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Cwmlech Manor #1 - The Ghost of Cwmlech Manor
Young Woman in a Garden
In her vivid and sly, gentle and wise, long-anticipated first collection, Delia Sherman takes seemingly insignificant moments in the lives of artists or sailors—the light out a window, the two strokes it takes to turn a small boat—and finds the ghosts haunting them, the magic surrounding them. Here are the lives that make up larger histories, here are tricksters and gardeners, faeries and musicians, all glittering and sparkling, finding beauty and hope and always unexpected, a touch of wild magic.
Contents:
Young Woman in a Garden
The Ghost of Cwmlech Manor
The Red Piano
La Fée Verte
Walpurgis Afternoon
The Parwat Ruby
The Fairy Cony-Catcher
Sacred Harp
The Printer’s Daughter
Nanny Peters and the Feathery Bride
Miss Carstairs and the Merman
The Maid on the Shore
The Fiddler of Bayou Teche
Land’s End
Contents:
Young Woman in a Garden
The Ghost of Cwmlech Manor
The Red Piano
La Fée Verte
Walpurgis Afternoon
The Parwat Ruby
The Fairy Cony-Catcher
Sacred Harp
The Printer’s Daughter
Nanny Peters and the Feathery Bride
Miss Carstairs and the Merman
The Maid on the Shore
The Fiddler of Bayou Teche
Land’s End
312 pages, Paperback
First published November 11, 2014
16 people are currently reading
922 people want to read
About the author
Delia Sherman
114 books332 followersDelia Sherman (born 1951) is a fantasy writer and editor. Her novel The Porcelain Dove won the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award.
She was born in Tokyo and brought up in New York City. She earned a PhD in Renaissance studies at Brown University and taught at Boston and North-eastern universities. She is the author of the novels Through a Brazen Mirror, The Porcelain Dove (a Mythopoeic Award winner), and Changeling.
Sherman co-founded the Interstitial Arts Foundation, dedicated to promoting art that crosses genre borders.
She lives in New York City with her wife and sometime collaborator, Ellen Kushner.
She was born in Tokyo and brought up in New York City. She earned a PhD in Renaissance studies at Brown University and taught at Boston and North-eastern universities. She is the author of the novels Through a Brazen Mirror, The Porcelain Dove (a Mythopoeic Award winner), and Changeling.
Sherman co-founded the Interstitial Arts Foundation, dedicated to promoting art that crosses genre borders.
She lives in New York City with her wife and sometime collaborator, Ellen Kushner.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews
January 31, 2019
Overall, this was a solid collection with some really outstanding stories. The author writes in a wide range of styles, mostly with fantasy overtones. I loved the diversity of her characters and the fluidity of her gender roles!
The “best of the bunch” were:
The Red Piano
Walpurgis Afternoon
Land’s End
The Maid on the Shore
The “best of the bunch” were:
The Red Piano
Walpurgis Afternoon
Land’s End
The Maid on the Shore
July 12, 2019
3.5 out of 5. Short story collection of fantasy-based, each set set in different times and places, with dialogue attuned to its location and era. Clever, highly original, with all kinds of magic and strange creatures: a ghost, werewolf, an alchemist, a half human/half selkie, a merman. Some stories had twists at the end.
My favorites:
"The ghost of Cwmlech Manor": ghost haunting this place knows of a hidden treasure.
"The red piano": a creepy story of two twin red pianos and their owners.
"The fiddler of Bayou Teche": in Louisiana, musicians, fiddles, a dance competition and the Loup-garous [i.e., werewolves] told in Cajun dialect by a young woman, Cadence.
"Walpurgis Afternoon": what happens when two witches move in next door to the heroine.
"The printer's daughter": in Puritan England, a printer, Hal, fashions a doll from spoilt pages of his printing--both sacred and profane--and an alchemist who has given him a commission, transforms it into a daughter who the printer calls Frisket.
Recommended.
My favorites:
"The ghost of Cwmlech Manor": ghost haunting this place knows of a hidden treasure.
"The red piano": a creepy story of two twin red pianos and their owners.
"The fiddler of Bayou Teche": in Louisiana, musicians, fiddles, a dance competition and the Loup-garous [i.e., werewolves] told in Cajun dialect by a young woman, Cadence.
"Walpurgis Afternoon": what happens when two witches move in next door to the heroine.
"The printer's daughter": in Puritan England, a printer, Hal, fashions a doll from spoilt pages of his printing--both sacred and profane--and an alchemist who has given him a commission, transforms it into a daughter who the printer calls Frisket.
Recommended.
September 26, 2016
DNF at page 142. These stories never grabbed my attention. Something about the writing style made them dry and boring. I couldn't connect with any of the characters. Though there are some interesting supernatural creatures and plots in here, I just didn't care, even about mermen.
November 19, 2014
All good stories, some outstanding; I have mixed luck with short stories, but all of these kept my attention. Sherman has an assured command of a range of voices and styles, from bayou Louisiana to Shakespearean England. I especially liked the chilling "The Red Piano", the fabulously steampunk + ghosts "The Ghost of Cwmloch Manor", the Trollopean "The Parwat Ruby" (with cameos from Trollope's novels and everything), and "Walpurgis Afternoon", with its unusual take on witchcraft (which I felt could provide excellent worldbuilding for a novel).
July 27, 2015
Finally, thanks to Small Beer Press, a collection of the shorter fiction of Delia Sherman. Quiet, weird, funny, dark stories of the fantastic, stories that never land quite in one category or another. For those who prefer their fantasy to bend conformity rather than play nice in the pigeonholes.
Read
December 10, 2014I probably liked this collection way more than I should have (since I am a fan of bittersweet endings) - there was something slyly subversive about the way Sherman writes happy endings. :D
March 31, 2015
Stuff I Read - Young Woman in a Garden: Stories by Delia Sherman Review
Single story short story collections are normally fairly dangerous waters. Most of the time, one reads them because of other work (novels, etc) and decides to check out their short things. Meaning, if you know that you like a writer, probably you will still like a writer. Similarly, with multiple author short short collections, if you don't like one writer, chances are you will still like others. But, like me, what happens if you have no prior experience with the writer and are faced with the prospect of going through an entire collection of their work? Well, for me, you really like it if it's Young Woman in a Garden: Stories. I quite enjoyed that the collection is thematically and stylistically tight, that it forms a nice whole without flitting from thing to thing. It presents a solid front and maintains the strength and vision over the course of quite a few stories.
I will explain, though. The collection is, more than almost any I've read, consistent. Not that stories don't take in different places, with different characters, across different times. But that, at its core, the collection seems very on target, a series of Gothic tales that build up a sense of age and magic, darkness and hope. Most of the stories are steeped in the past, whether through something actually from the past emerging to the present ("Young Woman in a Garden," "The Ghost of Cwmlock Manor," and "The Red Piano") or being set in the more distant past ("The Printer's Daughter," "The Faerie Cony-Catcher," and "Land's End"). Each instance of the past returning in some way evokes the Gothic tradition of grounding the stories in a "this might be true" kind of way, casting the magic not as pure fantasy but as an unseen and lurking force that, on occassion, presses through to our world.
And more than that, the collection takes those Gothic trappings and creates a very different and more vibrant magical landscape than most stories I've read that try to use the style. There no romanticizing of the Gothic repression, the way sexuality was pushed aside and people seemed more prudish and distant. At least, that idea is played with and mostly rejected in favor of the idea that people need contact, that people yearn for love and understanding and sex. The idea of isolation is leaned on very heavily, but through that isolation the stories explore how people can still manage to connect. Distances are bridged, people fall in love, and magic flourishes. It's not that the magic is part of an unseen and natural world that must be rejected, but that magic is part of an ignored and repressed natural world that must be brought to the surface to be understood and accepted.
And in the end the stories all seem to point to the fact that magic is a part of lives, not separate, but that it also can be dark, difficult to face. BUt also that it must be faced to cut through the loneliness that life seems to impose on everyone, that society imposes on everyone. It's a fascinating collection of stories ranging a great deal of time, and for that it is remarkably focused and succinct. There are no stories that I felt were out of place, and while not all the stories were the most thrilling or exciting to read, it provides an experience that is well worth the work of reading through and unpacking these tales. For me, then, it's an 8.5/10.
Single story short story collections are normally fairly dangerous waters. Most of the time, one reads them because of other work (novels, etc) and decides to check out their short things. Meaning, if you know that you like a writer, probably you will still like a writer. Similarly, with multiple author short short collections, if you don't like one writer, chances are you will still like others. But, like me, what happens if you have no prior experience with the writer and are faced with the prospect of going through an entire collection of their work? Well, for me, you really like it if it's Young Woman in a Garden: Stories. I quite enjoyed that the collection is thematically and stylistically tight, that it forms a nice whole without flitting from thing to thing. It presents a solid front and maintains the strength and vision over the course of quite a few stories.
I will explain, though. The collection is, more than almost any I've read, consistent. Not that stories don't take in different places, with different characters, across different times. But that, at its core, the collection seems very on target, a series of Gothic tales that build up a sense of age and magic, darkness and hope. Most of the stories are steeped in the past, whether through something actually from the past emerging to the present ("Young Woman in a Garden," "The Ghost of Cwmlock Manor," and "The Red Piano") or being set in the more distant past ("The Printer's Daughter," "The Faerie Cony-Catcher," and "Land's End"). Each instance of the past returning in some way evokes the Gothic tradition of grounding the stories in a "this might be true" kind of way, casting the magic not as pure fantasy but as an unseen and lurking force that, on occassion, presses through to our world.
And more than that, the collection takes those Gothic trappings and creates a very different and more vibrant magical landscape than most stories I've read that try to use the style. There no romanticizing of the Gothic repression, the way sexuality was pushed aside and people seemed more prudish and distant. At least, that idea is played with and mostly rejected in favor of the idea that people need contact, that people yearn for love and understanding and sex. The idea of isolation is leaned on very heavily, but through that isolation the stories explore how people can still manage to connect. Distances are bridged, people fall in love, and magic flourishes. It's not that the magic is part of an unseen and natural world that must be rejected, but that magic is part of an ignored and repressed natural world that must be brought to the surface to be understood and accepted.
And in the end the stories all seem to point to the fact that magic is a part of lives, not separate, but that it also can be dark, difficult to face. BUt also that it must be faced to cut through the loneliness that life seems to impose on everyone, that society imposes on everyone. It's a fascinating collection of stories ranging a great deal of time, and for that it is remarkably focused and succinct. There are no stories that I felt were out of place, and while not all the stories were the most thrilling or exciting to read, it provides an experience that is well worth the work of reading through and unpacking these tales. For me, then, it's an 8.5/10.
September 26, 2018
A tour-de-force of voices and periods that shows both Sherman's versatility and growth over a multi-decade writing career. The plots are sometimes vague in a way that would irk me in a novel, but at short story length I'm willing to be carried along purely on the strength of character and setting. Standouts for me were the creepy imagery of "The Red Piano," the whimsy of "The Printer's Daughter," the rhythms of "The Fiddler of Bayou Teche," and the dry science of "Miss Carstairs and the Merman."
April 3, 2016
What most impressed me about Delia Sherman’s collection was how it was so varied yet every story felt as though they belonged together. This collection features everything from urban fantasy to horror. In each story, from the title story “Young Woman in a Garden” all the way through to “The Maid on the Shore,” magic is taken for granted by the majority of the characters. Curses and creatures and ghosts are accepted casually by the reader as well, because of how noticeably Sherman is writing in our world. While magic is involved, the motivations and actions of each character is fully believable and complex, if not fully human as so many of the characters blur the line between human and non-human.
Through her cast of characters, Sherman asks the reader as well to consider what exactly it means to be human. Whether it is the titular ghost “The Ghost of Cwmlech Manor,” Mary of “The Printer’s Daughter,” or the unfortunate Margaret Kennedy of “The Parwat Ruby”, Sherman presents characters who by their very existence make us question who counts as human or even alive. In many cases the nature of being alive is connected directly to whether or not these characters are mortal.
Sexuality and gender are also largely present themes in this collection especially in “The Faerie Cony-Catcher,” “The Red Piano, “Miss Carstairs and the Merman,” and “Land’s End.” Who (or what) characters are attracted to becomes blurred as a sailor obsesses over the figure of a woman on a masthead, Miss Carstairs fantasizes of life as a merwoman, and a lonely professor finds romance near deadly.
One of the biggest joys of this collection for me was how many women there are. Professionals, lesbian witches, fairy seers, engineers, old women, young woman, artists and art historians, this collection largely focuses on female experience. Additionally, quite a few of the stories feature LGBTQ themes, which is more of a rarity in sci-fi/fantasy collections and always a joy to find.
Personal favorites from this collection: “Walpurgis Afternoon,” “The Faerie Cony-Catcher,” and “The Ghost of Cwmlech Manor.”
Through her cast of characters, Sherman asks the reader as well to consider what exactly it means to be human. Whether it is the titular ghost “The Ghost of Cwmlech Manor,” Mary of “The Printer’s Daughter,” or the unfortunate Margaret Kennedy of “The Parwat Ruby”, Sherman presents characters who by their very existence make us question who counts as human or even alive. In many cases the nature of being alive is connected directly to whether or not these characters are mortal.
Sexuality and gender are also largely present themes in this collection especially in “The Faerie Cony-Catcher,” “The Red Piano, “Miss Carstairs and the Merman,” and “Land’s End.” Who (or what) characters are attracted to becomes blurred as a sailor obsesses over the figure of a woman on a masthead, Miss Carstairs fantasizes of life as a merwoman, and a lonely professor finds romance near deadly.
One of the biggest joys of this collection for me was how many women there are. Professionals, lesbian witches, fairy seers, engineers, old women, young woman, artists and art historians, this collection largely focuses on female experience. Additionally, quite a few of the stories feature LGBTQ themes, which is more of a rarity in sci-fi/fantasy collections and always a joy to find.
Personal favorites from this collection: “Walpurgis Afternoon,” “The Faerie Cony-Catcher,” and “The Ghost of Cwmlech Manor.”
January 13, 2017
If you liked this book, you might also enjoy:
✱ At the Mouth of the River of Bees: Stories
✱ Somewhere Beneath Those Waves
✱ The Bread We Eat in Dreams
★★★★★ Young Woman in a Garden
★★★★★ The Ghost of Cwmlech Manor
★★★★☆ The Red Piano
★★★★☆ The Fiddler of Bayou Teche
★★★★☆ La Fée Verte
★★★★☆ Walpurgis Afternoon
★★★★★ Land’s End
★★★★☆ The Parwat Ruby
★★★★☆ The Faerie Cony-Catcher
★★★★☆ Sacred Harp
★★★★☆ The Printer’s Daughter
★★★★★ Nanny Peters and the Feathery Bride
★★★★☆ Miss Carstairs and the Merman
★★★★★ The Maid on the Shore
✱ At the Mouth of the River of Bees: Stories
✱ Somewhere Beneath Those Waves
✱ The Bread We Eat in Dreams
★★★★★ Young Woman in a Garden
★★★★★ The Ghost of Cwmlech Manor
★★★★☆ The Red Piano
★★★★☆ The Fiddler of Bayou Teche
★★★★☆ La Fée Verte
★★★★☆ Walpurgis Afternoon
★★★★★ Land’s End
★★★★☆ The Parwat Ruby
★★★★☆ The Faerie Cony-Catcher
★★★★☆ Sacred Harp
★★★★☆ The Printer’s Daughter
★★★★★ Nanny Peters and the Feathery Bride
★★★★☆ Miss Carstairs and the Merman
★★★★★ The Maid on the Shore
September 29, 2015
This collection was a mixed bag for me.
A few stories I really enjoyed and a few I found uninspired. The library has this marked as sci-fi, but it's a variety of genres, including steam-punk, magical realism and fantasy.
The construction and voice of each story was solid and well-done, however the content overall seemed a bit shallow and left me flat. But the stories in general were well-written enough to edge this to 3 stars.
I am curious to see if I'd maybe enjoy a longer piece by this author and will have to look into one of her novels later on.
A few stories I really enjoyed and a few I found uninspired. The library has this marked as sci-fi, but it's a variety of genres, including steam-punk, magical realism and fantasy.
The construction and voice of each story was solid and well-done, however the content overall seemed a bit shallow and left me flat. But the stories in general were well-written enough to edge this to 3 stars.
I am curious to see if I'd maybe enjoy a longer piece by this author and will have to look into one of her novels later on.
October 5, 2014
This is a collection of short stories, all written by Delia Sherman. I've never read her works and thought short stories are a way to try out a new author. I loved the story the Red Piano. Most all the stories have a touch of magic or myth involved. There are 14 stories in the collection, Some I didn't care for (too wordy or dull) but most were interesting with characters that were believable. Stories were a nice length for an evening's read.
March 28, 2018
4.5 stars, really. A great solid collection. I've liked what I've read of Delia Sherman's in the past and this definitely exceeded my expectations.
My favourites are probably The Ghost of Cwnlech Manor, Walpurgis Afternoon, and the Printer's Daughter; least favourite but still good were the Land's End and the Maid on the Shore. The stories are written in a variety of different voices and eras and even the old English in The Fairy Cony Catcher was enjoyable to read and not too dense.
What struck me the most in this collection was how subversive it is within the scope of the retold fairy tales genre by not being exceedingly grim. I'm so used to Grim Explorations of the Dark Side of Human Nature, I found myself flinching expectantly, but it never took that route, which was refreshing. Nobody got raped, only one person murdered (off the top of my head). It's not that I mind realistic bad stuff in a story, it's that most stories of this kind are often written to illustrate the idea that humanity is Rotten at the Core and that there is little good in the world. This especially jumped out to me in the last story, one built on the legend of selkies -- the father, upon encountering his future selkie wife, did not steal her pelt, but went down to dance with her and her sisters and at the end of the night, she stayed with him of her own volition.
It's also pretty queer, which is always nice.
One note, though -- in Walpurgis Afternoon and The Fairy Cony Catcher, gender is handled in a way that is a little unclear to me -- if the characters are intersex, genderfluid, or just cross-dressing, then it is pleasant enough, but if they are meant to be trans ladies, it's pretty disrespectful. Since it's not made clear which it is, I really can't say. As sexuality is otherwise handled really nicely, I would hope that it is the former or something else fairly fluid (and I assume in the Fairy Cony Catcher, it is functioning in the frame of texts from around that time period, since Delia Sherman seems at pains to draw from historical fact and texts).
My favourites are probably The Ghost of Cwnlech Manor, Walpurgis Afternoon, and the Printer's Daughter; least favourite but still good were the Land's End and the Maid on the Shore. The stories are written in a variety of different voices and eras and even the old English in The Fairy Cony Catcher was enjoyable to read and not too dense.
What struck me the most in this collection was how subversive it is within the scope of the retold fairy tales genre by not being exceedingly grim. I'm so used to Grim Explorations of the Dark Side of Human Nature, I found myself flinching expectantly, but it never took that route, which was refreshing. Nobody got raped, only one person murdered (off the top of my head). It's not that I mind realistic bad stuff in a story, it's that most stories of this kind are often written to illustrate the idea that humanity is Rotten at the Core and that there is little good in the world. This especially jumped out to me in the last story, one built on the legend of selkies -- the father, upon encountering his future selkie wife, did not steal her pelt, but went down to dance with her and her sisters and at the end of the night, she stayed with him of her own volition.
It's also pretty queer, which is always nice.
One note, though -- in Walpurgis Afternoon and The Fairy Cony Catcher, gender is handled in a way that is a little unclear to me -- if the characters are intersex, genderfluid, or just cross-dressing, then it is pleasant enough, but if they are meant to be trans ladies, it's pretty disrespectful. Since it's not made clear which it is, I really can't say. As sexuality is otherwise handled really nicely, I would hope that it is the former or something else fairly fluid (and I assume in the Fairy Cony Catcher, it is functioning in the frame of texts from around that time period, since Delia Sherman seems at pains to draw from historical fact and texts).
April 29, 2024
Rating: 4,5 cottages out of 5
I finally read these stories and they didn´t disappoint. I have loved Delia Sherman´s beautiful writing since I first read The Printer´s Daughter and The Witch´s Heart in the fantasy anthologies. The stories in this collection maybe don´t often end on outstanding points but their specific charm and cleverness compensates for it.
Each of the stories is its own special world, a small but heavily detailed picture, so vivid that it could make for great short (or longer) movies. Each is composed using language / dialect of its respective time period and location which I appreciate immensely. Texts are playful or pensive, ornamental and atmospheric, dissolving lines between eerie folk tales, horror and magical realism with sprinkles of Gothic fiction elements.
Rating of the individual stories (I liked all of them, some made me quite sad but I also laughed a lot and learned new words and idioms again):
Young Woman in a Garden - 3,5/5
The Ghost of Cwmlech Manor - 3,5/5
The Red Piano - 5/5
The Fiddler of Bayou Teche - 5/5
La Fée Verte - 5/5
Walpurgis Afternoon - 3/5
Land’s End - 3/5
The Parwat Ruby - 4/5
The Fairy Cony-Catcher - 5/5
Sacred Harp - 3/5
The Printer’s Daughter - 5/5
Nanny Peters and the Feathery Bride - 5/5
Miss Carstairs and the Merman - 5/5
The Maid on the Shore - 5/5
I finally read these stories and they didn´t disappoint. I have loved Delia Sherman´s beautiful writing since I first read The Printer´s Daughter and The Witch´s Heart in the fantasy anthologies. The stories in this collection maybe don´t often end on outstanding points but their specific charm and cleverness compensates for it.
Each of the stories is its own special world, a small but heavily detailed picture, so vivid that it could make for great short (or longer) movies. Each is composed using language / dialect of its respective time period and location which I appreciate immensely. Texts are playful or pensive, ornamental and atmospheric, dissolving lines between eerie folk tales, horror and magical realism with sprinkles of Gothic fiction elements.
Rating of the individual stories (I liked all of them, some made me quite sad but I also laughed a lot and learned new words and idioms again):
Young Woman in a Garden - 3,5/5
The Ghost of Cwmlech Manor - 3,5/5
The Red Piano - 5/5
The Fiddler of Bayou Teche - 5/5
La Fée Verte - 5/5
Walpurgis Afternoon - 3/5
Land’s End - 3/5
The Parwat Ruby - 4/5
The Fairy Cony-Catcher - 5/5
Sacred Harp - 3/5
The Printer’s Daughter - 5/5
Nanny Peters and the Feathery Bride - 5/5
Miss Carstairs and the Merman - 5/5
The Maid on the Shore - 5/5
March 7, 2018
This is an extraordinary collection -- rich, witty, whimsical and alluring. The stories are strong -- they whisk a reader immediately away into strange shores and dialects, into song and time.
For the dancing story, for the printing story, for Frisket's dear and bawdy speech, thank you. It's a rich magic, and I am grateful.
For the dancing story, for the printing story, for Frisket's dear and bawdy speech, thank you. It's a rich magic, and I am grateful.
July 21, 2018
Like many short story collections, the ones here vary in quality, but many of them are very good -- charming, chilling, or fascinating. Delia Sherman has a particularly good ear for dialect and voice which gives all of her stories a rich sense of character, time, and place, whether they are set in the present, past, or a time that never was.
December 25, 2020
A stunning collection of short stories. Lyrical, inventive, and full of treats for the folklore or 19th century literature fan. I am particularly partial to the title story, and the selkie story. I can't wait to teach this book someday, hopefully soon!
June 12, 2018
There are several really great stories in this collection; my favorite was Walpurgis Afternoon. I'd love to read this story expanded to a novella or novel or other stories set in the same world.
March 15, 2020
lots of good stories, many styles, very few duds.
worth the time.
worth the time.
August 15, 2020
Read this for the Sacred Harp Story; was disappointed by that. Found it more disappointing, though, that the author finds it a punishment to turn a man into a woman.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 29, 2022
some true gems in this collection
December 30, 2025
Whimsical, the ghost aspect of the stories isn't really crafted in the vein of supernatural, but more like a pretext for exploring humanity's love of storytelling in general. I loved it.
March 13, 2017
I hesitated between 3 and 4 stars because I do think this is a very solid collection, but in the end there were too many historical ones for my taste. I admire Sherman's skill to write in different historical tones but it's less to my taste (I prefer my historical fiction--when I read it, which is not often--to be a bit more contemporary in its language, accuracy be damned). Some stories, like La Fée Verte, dragged a little too. But so many wonderful ideas as well.
My favourites were:
Young Woman in a Garden
The Fiddler of Bayou Teche
Walpurgis Afternoon
Miss Castairs and the Merman
My favourites were:
Young Woman in a Garden
The Fiddler of Bayou Teche
Walpurgis Afternoon
Miss Castairs and the Merman
August 2, 2016
“Words might turn like snakes to bite their tails.” Almost wish I owned this book, because I don’t want to return it to the library! Delia Sherman’s short stories are all excellent. They are immersive, imaginative works that explore themes of art, gender, and desire. Ranging from Welsh manors to Louisiana bayous, from Elizabethan times to modern day, Sherman’s stories span wide worlds. Her detailed, ever-changing prose has some vocab gems (pulchritude!) but can also be difficult at times. Recommend to those interested in English/History/WGS and fantasy fans!
Individual reviews for the stories:
"Young Woman in A Garden" - beautiful starter to the collection, with a surprising twist. captures the ethereal, luminous feeling of Impressionist paintings.
"The Ghost of Cwmlech Manor" - interesting take on steampunk-esque stylings!! also LOVED the protagonist and her engineering leanings
"The Red Piano" - builds up like a well made haunted house. reminded me of old Gothic fiction. a good story to read by candlelight.
"The Fiddler of Bayou Teche" - one of my favorites! amazing setting, and interesting narration. the overlap of dance and music with bets and cons was entertaining and engrossing.
"La Fee Verte" - a little difficult to read, but this tale of a troubled romance in troubled times was satisfying in the end.
"Walpurgis Afternoon" - ANOTHER fave! suburban magic, QPOC characters, realistic voices; i want more fiction like this in my life
"Land's End" - a bit difficult to decipher, but appreciated it as a solid example of tone and atmosphere
"The Parwat Ruby" - a fun, mysterious tale about a cursed gem. A little miffed by the "dangerous Oriental exoticism" that it plays off of, though it could also be read as satire of that genre
"The Fairie Cony-Catcher" - A little hard to get used to the Shakespearean language, but I enjoyed this one and its playfulness
"Sacred Harp" - short and sweet; loved its intimate descriptions of music. Unlikable (?) main character, but still works? A favorite.
"The Printer's Daughter" - another one whose historical language was hard to slog through, but it's tale of the printed word and its confluence of voices was achingly beautiful
"Nanny Peters and the Feathery Bride" - a fun one echoing tall tales and Americana
"Miss Carstairs and the Merman" - Favorite! Quietly beautiful tale about a scientist and her fascination, sympathy, and exploitation of a fellow living being.
"The Maid on the Shore" - also amazing. a story about magic, virginity, and humanity. leaves a deep impression on you.
Individual reviews for the stories:
"Young Woman in A Garden" - beautiful starter to the collection, with a surprising twist. captures the ethereal, luminous feeling of Impressionist paintings.
"The Ghost of Cwmlech Manor" - interesting take on steampunk-esque stylings!! also LOVED the protagonist and her engineering leanings
"The Red Piano" - builds up like a well made haunted house. reminded me of old Gothic fiction. a good story to read by candlelight.
"The Fiddler of Bayou Teche" - one of my favorites! amazing setting, and interesting narration. the overlap of dance and music with bets and cons was entertaining and engrossing.
"La Fee Verte" - a little difficult to read, but this tale of a troubled romance in troubled times was satisfying in the end.
"Walpurgis Afternoon" - ANOTHER fave! suburban magic, QPOC characters, realistic voices; i want more fiction like this in my life
"Land's End" - a bit difficult to decipher, but appreciated it as a solid example of tone and atmosphere
"The Parwat Ruby" - a fun, mysterious tale about a cursed gem. A little miffed by the "dangerous Oriental exoticism" that it plays off of, though it could also be read as satire of that genre
"The Fairie Cony-Catcher" - A little hard to get used to the Shakespearean language, but I enjoyed this one and its playfulness
"Sacred Harp" - short and sweet; loved its intimate descriptions of music. Unlikable (?) main character, but still works? A favorite.
"The Printer's Daughter" - another one whose historical language was hard to slog through, but it's tale of the printed word and its confluence of voices was achingly beautiful
"Nanny Peters and the Feathery Bride" - a fun one echoing tall tales and Americana
"Miss Carstairs and the Merman" - Favorite! Quietly beautiful tale about a scientist and her fascination, sympathy, and exploitation of a fellow living being.
"The Maid on the Shore" - also amazing. a story about magic, virginity, and humanity. leaves a deep impression on you.
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January 21, 2015Hello Delia Sherman. I am your audience. I am queer and I am always looking for queer fiction, and I love fantasy, so I was excited about this book. I enjoyed it very much until I got to the problematic and transphobic pronoun usage. Two trans characters in this book get their pronouns switched when someone discovers that they are trans. Delia Sherman, you should know that a transperson's (and really everyone's) pronouns are not based on their genitals, they are based on their gender. If you write about trans characters, this is something you should know, because doing otherwise is offensive, and it completely ruined the book for me.
Perhaps even more problematic than what could be a lack of knowledge about pronouns is the story "The Faerie Cony Catcher". This story continues a transphobic cultural narrative of "transwomen as deceivers" that is very harmful and contributes to the violence, assault, and murder that trans women are statistically highly likely to be victim to. This particular story ended happily, but that was not the expectation, and in reality it is not the expectation either. Why continue such a harmful narrative?
I know you are queer and it looks like you are trying to write an LGBTQ inclusive book, so why the lack of research into trans identities? I am a librarian and I wish I could recommend this book, but I can't.
Perhaps even more problematic than what could be a lack of knowledge about pronouns is the story "The Faerie Cony Catcher". This story continues a transphobic cultural narrative of "transwomen as deceivers" that is very harmful and contributes to the violence, assault, and murder that trans women are statistically highly likely to be victim to. This particular story ended happily, but that was not the expectation, and in reality it is not the expectation either. Why continue such a harmful narrative?
I know you are queer and it looks like you are trying to write an LGBTQ inclusive book, so why the lack of research into trans identities? I am a librarian and I wish I could recommend this book, but I can't.
July 27, 2015
Most of the anthologies I've read lately have been either collections of stories in a particular genre, or they've been stories written by the author of a series I'm fond of, and many of the stories take place in that same series "universe", sometimes with an extra or two from another project. This is the first anthology I've read in a while where a single author writes from so many different perspectives, using so many disparate voices, and I'm suitably impressed. There are two different stories that use dialect (and different dialects to boot), humorous tales, achingly romantic tales, a few frissons of horror/suspense, and one that I swear to all the Gods I've read somewhere else in the past year, but I can't for the life of me remember where... This one's going on my "writing craft" shelf, as I'll be mining it for ideas about voice, technique, and story outlining for years to come. It will probably also be one that I reread from time to time, simply for the pleasure of reading a well-crafted story or two when I need a break. Extremely well-done, and highly recommended.
February 29, 2016
I was already a fan of Delia Sherman, author of The Freedom Maze, when I picked up Young Woman in a Garden, but now I am a rabid fan. Sherman can write a Victorian steampunk Welsch ghost story ( “The Ghost of Cwmlech Manor”) every bit as convincingly as a Texan tall tale (“Nanny Peters and the Feathery Bride”) or a demonic folk tale from the Louisiana bayou (“The Fiddler of Bayou Teche”). I’m sorry, but that kind of skill isn’t normal. Many, indeed most writers I admire hit a certain pitch and stay roughly there. Sure, they may stray a bit in syntax or dialect, even genre, but Sherman’s versatility is astounding. More than once, she made me wonder if she herself made some sort of otherworldly deal with a wayward spirit in order to render her stories so, well, damned otherworldly. I can’t recommend this collection enough. I know I’ll be returning to it again and again over the course of my life as a writer to try to learn how the hell she managed it.
March 28, 2015
Review for the Library Journal: In this first collection from Sherman (The Porcelain Dove; The Freedom Maze), what seems ordinary consistently veers into the extraordinary and often downright surprising. From a scientist studying a merman in her pond to two neighbors connected by matching ominous red pianos, these 14 stories are all full of surprising fantasy details (fairies, ghosts, werewolves, witches, magic), and distinctive voices. Ranging in length and style, these tales are captivating and odd, with characters and settings fully and memorably fleshed out. VERDICT Sherman has won several awards for her fiction, and her literary talent is reflected in the depth and variety of stories presented here. For fans of the author's previous works as well as those seeking quirky, fantastical short stories.
February 17, 2015
Three stars for what is really good here, but a deduction for some of the weirdness and yuck.
Vivid writing, stronger in some stories than in others. "The Printer's Daughter" and "Miss Carstairs and the Merman" were favorites. I also liked the concluding story.
It would be interesting to read an interview with the author about her influences.
Vivid writing, stronger in some stories than in others. "The Printer's Daughter" and "Miss Carstairs and the Merman" were favorites. I also liked the concluding story.
It would be interesting to read an interview with the author about her influences.
January 10, 2016
Interesting collection of short stories with a fantasy theme. The author definitely has a voice that's clear in every story. Some themes pop up a number of times, for instance there's several gender-bending moments for lack of a better term, and the settings vary, but the voice is still recognizable without them all being the same.
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