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The Knowing
Janey McEttrick is a Scottish-American musician descended from a long line of female singers. She lives near Asheville, North Carolina, where she plays in a jobbing rock band, and works part-time at a vintage record store. Thirty-something and spinning wheels she seems doomed to smoke and drink herself into an early grave, until one day she receives a mysterious journal – apparently from a long-lost Scottish ancestor, the Reverend Robert Kirk, a 17th Century minister obsessed with Fairy Lore. Assailed by supernatural forces, she is forced to act – to journey to Scotland to lay to rest the ghost of Kirk and to accept the double-edged gift she has inherited, the gift of Second Sight: the Knowing.
"A remarkable book about the perils of faery, the even greater perils of possessing the Second Sight - the Knowing of the title - and a more than surface account of the lore of the faery themselves. Kevan Manwaring is a skilful storyteller and his knowledge of the subject goes deep. This is no light heated, twee faerytale - as so many books about the subject prove to be - but a serious excursion into the Otherworld. It’s fast paced, inventive enough to hold the attention, and has a strong, believable set of characters - especially the heroine, who walks off the page again and again. For all those fascinated by faery, by the ancient and mysterious world of the Celts - this is for you. "
John Matthews: author Fairylands and The Secret Life of Elves and Fairies.
"A remarkable book about the perils of faery, the even greater perils of possessing the Second Sight - the Knowing of the title - and a more than surface account of the lore of the faery themselves. Kevan Manwaring is a skilful storyteller and his knowledge of the subject goes deep. This is no light heated, twee faerytale - as so many books about the subject prove to be - but a serious excursion into the Otherworld. It’s fast paced, inventive enough to hold the attention, and has a strong, believable set of characters - especially the heroine, who walks off the page again and again. For all those fascinated by faery, by the ancient and mysterious world of the Celts - this is for you. "
John Matthews: author Fairylands and The Secret Life of Elves and Fairies.
586 pages, ebook
First published March 20, 2017
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About the author
Kevan Manwaring
41 books28 followersKevan Manwaring is a prize-winning writer & lecturer in creative writing who lives on the ancient downs of Wiltshire. He is the author of over twenty books including The Windsmith Elegy series of Mythic Reality novels; Desiring Dragons, Oxfordshire Folk Tales, Northamptonshire Folk Tales, The Bardic Handbook, and Ballad Tales (ed.). He loves walking in other worlds, but sometimes he prefers to ride his Triumph motorbike.
Winner of the One Giant Write SF Novel Competition
Winner of the One Giant Write SF Novel Competition
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
April 6, 2017
One of the better urban fantasies out there taking on the subject of traditional fairies in the modern world, 'The Knowing' stands apart from most fiction because of the amount of research that obviously went into it. The story is built on the actual history of Reverend Robert Kirk and his 17th century book 'The Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns, and Fairies' but takes that history and then conjectures, what if? What if everything he wrote was true? What if Kirk actually was taken by the fairies, as folklore says he was? What if he is still their prisoner? And then it builds it's own story from there, creating a tale of one of Kirk's descendants, her own tragedy and struggles, and her own possibly inevitable entanglement with Fairy. Its hard not to get pulled into the tale, and I found myself quickly wanting to know what would happen to Janey, the main character, if she'd overcome her own personal challenges, if she'd win out in the end. There are a few minor things an American reader might take issue with, points where its clear that the book, set mostly in America, wasn't written by someone intimately familiar with the culture, but the story is strong enough that I think that can be overlooked. The characters are likable and realistically flawed, quirky without being caricatures, and the fairies are true-to-folklore scary. Like any good fairy-story The Knowing is ultimately about choices, and I found myself rooting for Janey to make the right ones to triumph in the end and win (or win back, perhaps?) the things she loved most.
April 12, 2017
The Knowing by Kevan Manwaring is slotted into the Paranormal & Urban Fantasy category on Amazon, but I think it has a much wider appeal than that. This tale manages to span centuries, continents, and realms while remaining eminently readable. On the surface it's the story of a woman coming to terms with her inherited Second Sight ability and the losses she has faced in life. But beneath that level lurks the age-old folklore of Scotland and the Appalachians, sister lands, and the possibility that there's more to existence than just those things our scientific instruments can measure.
Manwaring's novel feels true in the way that certain stories do, as if the author hadn't written it so much as discovered it, already complete and ready to be revealed. I always enjoy any book that portrays the Fey as the crafty, dangerous being they are; no sparkly Victorian winged flowers here. I won't give away the long series of twists, turns, and surprises this tale offers, except to say that humans have always had a tendency to believe what they want to about other kinds of beings, and that tends to end badly much of the time. Thankfully, the heroine of this story learns better very quickly.
The author is a talented British storyteller; bits of British speech and idiom creep in throughout the tale even though the main characters (the human ones, anyway) are American. Fortunately, this just adds to the overall charm of the work.
Like the Fey and the plot, the e-book itself is full of cunning entanglements. The author has managed to put together a multi-layered reading experience that drifts between times and places but still flows and feels cohesive. Though Manwaring offers the reader the option of plowing through the main narrative first and then reading the secondary sections, I strongly recommend following each embedded link as you come to it, then returning to the larger story where you left off. You'll be richly rewarded.
Manwaring's novel feels true in the way that certain stories do, as if the author hadn't written it so much as discovered it, already complete and ready to be revealed. I always enjoy any book that portrays the Fey as the crafty, dangerous being they are; no sparkly Victorian winged flowers here. I won't give away the long series of twists, turns, and surprises this tale offers, except to say that humans have always had a tendency to believe what they want to about other kinds of beings, and that tends to end badly much of the time. Thankfully, the heroine of this story learns better very quickly.
The author is a talented British storyteller; bits of British speech and idiom creep in throughout the tale even though the main characters (the human ones, anyway) are American. Fortunately, this just adds to the overall charm of the work.
Like the Fey and the plot, the e-book itself is full of cunning entanglements. The author has managed to put together a multi-layered reading experience that drifts between times and places but still flows and feels cohesive. Though Manwaring offers the reader the option of plowing through the main narrative first and then reading the secondary sections, I strongly recommend following each embedded link as you come to it, then returning to the larger story where you left off. You'll be richly rewarded.
April 23, 2017
It is rare to find a book that handles multiple, compelling narratives and handles them well but The Knowing is just such a book.
The use of links within the ebook text to jump between narratives gives a real sense of the narratives being separate and ongoing outside what is written, while not detracting from the flow of the novel itself. It's an interesting use of the technology that works really well in what it sets out to do: to give the reader the choice of reading the initially hidden narratives or to allow them to read the main narrative and then the related narratives afterwards. I feel the choice of the reader mirrors Janey's choice to read Kirk's Journal or not; it gives the reader a little taste of what Janey herself faces when she receives her ancestor's contraband form of communication.
Kevan Manwaring has created a rich setting - or, rather, settings - for his novel, not only in the detailed and imaginative depiction of Ffayrie itself but also the way he has painted the lives in the past of the McEttrick women. The characters, too, are drawn in great detail and feel very real. Janey is a compelling central character with her struggle to come to terms with her gift of The Knowing, the past tragedies she has suffered and her journey to save her ancestor from Ffayrie. She is far from perfect but is all the more sympathetic for it. The supporting cast of characters are equally compelling in their own ways and I am sure that anyone who reads The Knowing will finish it with a favourite character (or characters) with whom they really clicked.
The Knowing is so much more than a mere Ffayrie tale, though. It's clear to see the amount of research and world building that has been done to create this rich narrative: the knowledge of folk songs and the collectors of the late 19th/early 20th century as seen in Molly's side narrative; the turns of phrase and historical details that have come about through research relating to Robert Kirk; the great amount of creativity and folkloric knowledge that has gone into the creation of the world of Ffayrie itself. The Knowing skillfully navigates the line between the fantastical, the historical and the modern day that leaves the reader knowing that they are all connected.
In particular, it was a joy to read the small vignettes of Janey's ancestors; there is a very strong theme of women's history and the relationships (good and bad) between mothers and daughters down the mitocondrial line in The Knowing. The thread of the hidden song, in particular, gives a glimpse of what may have been lost in times past when women's history was not written down. Kevan Manwaring hits just the right notes in the writing of the relationships between the McEttrick women and the use of belongings as the connection back to the McEttrick women's narratives works really well as a device.
The Knowing is a compelling read; it weaves its spell in such a skillful way that it is as difficult to put down as it would be to defy the Ffayrie Queen herself.
The use of links within the ebook text to jump between narratives gives a real sense of the narratives being separate and ongoing outside what is written, while not detracting from the flow of the novel itself. It's an interesting use of the technology that works really well in what it sets out to do: to give the reader the choice of reading the initially hidden narratives or to allow them to read the main narrative and then the related narratives afterwards. I feel the choice of the reader mirrors Janey's choice to read Kirk's Journal or not; it gives the reader a little taste of what Janey herself faces when she receives her ancestor's contraband form of communication.
Kevan Manwaring has created a rich setting - or, rather, settings - for his novel, not only in the detailed and imaginative depiction of Ffayrie itself but also the way he has painted the lives in the past of the McEttrick women. The characters, too, are drawn in great detail and feel very real. Janey is a compelling central character with her struggle to come to terms with her gift of The Knowing, the past tragedies she has suffered and her journey to save her ancestor from Ffayrie. She is far from perfect but is all the more sympathetic for it. The supporting cast of characters are equally compelling in their own ways and I am sure that anyone who reads The Knowing will finish it with a favourite character (or characters) with whom they really clicked.
The Knowing is so much more than a mere Ffayrie tale, though. It's clear to see the amount of research and world building that has been done to create this rich narrative: the knowledge of folk songs and the collectors of the late 19th/early 20th century as seen in Molly's side narrative; the turns of phrase and historical details that have come about through research relating to Robert Kirk; the great amount of creativity and folkloric knowledge that has gone into the creation of the world of Ffayrie itself. The Knowing skillfully navigates the line between the fantastical, the historical and the modern day that leaves the reader knowing that they are all connected.
In particular, it was a joy to read the small vignettes of Janey's ancestors; there is a very strong theme of women's history and the relationships (good and bad) between mothers and daughters down the mitocondrial line in The Knowing. The thread of the hidden song, in particular, gives a glimpse of what may have been lost in times past when women's history was not written down. Kevan Manwaring hits just the right notes in the writing of the relationships between the McEttrick women and the use of belongings as the connection back to the McEttrick women's narratives works really well as a device.
The Knowing is a compelling read; it weaves its spell in such a skillful way that it is as difficult to put down as it would be to defy the Ffayrie Queen herself.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews