What do you think?
Rate this book
Nell
“I am always dying. I am never dying. I have died and died and died again, but I do not stay dead.”
When the lines between fairy tale and reality blur, identity becomes fluid, and compassion can have unexpected costs. In “Nell,” a short story inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Little Match Girl,” award-winning author Karen Hesse adds a haunting, supernatural twist to a classic tale.
“Nell” was originally published in What You Wish For, a collection of short stories and poems collected by the Book Wish Foundation. All proceeds from the book are used to fund libraries in Darfuri refugee camps in Chad. Learn more here.
Karen Hesse is the winner of the MacArthur “Genius” Award, and the acclaimed author of more than twenty books for children and young adults, including Brooklyn Bridge and Out of the Dust, a Newbery Medal Winner. Her next novel for young adults, Safekeeping, will be available on September 18th.
When the lines between fairy tale and reality blur, identity becomes fluid, and compassion can have unexpected costs. In “Nell,” a short story inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Little Match Girl,” award-winning author Karen Hesse adds a haunting, supernatural twist to a classic tale.
“Nell” was originally published in What You Wish For, a collection of short stories and poems collected by the Book Wish Foundation. All proceeds from the book are used to fund libraries in Darfuri refugee camps in Chad. Learn more here.
Karen Hesse is the winner of the MacArthur “Genius” Award, and the acclaimed author of more than twenty books for children and young adults, including Brooklyn Bridge and Out of the Dust, a Newbery Medal Winner. Her next novel for young adults, Safekeeping, will be available on September 18th.
- GenresShort StoriesFantasy
12 pages, ebook
First published September 15, 2011
32 people want to read
About the author
Karen Hesse
64 books483 followersKaren Hesse is an American author known for her children's and young adult literature, often set in historical contexts. She received the Newbery Medal for Out of the Dust (1997), a verse novel about a young girl enduring the Dust Bowl during the Great Depression. Hesse’s works frequently tackle complex themes, as seen in Witness (2001), which explores the rise of the Ku Klux Klan in a 1920s Vermont town, and The Music of Dolphins (1996), which tells the story of a girl raised by dolphins. Her novel Stowaway (2000) is based on the real-life account of a boy aboard Captain Cook’s Endeavour. Over her career, Hesse has received numerous accolades, including a MacArthur Fellowship in 2002 and the Phoenix Award for Letters from Rifka (1992).
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
September 30, 2017
I am dying. I have been dying for a hundred years. I fear I will always be dying.
review to come.
read it for yo0urself here:
https://www.tor.com/2012/09/11/nell/
May 14, 2015
I am dying. I have been dying for a hundred years. I fear I will always be dying.
In the beginning it pleased me to be on the verge of death, always escaping at the last moment from one body to another. But now . . . now I wish I could stop. Always is a long time.
And I am always a child. Always twelve. I’ve told so many lies. I’ve taken the identities of so many children. But I think I was born once in the usual way to a man and a woman and the woman died and I was expected to die, too. But I didn’t. I don’t know why
A nice little story that was too vague at times .... never felt fully drawn in. The idea behind it was interesting but it left more questions for me.
Maybe that was the purpose of the story *shrugs* but for me, it was a miss.
I did like the feeling of hope in part of the story though.
Not a bad story, just not a great one either.. sort of in the middle
2.5-3 stars
I think this is a case of "it's not you book/story, it's me"
Read the story here
In the beginning it pleased me to be on the verge of death, always escaping at the last moment from one body to another. But now . . . now I wish I could stop. Always is a long time.
And I am always a child. Always twelve. I’ve told so many lies. I’ve taken the identities of so many children. But I think I was born once in the usual way to a man and a woman and the woman died and I was expected to die, too. But I didn’t. I don’t know why
A nice little story that was too vague at times .... never felt fully drawn in. The idea behind it was interesting but it left more questions for me.
Maybe that was the purpose of the story *shrugs* but for me, it was a miss.
I did like the feeling of hope in part of the story though.
Not a bad story, just not a great one either.. sort of in the middle
2.5-3 stars
I think this is a case of "it's not you book/story, it's me"
Read the story here
April 19, 2018
Well, that was depressing. But what else are you going to get from a retelling of "The Little Match Girl"?
Still, the way this was told was beautiful, a story within a story. The imagery was rich and the main character's voice was engaging. It's short, but it still manages to bring a new, supernatural twist to the old story.
Quotable moment:
Still, the way this was told was beautiful, a story within a story. The imagery was rich and the main character's voice was engaging. It's short, but it still manages to bring a new, supernatural twist to the old story.
Quotable moment:
How her mouth watered with longing when she passed a rosy-cheeked boy eating a bun,
soiling his mitten with bakery grease,
dropping crumbs and bits of raisins in his wake,
ignoring the admonitions of his father,
who held on tightly to keep the boy from running into the people around him.
The match girl stopped walking and stood where the bun-eater had stood and drew in a deep breath,
devouring the scent of the sweet roll that still lingered in the cold air.
July 23, 2019
“I am always dying. I am never dying. I have died and died and died again, but I do not stay dead.”
"Nell" is a wonderful fantasy story of a young girl who, upon dying, can jump to a new girl's body and inhabit it for one year before that body, too, dies again. Nell has lived in countless bodies and lived countless lives, until one jump she chances upon nurturing parents with a comfortable life. And discovers, in the snowy cold outside her window, a dying, freezing little matchstick girl. And Nell decides to jump one last time.
This is a story that tugs at your heartstrings and makes you want to go home and hug your children. Beautifully done.
"Nell" is a wonderful fantasy story of a young girl who, upon dying, can jump to a new girl's body and inhabit it for one year before that body, too, dies again. Nell has lived in countless bodies and lived countless lives, until one jump she chances upon nurturing parents with a comfortable life. And discovers, in the snowy cold outside her window, a dying, freezing little matchstick girl. And Nell decides to jump one last time.
This is a story that tugs at your heartstrings and makes you want to go home and hug your children. Beautifully done.
November 23, 2017
Don't do this to me. Just ... don't. The Match Girl always makes me both sad and furious.
December 6, 2017
It's ssaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad
(But I liked it)
(But I liked it)
June 14, 2016
Nell takes on the New Year mythos and the Little Match Girl story in what I think is a bit of a saccharine tale. It's quite a chilling story at the start, but loses its momentum when the Match Girl aspects come in.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews