Oldies But Goodies {Put This One on Your TBR List} The Hazel Wood Series by Melissa Albert by Karen S. Wiesner

 

Oldies But Goodies {Put This One on Your TBR List}

The Hazel Wood Series by Melissa Albert

by Karen S. Wiesner 

  Beware spoilers! 

I was looking for a Christmas tale, similar to "A Christmas Carol", one afternoon at the end of 2025. The audiobook for The Hazel Wood came up, though I have no idea why. As far as I could tell at any point while listening to it, there was nothing vaguely Christmas-y about it. In fact, this very sinister tale is far from feel-good, inspirational, or even hopeful. Instead, The Hazel Wood is a dark, truly noir fantasy series. Rebecca Soler narrated all of these stories. Her voice absolutely bleeds the bitchy, always-angry teenage girl persona that fits this series perfectly (she did a good job with all the other unique voices as well). 

The Hazel Wood, Book 1, was published in 2019, the first offering by former managing editor at Barnes and Noble Melissa Albert. Seventeen-year-old Alice and her mother Ella have always lived their lives on the road, running away from the "bad luck" that's constantly hounding them. Alice knows her grandmother Althea authored a cult-classic book of pitch-black fairytales, and she knows the old woman died at her estate, the Hazel Wood, a place she's never been to. The one time her mom caught her trying to read the elusive book, little Alice had had it yanked away from her. When Ella disappears, the only clue to where she's gone is the message she left Alice: "Stay away from the Hazel Wood." A classmate, Ellery Finch, is a die-hard fan of her grandmother's work. He also seems to have a bit of a crush on Alice. But what does she really know about him? Despite that she isn't sure she can trust him, Alice has no one else to help her track down her mom. Where she and Finch are led is insane, even unbelievable. Who was her grandmother? For that matter, who was her mom and who is she? 

The basic story of a teenager who doesn't fit in seemingly anywhere, then something happens to make him or her realize the world they know is nothing like they've always believed has been done before, and very often (in the 2000s, many such titles and series were released--The Caster Series and The Mortal Instrumentals are two very similar to The Hazel Wood…but there are others). 

  Both The Hazel Wood and The Night Country audiobooks came with the bonus novella set in the same world called "The Boy Who Didn't Come Home" (first published in paperback with 38 pages on January 7, 2020),  narrated by James Fouhey. In this, we're given Finch's side of the story following the events of Book 1, before Book 2 begins. The Night Country is the sequel, published in 2021, where Alice and Finch delve even deeper into her grandmother's dark legacy, and Alice has to confront that maybe there's no such thing as a happily-ever-after, let alone an unmagical life, for her. There was a beautiful, unexpected romance in this story. Additionally, the events moved toward a wrap-up that I found surprisingly perfect. I honestly had no clue how this sequence could tie up in a way that could be considered satisfactory, but the author did manage to pull off quite a compelling resolution. 

  These two books hinge on really knowing the 12 anti-fairytales that are included in Althea Proserpine's collection of Hinterland tales. Sure, Finch or Ella or other characters often retell portions from the collected work of Alice's grandmother's stories for her, but it's just not the same. Not having read all of these stories in advance was a huge hindrance to me in fully understanding Books 1 and 2. Apparently, I wasn't the only reader who felt that way. In 2023, we finally got them in Tales from the Hinterland, which includes all of Althea Proserpine's disturbing stories. Since all three are now available to us (thankfully I discovered the series long after all the offerings were released), I strongly urge reading this collection first before starting Book 1. Trust me, it'll all make much more sense that way. I also want to comment that it's difficult to write a story when you've locked yourself in with something else you wrote previously. Albert had to do it 12 times! Kudos!

If you're looking for the polar opposite of a fairytale, something unusual, unexpected, and unsettling, this series is definitely for you. Be advised that this isn't a Christmas story outside of the cold, wintery, chilling aspects, though there are plenty of Krampus-style demons running amok here if you find yourself in the mood to be menaced. 

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 150 titles and 16 series.

Visit her website and blog here: https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/

and https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/karens-quill-blog

Visit her publisher here: https://www.writers-exchange.com/Karen-Wiesner/

The Hazel Wood

Noticing Karen has scheduled a review of Melissa Albert's THE HAZEL WOOD for next week, I decided to post my review of it now (adapted from one first published in my May 2018 newsletter). Not having read hers yet, of course, I look forward to her reaction to the book.

In an interview around the time of the novel's publication, Albert reveals that it was inspired not only by the concept of a multiverse and motifs from classic fairy tales but also noir detective fiction:

Her Own Spin on the Traditional Fairy Tale

THE HAZEL WOOD is a mind-blowing entry in my favorite fantasy subgenre, portal fantasy. Seventeen-year-old Alice’s grandmother, Althea Proserpine, whom she has never met, wrote one collection of fairy tales that became a cult classic, then withdrew from the world to her estate, the Hazel Wood (named after a line in a poem by Yeats). Ella, Alice’s mother, never talks about Althea or the father of whom Alice knows nothing. Ella and Alice have kept constantly on the move, fleeing the bad luck that seems to plague them and everyone around them. Althea's book, TALES FROM THE HINTERLAND, is almost impossible to find; Alice got a brief glimpse of a copy before her mother took it from her. At the age of six, Alice was temporarily abducted by a stranger who claimed to come from the her grandmother. The article linked above refers to "the imperfect mother-daughter dynamic between Alice and Ella" the author has created. Albert herself asserts "families free of dysfunction don’t exist." After receiving word of Althea’s death, Ella marries a prosperous man with a teenage daughter. When the novel begins, Alice is attending an exclusive school. She doesn't get along with her stepsister and stepfather, but she has a part-time job and even a couple of sort-of friends (or at least friendly acquaintances).

With the surname Proserpine, alluding to the mythical goddess unwillingly swept away into the realm of Hades, Alice is clearly not destined for an ordinary, mundane existence. Albert acknowledges that Alice isn't meant to be instantly likable. The article describes her as "an intense and often angry young woman." In general, I avoid spending entire full-length books with unlikable protagonists. In Alice's case, however, even though she's prickly, abrasive, and prone to occasional outbursts of rage, I nevertheless sympathized with her plight and her quest.

After Alice begins to glimpse strange people who might have a connection to Althea and the fictional Hinterland, Ella and her husband and stepdaughter vanish. When father and daughter reappear within a few days, refusing to discuss what happened to them, he throws Alice out of the house. She resolves to track down her missing mother. To do that, she feels she must find her grandmother’s home, the Hazel Wood, but the only clues to its location are in an old magazine article about Althea. Alice has to turn for help to her classmate Ellery Finch, an obsessive fan of TALES FROM THE HINTERLAND, which he actually read multiple times before having his copy stolen. On their road trip, Alice and Ellery become friends or perhaps something more, while randomly encountering people who seem to step out of the pages of Althea’s fairy tales. Ellery tells Alice a bit about the stories, their tone and contents a blend of numinous and creepy. After discovering Ellery’s ulterior motive for coming with her, in shocking scene of betrayal and loss, Alice does find Hazel Wood. From there, as we'd expect, she makes her way into the Hinterland. She also learns the truth about her own past.

The magical place she discovers beyond the portal isn't a country of heroism and ultimate joy like (for instance) Narnia. The Hinterland is overshadowed by the alien, perilous aspects of the faerie world as portrayed in authentic folklore. The treatment of the familiar trope that time passes differently between that world and ours, here shown as not only disorienting but downright horrifying, particularly impressed me.

In addition to a sequel, NIGHT COUNTRY (which begins with Alice trying to lead a safe, nonmagical life in New York -- in vain, naturally), Melissa Albert later meta-fictionally published TALES FROM THE HINTERLAND itself. The stories are enthralling but dark and bloody, typically from female viewpoints, very seldom with anything like a happy ending. Examples: Sisters locked up by their stepmother must create a door of blood to escape. The moon's granddaughter seeks her mother (one of the few sort-of happy conclusions). Maidens become betrothed to monsters or mysterious entities (not gentle beast-princes under curses). Would-be mothers resort to desperate measures to have children, with horrible results. Young women attempt to make bargains with Death. They're all narrated in a hypnotically enchanting prose style.

Margaret L. Carter

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