Best Novella - Silver in the Wood by Emily Tesh

Publisher - Tor

Price - £2.32 Kindle eBook £7.99 paperback

There is a Wild Man who lives in the deep quiet of Greenhollow, and he listens to the wood. Tobias, tethered to the forest, does not dwell on his past life, but he lives a perfectly unremarkable existence with his cottage, his cat, and his dryads.

When Greenhollow Hall acquires a handsome, intensely curious new owner in Henry Silver, everything changes. Old secrets better left buried are dug up, and Tobias is forced to reckon with his troubled past—both the green magic of the woods, and the dark things that rest in its heart.

I sometimes think that we see the past through very strange rose-tinted glasses. As a child it wasn’t obvious the stories and legends I listened to or read where just very standard boy meets girls ends in woe or joy. I sense the hand of Victorians getting rid of the ‘undesirable’ elements of society. Look harder and you can find tales of queerness and people who found this a perfectly natural way of life rather than an affront to an unsmiling god. Reading Emily Tesh’s delightful Silver in the Wood I was reminded that legend and myth often has a lot more interesting takes on love and only now are we beginning to use it again to reflect who we now are as a people in the 21st century.

The story is set in what feels like the 19th century; where Greenhallow is an old mysterious forest with a legendary Wild Man who roams it in secret. The new owner of the wood, Henry Silver, is a man curious about legends and wants to find out more. His enquiries lead him to the mysterious Tobias who lives in the Wood, strong powerful and ahem ‘wild’ in appearance. A friendship and more starts to blossom but Tobias holds many secrets and some of them mean Henry might now be in great danger.

Tesh has a wonderful timeless way of describing a story. And from modern reader perspective I feel like I was initially reading a much older tale; one that have been handed down in lovely leather bound stories. But looking closer we see this as a blossoming romance between two men in world where this kind of love is not easily admitted. Henry and Tobias are very coy around each other and it’s delightful for the older yet more innocent Tobias to realise he may have been flirted with by his new landlord. And Silver slightly oblivious to how wild Tobias really is. The two are very very different but Tesh creates a delicious chemistry between the two - lovely moment like Silver reading to Tobias really cement their feelings for one another.

But as it’s fantasy then love never runs smooth and we are taken down much darker and unexpected path. Tobias first gets placed in danger and finds himself in the ‘modern’ world of Silver as he recovers then Silver gets in the sights of one of Tobias’ old enemies. The story gets spectral and tragic as we see old sins come to haunt our wild man. Finally we meet a further and very different character who shows that the word of Greenhallow is not completely a mystery to many and we get a sight of a bigger narrative that Tobias has to enter.

Its a lovely flowing journey and refreshingly isn’t that predictable. The final third enters a very different direction to what I expected yet still keeps the charming atmosphere and sense of an old mystery alive. Tesh fills our world with magical creatures and beings that feel on the edge of our own. It really opens up the world beautifully and then wraps up the tale for this adventure.

Tenderness isn’t something we usually think of as a standard approach in fantasy; we go for tragic or the kind that destroys empires but here I felt it a very appropriate description as this is very much a tender romance. My only issue and this is more a preference on how I like novellas is that it very much feels a story that’s not fully complete (and is part of a duology) many questions are answered in this story but I feel there is more to come. That’s not a bad thing as I found this a read that I’m keen to see more of the characters again. Wanting more isn’t a bad thing!!

If you enjoy folk tales and the approach used in stories like Uprooted then I heartily recommend Silver in the Wood for you. Tesh has created a wonderfully fleshed out fantasy world that draws the reader in and tenderness in a love story should always be welcomed. A fantasy author I will be watching develop with a great deal of interest.