches will not be allowed to live, and it starts with the brutal execution of Gwynn’s mother. We then find her father was the one who reported her to the authorities. We watch Gwynn grow up in her father’s shadow as he is the King’s physician, and we soon realise she is far more talented and intelligent than her father will ever be. This becomes a tale of spells, court intrigues, betrayals and ultimately escape. In just a few pages we get adventures, magical creatures and importantly the resolution keeps us guessing all the way through btu I loved the idea of a story less of revenge and more being who you want to be.
Linked by one character we move into The Tale of A Harp and two devoted sisters named Alix who has taken on the role of her father in making harps and Ide who can play a harp as beautifully as anyone. They have the Swan Prince to deliver a harp too and train to make the music he dreams himself capable of playing but the Prince is cruel and ill-tempered. This story moves closer to a folk tale of horror with death and the discovery of a killer key to the centre of the tale. A rather gruesome yet beautiful object will become the key to the truth. From the beginning we sense a story with no happy ending but importantly Slatter makes us care about the sisters and their fates through explaining their pasts and their relationship.
In both tales we get the sense of magic as a tool; there are older women who help point the way to the future and its very much a tale where the lead characters all have agency and want lives of their own. Men in power are often the ones we most need to be wary of. While all of this goes on a magical wolf gets hungrier and even that tale has a few surprises in store for you! Just know you’re in the hands of an excellent writer, curl up in a chair and prepare to hear stories to beguile, entertain and just slightly disturb. The best kinds!
