The Bell at Sealey Head

by Patricia A. McKillip

Sealey Head is a small sleepy town on the edge of the ocean, where sunset marks the tolling of a bell no one can see. On the outskirts is the great Aislinn House, where heir Miss Miranda Beryl and her entourage of friends and servants wait while aged Lady Eglantyne dies; where maid Emma opens doors sometimes to a castle with Princess Ysabo and knights.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Magic, Romance, Adult, Fairy Tales, Science Fiction Fantasy

277 pages, Hardcover

First published September 2, 2008

About the author

Patricia Anne McKillip was an American author of fantasy and science fiction. She wrote predominantly standalone fantasy novels and has been called "one of the most accomplished prose stylists in the fantasy genre". Her work won many awards, including the World Fantasy Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2008.

Reviews

[mark monday · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dream a little dream of a little book, perfect in every way; a story about a little village on the seacoast, less than perfect but full of charm, a lived-in village with charming, lived-in characters; a village with a mysterious crumbling manor with many doors to another world: a world of rituals and ravenous crows and glassy-eyed knights and a trapped princess and an uncertain doom; the world of a castle, a castle in a book.

Dream a dream of spells, two wizards and a wood witch and her daughter, and a strange bell that tolls from nowhere each night; dream a dream of a little romance, sweet and pure.

A book about books, about the wonder of reading, about readers and their voyages and writers and their trials and victories. A book that loves books. The theme: the power of stories. A motif: what are the eyes saying, what sort of house exists behind those windows, look to the eyes. The prose: refined, delicate and lovely. The feel: wispy and evanescent. The result: it was like a nap in the park on a sunny, breezy day, a nap full of little dreams, all these little connected dreams within one enchanting dream. I imagine I was smiling throughout this happy dream; I woke from it still smiling.

[Charlotte Kersten]

"I felt such terrible sorrow, such loss, such fury, at that moment at the end of every day when the last light faded in the world. The bell was the sound of my heart, crying out to the world."

Well, this was lovely. There is something almost indescribably comforting about McKillip's books to me. Reading them is like falling into the best sleep you've ever had and dreaming a strange, sweet dream that is at once airy and rich, otherworldly and comfortingly human. They are, essentially, perfect little gems of ethereal beauty and The Bell at Sealey Head is no exception. Featuring a hidden castle dimension cursed to live each day in an unending repetition of meaningless rituals, a visiting wizard who brings trouble with him and The Age Old Power of Books, it's a regency fairy tale that held me enthralled from beginning to end. I've been sitting on this quote for a while, spoken by Ridely Dow to Ysabo when she tells him that her mother calls her a goblin, and every time I read it I love it more:

"If goblin you are, with that great mass of curly hair, those eyes speckled like bird eggs, that smile that illumines your entire face, then goblins must be of such beauty that only the rarest of beings can recognize it."

[Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started this book like ten years ago and didn't finish it then. Patricia McKillip is one of my favorite fantasy authors - she has lovely poetic writing - but she can be a little hit-and-miss for me, and I thought this was one of the misses. But Mark Monday convinced me to give this one another shot, and I'm glad I did!

The Bell at Sealey Head is the tale of a seaside fishing village (it seems to be set in the 1800s in England, but it never says) and the people who live there, including the aged Lady Eglantyne of Aislinn House. It's also the story of Princess Ysabo who lives in a fantasy land and in a locked castle that's a magical counterpart to Aislinn House. There's something very wrong in Ysabo's world, bound up in cruelty and senseless rituals, but Ysabo is never allowed to ask why. (She thinks it a lot, though.)

Ysabo's castle and Sealey Head are linked by magical doors in Aislinn House that only a few people can open, and by a mysterious unseen bell that rings at sunset each day. But now certain people are trying to unlock the secrets of Aislinn House ... and certain other people are trying to stop them.

A fantasy that contains both great beauty and cruelty. Full review to come! Thanks Mark! :D

[Algernon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have found my new favorite novel by Patricia McKillip. Earlier pole position candidates have been Winter Rose or Alphabet of Thorns, but choosing the best between her books has always been a difficult proposition, both because they are all good and because it is like comparing apples and pears: she changes the mood and the type of plot and the characters every time I start thinking I have her particular style pinned down. The Bell at Sealey Head is as beautifully written and intriguing as the books I’ve read before, but I believe it comes the closest in her catalogue to a romantic comedy with a Gothic nineteen century setting. McKillip may have been chanelling some of the Bronte sisters writings when she created the small coastal town of Sealey Head, complete with an inn perched high on the cliffs above the sea, buffeted by strong winds, a haunted manor house and several young people who may sooner or later fall in love. The secret ingredient of the recipe is though the other sort of romance, the love of books. When we first meet Judd Cauley, the owner of the inn above town, we are introduced to his passion and the mystery at the core of the story:

He read anything that came his way: histories, romances, speculations about the nature of things, journals of travels to far-flung spaces, folklore, even the odd book about an elusive, unwieldy, nine-legged, hundred-eyes beast that sang like a swan and burned words like paper when it spoke. Magic, it was called. Sorcery. Enchantment. It was everywhere just beyond eyesight; it was yours for the making of a wish. So he read, not quite believing, not knowing enough to disbelieve. Inevitably his thoughts would turn to the bell that tolled each day, exactly when the last burning shard of sunlight vanished beneath the waves.

The secret of the ghost bell has endured for centuries. Many of the locals believe it to be the sound of a ship that perished in a storm a long time ago, yet nobody knows for certain. Sometimes even strangers are drawn to Sealey Head to investigate the mystery, one of them being a dandy from the capital called Ridley Dow, another case of infection by the reading bug ( Sorry, he said penitently. It’s a book. I have no common sense around them. ). For Judd, the appeal of new reading material becomes irresistible and sensual:

The odd things about people who had many books was how they always wanted more. Judd knew that about himself: just the sight of Ridley Dow’s books unpacked and stacked in corners, on the desk and dresser, made him discontent and greedy. Here he was; there they were. Why were he and they not together somewhere private, they falling gently open under his fingers, he exploring their mysteries, they luring him, enthralling him, captivating him with every turn of phrase, every revealing page?

Judd is also attracted by the willful and sophisticated daughter of a rich merchant in town, Gwyneth Blair, for whom the passion of reading proved insufficient, so she started to write her own stories, many of them about the same mystery of the ghost bell. They were childhood friends together, but now they feel separated by social conventions and the worries of earning a living (in Judd’s case):

“Yes, I do remember. You talked about writing when we were children. You were so in love with reading that you imagined going that step further – writing your own story – must be the pinnacle of bliss.”
“Did I? I suppose I did think of it that way, then.”
“And now?
“ Now, it’s a hundred fits and starts, sputtering ink nibs, stray ends going nowhere – like being a spider, most likely, on a windy day, tendrils always sailing off”

The colourful cast is completed by three younger siblings and a meddlesome aunt in the Blair household, a couple of young local aristocrats with their own romantical entaglements named Raven and Daria Sproule and Miss Miranda Beryl of Landringham who comes to visit Lady Eglantyne, her dying aunt and owner of Aislinn House.

Speaking of Aislinn House, here is where the magical part of the novel soon concentrates, as the doors of the old and sprawling manor sometimes open to a parallel universe, a medieval realm with knights and princesses and a curse that has frozen every inhabitant into a meaningless Ritual, repeating every day the same tasks, the same gestures, the same conversations.

It’s all secrets, between lines, allusions in letters, hints in diaries. But for at least a couple of centuries, if not longer. People writing about stories their children invented, ghosts their servants or some lord in his cups saw. Doors open, they get a glimpse – but nobody sees the whole of it. Ever.

Princess Isabo seems to be the only one rebelling against the ancient curse of her hidden world ( I was thinking of Sleeping Beauty, but the inhabitants are not asleep, only enchanted). Only a servant girl named Emma seems to be able to communicate with Isabo, but she is afraid to cross over the treshhold between worlds. Emma’s mother is another memorable character in the book, a wood witch who lives in a tree, prefers the company of the birds and the bees to the one of her fellow men and, of course, loves to read books:

She could be anywhere on that sunny, genial day. The trees, maple, elm, birch, busy leafing out among the coastal pine after a weary winter, preened their leaves in the wind like birds flaunting their colors.

I hope I have said enough to tempt readers to give this modern fairytale a chance, without revealing too much about the actual plot and about the secret of the bell. There will be masked balls and romance under the moonlight, laughter and beauty, but also danger and evil sorcerers and :

A beautiful woman named Hydria, with a long and mysterious past, took up most of the pages. She sounded, Judd thought, like someone out of a very old ballad, the queen of a rich and magical realm accessible easily to anyone with a little imagination.

So, let your imagination soar, guided by the skillful pen of a master storyteller.

[aPriL does feral sometimes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ordinary and wealthy families mingle and earn a living in a small lovely village overlooking the ocean. Life moves slowly and smoothly in predictable rhythms - at least, it does for most of the people living there. A few of the inhabitants are aware that something is off in the small community. A few have seen things which they cannot talk about. Every night at sunset the sound of a mournful bell rings out - no one knows why or where it comes from, but it has rung through generations of births and deaths. People rarely even notice or question anymore about where or what it is, although some think it comes from a drowned ship, sunk beneath the waters.

The Cauleys run the Inn at Sealey Head, with servants occasionally helping with the cleaning and cooking, although lately they have not had very many guests coming.

The Blair family are merchants who own a fleet of ships and warehouses where they keep their goods to be sold.

The Sproules are local farming aristocrats who live in Sproule Manor.

At the Aislinn House, Lady Eglantyne resides. She has the oldest pedigree.

Then, a colorful stranger, a gentleman, arrives at the Inn. His name is Ridley Dow, a traveling scholar, who has come to find the bell. Judd Cauley, who has taken over the running of the Inn since his elderly father has lost his sight, couldn’t be more curious about this bell search. He is also very interested in the satchel of books Dow carries.

Judd is afflicted with a love of reading and he has read every book his family owns. Until Dow arrived, only his friend Gwyneth Blair shared his love of reading. Judd is in love with her as well. But she is beyond his reach in class and wealth. Fortunately, Dow is friendly and willing to share his books with Judd, and soon they find much in common.

Gwyneth’s family is eager to marry her to Raven Sproule, to her dismay. Fortunately, she is able to find excuses to avoid most of the ‘opportunities’ both families try to set up for the two to meet and converse. What she prefers to do with her time is write stories. Her younger siblings love her stories about the bell most of all.

Emma works at Aislinn house as a housemaid, but things are not well. Lady Eglantyne is dying. It is necessary to send for her heir, Miranda Beryl, a granddaughter of Lord Aislinn’s brother. Miranda has lived in Landringham, a nearby city, all of her life. Dr. Grantham asks Emma if her mother Hesper could possibly help him give Lady Eglantyne some ease. Hesper had left Aislinn House to go to live in a tree. She knows a great deal about woodland medicine and the doctor asks for Hesper’s help often. Emma agrees to find her mother, known locally as a ‘wood witch’, but she is also thinking about Ysabo, a mysterious princess, and wonders what will happen to Ysabo when Miss Beryl becomes the Lady of Aislinn House.

No one except Emma and Hesper knows about the magical world of Princess Ysabo, as far as they know. Sometimes, when they are going about their duties around the House, Emma will open a door to a closet, a bedroom, a pantry, but instead of walking into the expected room will find themselves looking across a mysterious threshold into a different world. It is where the Princess Ysabo lives. Ysabo is also startled to see Emma. Neither can explain what is happening or why, and neither dares to cross over into the other’s world.

Princess Ysabo’s universe appears to be older than the late middle ages time of Emma’s world. There are knights and castles where Ysabo lives. But there is something very wrong in Ysabo’s reality. She must perform rituals every day which appear to have no value, and if she refuses, she is punished. Worse, she has been engaged to a knight she does not know, and he will not permit her to speak or ask questions. After her betrothal, she realizes she does not even know her intended husband’s name. Her mother and grandmother do not know the name of her fiance, either; however, her mother and grandmother will not allow her to deviate in any ritual or refuse her marriage. Any change in any routine will mean a terrible disaster for their world. Nobody knows why.

Then, one day, Dow pushes past Emma when she has opened a door into Ysabo’s world. He crosses the threshold. For the first time in anyone’s memory, the bell rings in the morning….oh oh.

This is a charming story written in good, but simple, prose, but it a bit too sweet for my taste.It has a tone which reminded me somewhat of a light and short Jane Austen novel. But this is not Great Literature, or in my opinion, even an adult read as it is advertised. While a few of the characters undergo some violence, and there is a touch of romance, this book is like an innocent teen fairy tale which reminded me of early Disney films like Snow White and Sleeping Beauty. I would not recommend this to anyone who prefers thrillers, horror or mysteries.

I think it is a very nice dreamy fantasy I will never want to read again.

[Lightreads · Rating 3 out of 5]

A sweet little slip of a book about a house in a tiny seaside town, and pantry doors that open to the house in another world under a spell, and an innkeeper who loves books, and country romances, and a bell ringing every day at sunset that only the people who listen can hear.

Pretty. This book is partly about rituals – lighting candles, getting married to the proper person, a bell that rings at the same time every day – and how important it is to be aware of the rules you’re following. I read most of this book on a quiet Sunday, alone, doing laundry. The book would step into one of its recitations of quotidian magic, “light that lantern. Close the door, and lock it. Leave the key. Turn one page of the book at the top of the tower.” I would think, “sort the whites. Pour detergent. Normal, easy care, delicates.” McKillip always has a different take on magic, and this one is domestic, busy-handed, frightening if followed blindly but very powerful if done mindfully. It was a good day.

[Nicky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reviewed for The Bibliophibian.

Sealey Head is a small town, perched above a harbour, where people mostly go about their everyday lives — managing an inn, running a business, selling their wares — with the main magic being in the stories written by Gwyneth and the books read by Judd, childhood friends who have become somewhat estranged as they grew up and had more responsibilities. The strange thing, though it’s now so normal that inhabitants of the town think of it entirely normal, is that every day a mysterious bell sounds. They have no idea where the sound comes from or when it began, though there are a cluster of stories and assumptions around it.

In the big house owned by a local aristocrat, a servant called Emma knows magic does exist, because every so often, she opens a door in the house and sees another world, and a woman she’s never met in this world. Princess Isabo lives a life strictly confined by ritual: light this candle, move this sword, fill the goblets of certain men but not others… and don’t ask questions.

Into that world comes a scholar, Ridley Drow, to shake everything up and make people confront the magic in their midst. It feels like such a typical story for McKillip: it has all her hallmarks in the handling, in the love of books, in the way the magic is handled, in the prose, in the way people relate to each other. So if you enjoy McKillip’s work, you’ll probably enjoy this as well: I certainly did, from the shy reconnection between Gwyneth and Judd to the chattering good-heartedness of Daria Sproule to the daring of Princess Isabo, finally asking questions and breaking the ritual routine.

It all builds up very nicely, but the denouement stumbled a little, for me. After all the build-up, knowing there’s danger and that their friends are in trouble, Gwyneth and Judd rush to Aislinn House to help… only to be thwarted by the fact that no one can open a way into Isabo’s world. Instead of doing anything, they settle down to wait… and the climax of the story happens entirely without them. It feels like all the characters build towards that, but only Ridley and Isabo actually get to see it. It feels odd that they’re left out of the main plot, even though Gwyneth and Judd’s stories are completed in other personal ways.

Also, there are some things I just… missed somehow in the climax of the book — some things seemed to come out of nowhere for me. I didn’t have a clue about the significance of the boat, for instance — or rather, I did realise it was significant, but the reason for its significance just didn’t seem to have been telegraphed at all, to the point where it felt like a deus ex machina. This isn’t a first for me with McKillip’s writing, and sometimes it’s possible she’s just being too subtle for me.

Overall, despite those quibbles, I enjoyed the book a lot, and McKillip’s writing is gorgeous. It’s a great read all the same.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the eighth Patricia McKillip book I've read now, and the first since she passed away. She is my favorite author - though she doesn't necessarily fit in snuggly with the rest of my reading tastes (which get pretty weird, admittedly). There's no one else that makes me feel so peaceful and enchanted by such beautiful, subtle, magical storytelling. Reading a Patricia McKillip book just makes me feel like I've come home.

While this book is not my favorite of hers - In The Forests of Serre is still holding on to that spot - I do feel this would be a wonderful introduction to her writing style; the way she writes multiple perspectives and mysteries and how she somehow weaves all those threads back together in the end in a way that is just so satisfying. I'm so grateful she wrote so much during her life that I'll now be able to read and love over the course of my own life.

Rest easy, Patricia. I hope your paradise is every bit as beautiful as the worlds you created for us to enjoy while you were with us.

[Katri · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the best book I've yet read from Patricia A. McKillip, and I've loved all of her work that I've read. Somehow this enchanted me even better than any of the others. A lovely, magical atmosphere that permeates all of the book and the reader's consciousness. A fascinating story about a small and seemingly dull seaside village where a mysterious bell tolls every evening at sunset and where doors in the great manor open into other worlds at random. There are wonderful characters with personality. And there is writing that is as poetic, beautiful and lush as ever in McKillip's books but somehow more readable than ever before. In earlier books I've loved her writing but sometimes found it a little difficult to absorb in places, however, now it flowed from the page into my head with perfect ease without sacrificing in any of the beauty, lushness or poetry. A thoroughly recommended read for anyone who might possibly be appealed by this kind of book.

[Karina · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my favorite McKillip novels, second only to Tower at Stony Brook.

Imagine a small coastal town where inhabitants have always heard a bell toll the end of the day--a bell no one has seen. Although many have stopped noticing it and there are as many stories as to where the sound originates, there are a few who are determined to get to the bottom of this mystery: a stranger, new to town; a wood witch; and the merchant's daughter, who's imagination and stories keep returning to the bell.

And they discover that the one large manor house is a portal to a magical realm, one where an evil magician holds sway...a magician who is the ancestor of the stranger.

The story has many twists and turns that will keep you guessing, and has an interesting story within a story: the inner story being one of the merchant's daughters. But McKillip, with her usual flair for the enchanting yet multi-layered plot, keeps you entranced from word one. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who loves a good fairy tale or fantasy novel.

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

At heart this is a fairy tale about stories. Like Robin McKinley's work, this book is fantasy on the small and private level.

McKillip tells the story of a group of people (think Cranford) and the magic that is part of their lives. All the characters are well drawn and none of the characters is a cliche. In addition to the actual novel, one of the characters tells a story to her younger siblings. In fact, when this is first down, the reader feels the disappointment of that story breaking off. McKillip transports the reader to the room where the story is being read. She does this each time the character returns to the story.

[Kaven Hirning · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clay, low stakes, immersive and absolutely pure magic.
I found myself an insta fav fantasy author who delivers all the whimsy and 80s like fantasy splendor !!

[kaz.brekkers.future.wife · Rating 4 out of 5]

FOUR STARS

Wow this book was so unique. No plot, all vibes, but I loved it anyway.

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ignore the blurb on this one. (That’s a piece of advice particularly useful with McKillip, I think.) This is lovely: a quiet, almost pastoral fantasy - beautifully written - small in scale and perfect in scope. Somehow it’s both surprising and not; it certainly doesn’t follow any conventional beats, except in that trademark McKillip way, where her stories never end up where they seem to begin, and the blurb feels out of a different universe entirely, one where prose can’t quite capture the things that make this author who she is - while also constructed so well that I can’t say anything particularly shocked me, even as I savored every word.

This is an incredibly satisfying journey.

[Jael Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book! The trapped world within the castle and the fascinating cast of characters keeps you on the edge of your seat wanting to know what happens next. As always, so much happens in so few pages and I love her books so much for that. This was an amazing read and it is one I will definitely be reading again someday.

[Sean · Rating 3 out of 5]

Patricia A. McKillip has been recycling themes, characters, names and situations in her novels for years. This in itself is not a bad thing, as long as she still makes the story and characters come to life, and throws a different light on the themes and situations.

Almost every element in The Bell at Sealey Head is recycled, but it doesn't work because the whole thing is so terribly underwritten. The story is thin, the geography vague, the looming menace pale and unterrifying, the fantasy elements merely hinted at, the climax an anticlimax.

It is the people in the tale suffer who most from the paucity of words. I wanted to get to know several of them much better—Judd, the young innkeeper; his blind father, Dunagon; Gwyneth, a young writer of charming, overblown prose; Raven and Daria Sproule, who are happy and pleasant, but who don't know how to listen; Ridley Dow, the scholar who dresses like a dandy—but McKillip has contented herself with sketches and caricatures instead of characters.

Not every book an author writes can be a home run, but McKillip's editors should have taken one look at this and returned the manuscript with a note saying, "Charming ideas. Please flesh out."

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

A dreamy delight! The village of Sealey Head is haunted by the sound of a bell that tolls at sunset every day. But where is this bell, and why does it ring? The stories of the villagers, a castle in the distant past, and a strange magician are interwoven in this delicate retelling of Sleeping Beauty.

[Susana · Rating 5 out of 5]

A cozy fantastical mystery that left me guessing until the last pages.

[Celia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oy vey.

Alright, let's do what I liked first because it's a much shorter list. I liked the idea of a hidden world that influenced the "real" world. (Both worlds in this story are fantastical, albeit one more so than the other.)

Even though they were flat, and so I kind of hate to admit this, I did like the two main characters, Cauley and Gwyneth. I wish they had been developed more. They were both total bookworms and kept meeting up at the local bookshop and honestly, what could be more perfect? I liked them despite their lack of depth, maybe because my imagination filled in the missing pieces or at least allowed me to believe that there was more to them. The fact that I was willing to do that is to the author's credit.

These quotes surprised me with their insight (or just pleased the book-lover in me.)

"The odd thing about people who had many books was how they always wanted more."

"...a little man with great power, who would toy with lives just because he could..."

Now for what I didn't like. Ugh.

As I said before, all the characters were flat and the big reveal was predictable.

A good editor would have caught the strange jumps and contradictions, such as a character getting off a horse, but then saying something while still mounted.

Made-up or poorly chosen words were present: "Aunt Phoebe demanded fulminately of the chandelier..." Maybe "fulminately" is a word, but I have yet to find it in any dictionary. And even if you find it, is that really a good way of wording that? It's awkward at best.

The purple prose is real. Take this doozy: "Miss Beryl wore purple, the wine-dark shade visible just under the surface of the sea where the great kelp fronds grew closest to the light." Yes. Actual purple prose. You're welcome.

I've saved my biggest complaint for last. The outcome provides only benefits without any loss. It's not that the stakes are low; it's that there aren't any. No one loses anything by their heroism. No sacrifice is required. One of the characters even thinks as much! "Nothing had been lost, Ysabo realized slowly and with wonder..." And that is what made the whole book fall finally and utterly flat for me.

This is the second Patricia McKillip novel I've read and I wasn't that impressed with the first either. (Read my review of The Riddle-Master of Hed.) I doubt I will ever read another one of her books. There are just too many phenomenal books to waste my limited time on the mediocre.

2 stars.

[Olivia · Rating 5 out of 5]

{4.5 stars}

Half a star docked because the plot did not coalesce in the last few pages quite so immaculately or impressively as it does in some of McKillip's others. Plus -- and I know this is petty, but allow me my pettiness -- I maintain that Ysabo and Ridley had much more compelling romantic potential than Ridley and Miranda, so I was ever so slightly disappointed that that possibility was set up only to fall through.

Still, overall, I really, really loved this one. For some reason I was expecting to be underwhelmed by it, but it's actually made its way to the top of my McKillip hierarchy so far, alongside Forgotten Beasts and Stony Wood. The coastal setting was simultaneously so rich and so soothing, and the dynamic between all the characters was so relaxed and so wholesome. I can't wait to visit Sealey Head again.

[Elise · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pleasant exploration of magic in a small coastal town. Each day a bell is heard at sunset, although no one knows where the bell is. At the same time, a maid in Aislinn House sometimes opens doors and sees another young girl in the world across the threshold. When a magician arrives in Sealey Head, events are set in motion to solve both mysteries.

This is a light tale, but enjoyable. I chose it because the picture from the cover is featured in my calendar this year of paintings by K.Y. Craft.

[Emma Doucette · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think Patricia had fun with this one! A bit of a diversion from her other work but still a good read.

[Russell D · Rating 4 out of 5]

a very cozy and dreamlike fantasy. Patricia McKillip nails the pacing of her stories and manages to create worlds that are rich and interesting without being overwhelming. if you’re like me and want to explore some fantasy novels without needing to commit to a multi book series I’d really recommend this one

[Kimberly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'll be honest; I love McKillip's writing, but often find myself reading her work for the sheer beauty of the language, all the while a bit confused by the plot. However, The Bell at Sealey Headis a bit more straightforward than her work usually is, though the whole time I was reading it I kept asking myself "which myth is she using now?" Sealey Head is a small seaside town in an indeterminate time (though it feels a bit Victorian) and an indeterminate place (though it feels British). Gwyneth Blair is the bookish eldest daughter of the merchant Blair clan, Judd Cauley manages the town's only inn, and Emma is a maid at Aislinn house, where Lady Eglantyne lies close to death. When a mysterious stranger comes to town, all are caught up in a mystery involving the town's invisible bells, and the otherworld Emma sees behind the doors of Aislinn House.

As I expected, The Bell at Sealey Head is a lovely tale, wonderfully written, with touches of humor and romance. For such a short book, there are a multitude of characters and multiples\ points of view. As a writer myself, I related most easily to Gwyneth, who has written up her own version why the bell always rings at dusk. Yet each POV character is easy to relate to, the supporting characters are appealing and distinct, and if the villain(s?) are depicted in less detail, it's primarily because they enter so late in the game. While there's nothing I'd really call a false note here, I was left with questions at the end of the book, mostly involving the central mystery and the otherworld. (Why, for example, is Ysabo called a princess when she isn't a queen's daughter and performs menial work?) If you aren't the type who needs everything neatly tied up at the end, and you'd like a gentle introduction to McKillip's poetic writing, this may be the book for you.

[Wealhtheow · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book reminded me of Robin McKinley's Beauty: both feature young women in an unspecified past (resembling 18th-19th century Europe) who encounter a castle just a little more magic than it should be. Enchantment doesn't overwhelm either book; it peeks from around corners and from inside the buds of flowers.

Sarcastic Miss Gwyneth Blair is being courted, but she prefers the bookworm who runs the ramshackle inn. Meanwhile, serving girl Emma is worried about her friend, the princess Ysabo. She can only glimpse her from certain doorways, but the snatches she catches of Ysabo's world are bewildering and a little scary (think Gormenghast). And all their lives are punctuated by the tolling bell of Sealey Head, which no one has ever seen but everyone hears. When the scholarly Ridley Dow comes to town, investigating the bell, everything comes to a head.

This book is sweet, interesting, very well written, and involves a lovely old sort of magic.

[Grace · Rating 4 out of 5]

All of McKillip's books are brilliant, but for some reason this one drew me in less than some of her other recent stories. I was actually a little disappointed by the time I finished it. It's difficult to put my finger on exactly why. Perhaps because I'm more used to her more lyrical and poetic recent novels...the ones that feel like instead of reading, I'm diving down deep into a well of mystic ethereal storytelling. This book just didn't have the same immersive quality, and that disappointed me. Even her recent book set in modern times, Solstice Wood, had more of a feeling of excitement and energy than this book.

But still...a disappointing McKillip book is still better than 100 great books by other authors. The concept that surrounds the secret of the ringing bell at Sealey Head was really imaginative, I just felt she was a little off her usual game in this volume.

[Bibliophile · Rating 4 out of 5]

The doors of a crumbling manor open into another world that lives under an enchantment of ritual. The only connection between the two worlds is the bell that tolls at sunset every day, until a stranger comes to town, determined to find out what lies behind the mystery of the bell.

The Bell at Sealey Head is another one of Patricia McKillip’s dream-like fairy tales, and I liked it very much, particularly because there are so many book-obsessed characters in the novel, and the solution to the central mystery involves a book as well.

My one quibble is that I thought the resolution was a little too swift and most of the main characters were not involved in it at all. I think I would have preferred a narrative that focused on fewer characters, though I found all of them delightful (with special love for a charming three-year-old named Dulcie.)

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this a lot. The plot was less convoluted than usual, which is nice; I thought the setting, a small oceanside town, was nicely done; and I really liked the main romance (okay, maybe because it's between two appealingly bookish people). I thought McKillip handled nicely the interweaving of the stories, between present-day Sealey Head and the mysterious world inside Aislinn House. I did think she made the main characters a little passive at the end, just sitting there waiting to find out what would happen in the other world, which dimmed my enjoyment of the ending. But I'll definitely buy it in paperback, which I don't always do with McKillip.

[Amber Kozawick · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oh, I’m so disappointed.
My first McKillip was In The Forests of Serre, which was one of my favorite reads of all time. I had high hopes for this one, but nothing ever seemed to happen.
I don’t understand how this particular book is so highly rated. It was dull and slow, and I remained disconnected from the characters the entire time, without even a particularly exciting plot to fall into.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's nearly perfect. I adore it. Especially Judd and Gwyneth, whose friendship and romance is one that's actually worth aspiring to. But the whole thing is just beautiful. Lovely. Satisfying. I want to live in Sealey Head.