Tanglewood by Knicky L Abbott

I would like to thank Luna Press Publishing for an advance copy of this novella in exchange for a fair and honest review

Publisher – Luna Press Publishing

Published – 19/2

Price – £8.99 paperback £3.99 Kindle eBook

Aoife Ni Coillte is the eldest daughter of an Irish Indentured family, living in a poor village near the estate of Tanglewood Manor. In love with George Oliver Williams, the eldest son of the wealthy Williams family to whom the manor belongs, Aoife is rejected as an unsuitable match in favour of the heiress, Dido Dubois. Pride and bigotry drive her to unkindness towards Dido's younger sister, Bellouise, until one fateful evening, when she is jointly punished by the African ancestral spirit, Belloko, and Pouq, the Irish phantom faerie. Transformed into the monstrous Steel Donkey, Aoife is condemned to haunt and terrorise the area, until she can learn to love that which she hates.

Ten years later, the Williams family hires John Jack, a discerning and kind freed slave to help maintain the family property. An unlikely bond takes root between Aoife and John, followed by rumours of Steel Donkey sightings spreading like bushfire across the hills.

There has been a recent trend of stories exploring the villain or the monster to say ah its not as you believe – often the villain was the hero all along and society was at fault. They’re using the story to re-interpret things with modern perspective and I think that’s great – stories do not exist frozen in amber; they need to speak to us as we are. However, there is a element to consider that the villain still made certain choices and while we may understand the reasons, sympathise with them ultimately they’re choices many of us would not do. In Knicky L Abbott’s engrossing historical fantasy Tanglewood we are taken to Barbados a few centuries ago we meet a cursed woman and a young man who has fallen in love with her, but curses are usually made for a reason.

John Jack works on the Tanglewood Manor estate living with his Aunt Benga. A young friendly intelligent Black man who has by accident He meets in the countryside off the paths Aoife a six-foot-tall woman covered in fur and yet they bond. John is the first person to take the time to talk to Aoife in many years. They are falling in love. But Aoife’s past is a mystery and Jack is not aware how past actions have shaped Aoife’s life and it puts both of them in danger.

This an extremely intricate and multi-layered piece of character work where Abbott brings what could sound like a simple Beauty and the Beast style tale but adds ripples in characters, plays with time and creates some really fascinating characters that we find ourselves changing our views on as the story develops. At its heart is Aoife now cursed as a beast-like woman living out in the field. We get sections of the story written in her voice. She belongs to a group of indentured White Irish workers brought across the Atlantic Ocean and never able to afford to leave or move on in their lives. We find Aoife’s home life was harsh with a bullying father and immense poverty. We see her options for escape when she was younger were limited and it was one young member of the Manor set who we see is less interested in her as a person and more an object for his lust. Neatly Abbott makes us see how Aoife is in some ways shaped by her background, but then more troubling elements are revealed. In the new Barbados Black people have been freed and there are now also wealthier Black families. Aoife feels resentment to peoples she thinks are making better lives for themselves and finding out that her lover is now engaged to be married to a Black woman also does not improve Aoife’s views on her neighbours. Suddenly we see Aoife not quite the fairytale victim we initially thought.

With Jack we have a good man who acts in the moment. Coming years later after these events Aoife and him and as Black man still bond and fall in love (he sees her as a lonely but good person) this perhaps offers a chance for the future. This is when the story moves into much darker directions. The relationship between Jack and Aoife has dire consequences and potential allies like Aunt Benga who knows both characters are torn as to what to do. In the latter half we find out why Aoife got cursed and she is more at a key point as to her future. This story explores choices and how one rash one can poison entire lives. Less a fairytale and more a slow building sense of a conclusion to a story that started years before and a few more mistakes by anyone could doom everyone. Abbott is a skilled writer creating scenes of lush tropical beauty that make us feel the joy and love of certain scenes but alongside this under dark trees, leaves and night skies there lurks a world of ancient powers, magic and dark deeds. That lack of simplicity pulls us into multiple direction and what we’d like to happen may not be possible.

Tanglewood is an appropriate title for this story. Nothing and no one is really simple to define. Fairytales do not often exist in real life and neither does everyone deserve a happy ending even when we feel they have suffered enough. Our bad choices can often shape our entire future lives. A hugely impressive story and highly recommended!