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The Night Field
A magnificent, moving ecological fable: welcome to The Real, where Pyn-Poi's people live in harmony with nature - until a brown fog threatens their whole world.
Pyn-Poi's mother Marak wants her to grow up to be the matriarch of the tribe, learning how to cook, to make medicines, how to care for everyone, but Pyn-Poi would rather be out among the trees like her father Sook-Sook, learning how persuade tree roots into bridges, to feel when shoots are too crowded, when drooping leaves need attention.
Then something starts going wrong in The Real: when the rains come, instead of nourishment, they bring a stinking brown fog that's poisoning people and plants alike. Pyn-Poi is the treewoman now: it's her job. Their only chance is for her to climb to the land beyond the Wall, where the Ancestors live, to plead for their intercession
Pyn-Poi never expected to find a whole new world up there, with people who are very different from her own family and friends - a land where they are killing nature, and that's killing The Real.
The trees have a job for Pyn-Poi, and to succeed, she is going to have to be brave and strong and true - no matter what.
Pyn-Poi's mother Marak wants her to grow up to be the matriarch of the tribe, learning how to cook, to make medicines, how to care for everyone, but Pyn-Poi would rather be out among the trees like her father Sook-Sook, learning how persuade tree roots into bridges, to feel when shoots are too crowded, when drooping leaves need attention.
Then something starts going wrong in The Real: when the rains come, instead of nourishment, they bring a stinking brown fog that's poisoning people and plants alike. Pyn-Poi is the treewoman now: it's her job. Their only chance is for her to climb to the land beyond the Wall, where the Ancestors live, to plead for their intercession
Pyn-Poi never expected to find a whole new world up there, with people who are very different from her own family and friends - a land where they are killing nature, and that's killing The Real.
The trees have a job for Pyn-Poi, and to succeed, she is going to have to be brave and strong and true - no matter what.
- GenresFantasy
346 pages, Hardcover
First published April 18, 2023
10 people are currently reading
202 people want to read
About the author
Donna Glee Williams
9 books12 followersDonna Glee Williams is a poet and writer of literary fantasy and science fiction. She was born in Mexico, the daughter of a Kentucky farm-girl and a Texas Aggie large-animal veterinarian. She's been a lot of places; now she makes her home in the mountains of western North Carolina, but the place she lived the longest and still calls home is New Orleans. These days, she earns her daily bread by writing and helping other writers bring their creative visions to light, but in the past she's done the dance as turnabout crew (aka, “maid”) on a schooner, as a librarian, as an environmental activist, as a registered nurse , as a teacher and seminar leader, and for a long stint as a professional student. The craft societies of both The Braided Path and Dreamers owe a lot to the time she's spent hanging out in villages in Mexico, Spain, Italy, Israel, Turkey, India, and Pakistan. As a finalist in the 2015 Roswell Awards for Short Science Fiction, her short story "Saving Seeds" was performed in Hollywood by Jasika Nicole. Her graceful speculative fiction has been recognized by Honorable Mentions from both the Writers of the Future competition and Gardner Dozois's Best of the Year collection.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
July 18, 2023
3.5! Pyn-Poi’s story was such an interesting read. Reminded me of Moana because she is expected to be there for her tribe but her heart wants more. I really enjoyed the ecological aspect and the importance of trees and just nature itself.
I received this ARC and am leaving this review voluntarily, all thoughts/opinions above are my own.
I received this ARC and am leaving this review voluntarily, all thoughts/opinions above are my own.
April 9, 2024
Title: DNF Review: "The Night Field" by Donna Glee Williams
Rating: 2.5/5 stars
"The Night Field" presents an intriguing ecological fable where Pyn-Poi must confront a toxic threat endangering her world. While the premise held promise, the execution fell short for me.
Despite the engaging premise of cultural and environmental conflict, the pacing lagged, and the characters lacked depth. The heavy-handed ecological themes hindered my connection to Pyn-Poi's journey.
Overall, "The Night Field" has potential for readers interested in nature-focused narratives, but it didn't captivate me enough to finish
Rating: 2.5/5 stars
"The Night Field" presents an intriguing ecological fable where Pyn-Poi must confront a toxic threat endangering her world. While the premise held promise, the execution fell short for me.
Despite the engaging premise of cultural and environmental conflict, the pacing lagged, and the characters lacked depth. The heavy-handed ecological themes hindered my connection to Pyn-Poi's journey.
Overall, "The Night Field" has potential for readers interested in nature-focused narratives, but it didn't captivate me enough to finish
January 4, 2024
Edit January 2024
My thanks to Quercus Audio for a review copy via NetGalley of the unabridged audiobook edition of ‘The Night Field’ by Donna Glee Williams. It is narrated by Debra Michaels.
I had read the print edition of this novel in July 2023 and was delighted to learn that an audiobook edition had been released and used this as an opportunity to reread.
This was my first experience of a novel narrated by Debra Michaels. I felt that her reading was excellent. Her voice was warm and rich. I felt she especially brought Pyn-Poi and the Real vividly to life and this subtly contrasted with those living beyond the Wall. It reminded me what an astonishing novel this was.
Original review July 2023
My thanks to the publishers for a review copy via NetGalley of ‘The Night Field’ by Donna Glee Williams. I was invited to take part in their Publication Day social media blast.
This novel is a beautifully constructed fable, set outside known time and space, that focuses upon the destruction of the environment and humankind’s relationship with nature; contrasting those peoples that honour the Earth with an authoritarian society that exploits and damages it.
In the Real the clans of the People live in harmony with nature until a creeping threat imperils their whole world as the annual rainfalls bring with them a noxious stench that begins to poison people, animals, insects, and plants alike.
The novel’s young protagonist, Pyn-Poi, feels a strong empathy with the trees, having learned from her father how to communicate with them. The distressed trees, who have their own short chapters, reach out to Pyn-Poi and urge her to climb to the land beyond the Wall, where it is believed that the Ancestors live and to seek their help.
Yet what she discovers there is nothing like anything that she could have imagined, a world and people very different to her own. Will she discover what is killing The Real? No further details to avoid spoilers.
Donna Glee Williams moves smoothly between a wide number of points of view, exploring Pyn-Poi’s life before and after her ascent of the Wall. These include a variety of people that she encounters in the town and later on the Farm, where all ‘tractees’ are forced to pick the white bolls of fibre, clearly referencing cotton fields. As noted above even the Trees that have sent her on this quest contribute to the narrative.
I loved the descriptive language used by Pyn-Poi; including of bees as whizzwings, biting insects as nibblers, and the vicious guard dogs of the Farm as fang-foes, though as she becomes used to her new life her language begins to change and she just refers to these as dogs and insects.
In her Acknowledgments Williams highlights the serious nonfictional issues that had inspired her to write ‘The Night Field’. I am very drawn to novels that feature nature, the environment, and trees, so this environmental fable proved a good fit.
Overall, I found ‘The Night Field’ powerful and moving and applaud Donna Glee Williams’ skill in creating such a memorable novel and providing a vehicle for Pyn-Poi’s story.
My thanks to Quercus Audio for a review copy via NetGalley of the unabridged audiobook edition of ‘The Night Field’ by Donna Glee Williams. It is narrated by Debra Michaels.
I had read the print edition of this novel in July 2023 and was delighted to learn that an audiobook edition had been released and used this as an opportunity to reread.
This was my first experience of a novel narrated by Debra Michaels. I felt that her reading was excellent. Her voice was warm and rich. I felt she especially brought Pyn-Poi and the Real vividly to life and this subtly contrasted with those living beyond the Wall. It reminded me what an astonishing novel this was.
Original review July 2023
My thanks to the publishers for a review copy via NetGalley of ‘The Night Field’ by Donna Glee Williams. I was invited to take part in their Publication Day social media blast.
This novel is a beautifully constructed fable, set outside known time and space, that focuses upon the destruction of the environment and humankind’s relationship with nature; contrasting those peoples that honour the Earth with an authoritarian society that exploits and damages it.
In the Real the clans of the People live in harmony with nature until a creeping threat imperils their whole world as the annual rainfalls bring with them a noxious stench that begins to poison people, animals, insects, and plants alike.
The novel’s young protagonist, Pyn-Poi, feels a strong empathy with the trees, having learned from her father how to communicate with them. The distressed trees, who have their own short chapters, reach out to Pyn-Poi and urge her to climb to the land beyond the Wall, where it is believed that the Ancestors live and to seek their help.
Yet what she discovers there is nothing like anything that she could have imagined, a world and people very different to her own. Will she discover what is killing The Real? No further details to avoid spoilers.
Donna Glee Williams moves smoothly between a wide number of points of view, exploring Pyn-Poi’s life before and after her ascent of the Wall. These include a variety of people that she encounters in the town and later on the Farm, where all ‘tractees’ are forced to pick the white bolls of fibre, clearly referencing cotton fields. As noted above even the Trees that have sent her on this quest contribute to the narrative.
I loved the descriptive language used by Pyn-Poi; including of bees as whizzwings, biting insects as nibblers, and the vicious guard dogs of the Farm as fang-foes, though as she becomes used to her new life her language begins to change and she just refers to these as dogs and insects.
In her Acknowledgments Williams highlights the serious nonfictional issues that had inspired her to write ‘The Night Field’. I am very drawn to novels that feature nature, the environment, and trees, so this environmental fable proved a good fit.
Overall, I found ‘The Night Field’ powerful and moving and applaud Donna Glee Williams’ skill in creating such a memorable novel and providing a vehicle for Pyn-Poi’s story.
July 21, 2023
I enjoyed the overall ecological message of the book and how it forced me to think about nature in our "real" world. I thought the author did a great job with the different viewpoints, especially how Pyn-Poi's worldview was so different to those around her.
Thank you to NetGalley for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review!
Thank you to NetGalley for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review!
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June 6, 2024i read this at the boston public library, sitting in the lovely courtyard to escape the heat from the broken AC inside
i found this book to be quite lovely and heartwarming, generally a good read. i took some issue with parts of it—the mysticism and naivety attributed to the indigenous community, etc. i wouldn’t necessarily recommend most of my friends to read jt, but i liked it well enough
April 16, 2024
Overall, it was a very disheartening read. You lose faith in humanity in how they treat each other and the world around them. An ecological fable is a good description and as someone who enjoys nature it was very poignant and made you really feel for the souls of the trees.
July 14, 2023
3.5/5 Stars
Big thanks to Hachette Book Group/Mobius and NetGalley for providing the ARC for this book in exchange for an honest review!
Big thanks to Hachette Book Group/Mobius and NetGalley for providing the ARC for this book in exchange for an honest review!
September 11, 2025
The Night Field is a beautiful, evocative story of contrasts: between the green, lush world of the Real where everything is connected, and the dry, barren world of the Up, with its farms and its abominations, and its Stink, and where the connections have gone so wrong; between the culture and worldview of the People, who see and literally feel those connections and live to strengthen and feed them, and the disconnected, shortsighted worldview of those in the Up, who live only to survive, and to serve themselves and their masters; between a world of plenty and a world of life-and-death struggle. Author Donna Glee Williams weaves the layers of this tale between the two extremes with a deft hand, pulling the reader further in with each page until it’s impossible to put down.
The story is told in simple language, using an easy-to-read style. But this is no simple fable. Instead, it’s multilayered, complex, and thought-provoking. At its heart, this is a tale of shocking environmental change. It shows us what we could have, then demonstrates with stark realism how our actions in our own Real World are affecting that paradise. It was heartbreaking to see effects of the Stink on Pyn-Poi’s world, and to know it’s also happening in my own. The Night Field is a wake-up call to us, a poetic plea to open our eyes to at least one aspect of unforeseen consequences of human actions on the larger world. And the solution it offers is beautiful, evocative, moving, and oh-so simple.
Vivid descriptions of place and scene brought the story alive, as did the depth of each character. The story is told from multiple points of view, although Pyn-Poi is the main voice we hear. Each individual scene is told from a first-person POV, as though we are seeing through each character’s eyes and can even more clearly see the contrasts in understandings, how two people can look at the same thing and see very different views. Each scene is “titled” with the POV character’s name, so we know who’s speaking. There’s no confusion. In fact, it enriched the tale, gave it even greater depth, and served the overall message of the story better than it would have from a single perspective. Brilliantly done.
Beautifully told and deeply evocative, The Night Field’s message will linger with me for a long time. I cannot recommend it enough.
The story is told in simple language, using an easy-to-read style. But this is no simple fable. Instead, it’s multilayered, complex, and thought-provoking. At its heart, this is a tale of shocking environmental change. It shows us what we could have, then demonstrates with stark realism how our actions in our own Real World are affecting that paradise. It was heartbreaking to see effects of the Stink on Pyn-Poi’s world, and to know it’s also happening in my own. The Night Field is a wake-up call to us, a poetic plea to open our eyes to at least one aspect of unforeseen consequences of human actions on the larger world. And the solution it offers is beautiful, evocative, moving, and oh-so simple.
Vivid descriptions of place and scene brought the story alive, as did the depth of each character. The story is told from multiple points of view, although Pyn-Poi is the main voice we hear. Each individual scene is told from a first-person POV, as though we are seeing through each character’s eyes and can even more clearly see the contrasts in understandings, how two people can look at the same thing and see very different views. Each scene is “titled” with the POV character’s name, so we know who’s speaking. There’s no confusion. In fact, it enriched the tale, gave it even greater depth, and served the overall message of the story better than it would have from a single perspective. Brilliantly done.
Beautifully told and deeply evocative, The Night Field’s message will linger with me for a long time. I cannot recommend it enough.
January 2, 2025
Read it all today while recovering from last night's farewell. Even as I was finishing it, I was working over in my mind how I was going to explain exactly why I liked this book, even when I didn't really like the out of order storytelling, and the pacing in the middle flagged a bit. I had to resist a lot of cultural reflexes to question whether this was "noble savage" or "utopian" narrative, but I don't think it is. I think those labels would unnecessarily ignore the metaphorical work the author is trying to accomplish.
This novel serves me a thoughtful reminder that the possibilities and futures open to our species are often hidden when the solutions are inconvenient for those who seek to extract wealth. We have dismissed the idea that there are alternatives where we don't aggressively harm nature in our desire to live comfortably on this planet. The idea of living in harmony or caring for nature is sneered at openly and deemed unworthy for thought, but only because we have been denied narratives or explorations of reasonable alternatives.
This book has magic, and I also seriously take issue with the ending (spoiler to follow) that the methods that are acknowledged to produce less overall crop are somehow making more money for the bosses, so they are happy to switch over. That happened too neatly in a few sentences at the end, and I sort of wish the outcomes had been less "happily ever after" in a story about slavery and torture.
But the uniqueness of what is being attempted, and the fact that the ideas are at least grounded in reality, brings reminders of learning history in school where colonization tried to replace traditional farming and utterly failed, and created a need for fertilizers and so on, often for ideological reasons and not reasons tied to better outcomes, and I am reminded that we have stopped dreaming things can be better than they are. There is a real discussion to be had about this, not just magical wishing. The System is quite real, and quite Other, and we must speak about these things frankly and not as immovable laws of nature.
This novel serves me a thoughtful reminder that the possibilities and futures open to our species are often hidden when the solutions are inconvenient for those who seek to extract wealth. We have dismissed the idea that there are alternatives where we don't aggressively harm nature in our desire to live comfortably on this planet. The idea of living in harmony or caring for nature is sneered at openly and deemed unworthy for thought, but only because we have been denied narratives or explorations of reasonable alternatives.
This book has magic, and I also seriously take issue with the ending (spoiler to follow) that the methods that are acknowledged to produce less overall crop are somehow making more money for the bosses, so they are happy to switch over. That happened too neatly in a few sentences at the end, and I sort of wish the outcomes had been less "happily ever after" in a story about slavery and torture.
But the uniqueness of what is being attempted, and the fact that the ideas are at least grounded in reality, brings reminders of learning history in school where colonization tried to replace traditional farming and utterly failed, and created a need for fertilizers and so on, often for ideological reasons and not reasons tied to better outcomes, and I am reminded that we have stopped dreaming things can be better than they are. There is a real discussion to be had about this, not just magical wishing. The System is quite real, and quite Other, and we must speak about these things frankly and not as immovable laws of nature.
August 14, 2024
There was a lot in this book that I loved. Even before she left her home to try to save it, Pyn-Poi struggled with her assigned role. She was born to be a tree woman but was expected to become a mother. I always enjoy stories where a person fights to be who they are, despite the conflict and outrage this might cause.
Once she started her journey to save her people we had a classic outsiders view. That can be so useful for looking at the way of society is run and questioning it.
Unfortunately, the ecological messaging got in the way of the story sometimes. Wonderful in some places and heavy-handed and slow in others.
Still, well worth reading. Definitely makes me want to spend more time in the woods listening to the trees.
Once she started her journey to save her people we had a classic outsiders view. That can be so useful for looking at the way of society is run and questioning it.
Unfortunately, the ecological messaging got in the way of the story sometimes. Wonderful in some places and heavy-handed and slow in others.
Still, well worth reading. Definitely makes me want to spend more time in the woods listening to the trees.
October 13, 2023
Immediately engaging and stimulating to imagine a society where every thing in the environment has a valued part in daily life, including all ages and relationships of humans. I enjoyed wondering if i could cultivate the capability to communicate and interact with other species and humans with my mind. The story moved fast and, although scenes at times felt rough and discouraging, the author offered a picture of strength and recovery which looked to me like an invitation to practice the care of the earth and its people better than we have been so far.
March 7, 2024
I was so unsure about this book so far into reading it. I think the format of jumping back in forth in time was distracting - I think Pyn-Poi’s story would sing clearer in chronological order. There’s so much that she’s confused about, it takes real work for the reader to stay with her through the jumps. Beyond that, this is a lovely, heart-breaking, and devouring story. This one will stay with me a long time.
4stars, and I’m an especially tough critic. I can’t wait to read this again knowing what I do now.
4stars, and I’m an especially tough critic. I can’t wait to read this again knowing what I do now.
November 27, 2023
I enjoyed this story, the story was interesting and the characters were engaging.
I was swept away whilst being immersed in the story.
Many thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for gifting me this arc in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.
I was swept away whilst being immersed in the story.
Many thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for gifting me this arc in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.
February 26, 2025
Absolutely moving. Pyn-Poi, the People, and the Real deserve so much better than what the others in the world give them.
April 11, 2024
Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this Audiobook for review.
To be perfectly honest, for most of this book, I had no clue what was going on. The time- and perspective shifts were hard to follow in the audio format, though I do believe that that was indeed the main problem here. Still, I felt like this book explained particularly few things about the world that it built up.
I did like the ecological perspective that this narrative focused on, even though I wasn't expecting it...and it did end up feeling a little...forced? Not the best word, but it's the best one coming to mind right now.
I think the many changes in perspective, while aiming to show the inner workings of the characters better, only made them feel flatter, more single-minded than they would have if we didn't get to hear them ramble on about being mad that Pyn-Poi was doing this and that for the third time.
All in all, it was okay, but it's not gonna enter my favorites, not even close.
To be perfectly honest, for most of this book, I had no clue what was going on. The time- and perspective shifts were hard to follow in the audio format, though I do believe that that was indeed the main problem here. Still, I felt like this book explained particularly few things about the world that it built up.
I did like the ecological perspective that this narrative focused on, even though I wasn't expecting it...and it did end up feeling a little...forced? Not the best word, but it's the best one coming to mind right now.
I think the many changes in perspective, while aiming to show the inner workings of the characters better, only made them feel flatter, more single-minded than they would have if we didn't get to hear them ramble on about being mad that Pyn-Poi was doing this and that for the third time.
All in all, it was okay, but it's not gonna enter my favorites, not even close.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews