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    The Stolen Child
    The Stolen Child
    The Stolen Child
    Audiobook11 hours

    The Stolen Child

    Written by Keith Donohue

    Narrated by Jeff Woodman and Andy Paris

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    When Henry Day is seven years old, he is kidnapped by ageless beings called changelings, who leave another child in Henry's place, a boy who will be his duplicate. Haunted by memories, both boys are driven to search for the keys to whom they once were before they switched places.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateAug 29, 2008
    ISBN9781436172523
    The Stolen Child
    Author

    Keith Donohue

    Keith Donohue is the national bestselling author of the novels The Stolen Child, The Angels of Destruction, and Centuries of June. His work has been translated in two dozen languages, and his articles have appeared in The New York Times and The Washington Post, among other publications. A graduate of Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Donohue also holds a Ph.D. in English from The Catholic University of America. He lives in Wheaton, Maryland.

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    Reviews for The Stolen Child

    4/5

    79 ratings70 reviews

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    • 3/5
      I read this book some months ago and forgot to review it. I was somewhat disappointed with this book, yet it was still a very interesting read. I loved the cover, I loved that it was based on a Yeats poem, I love that it is about a changeling. I expected it to be much more of a magical book. What it actually is is a very psychologically realistic, unsentimental and melancholy coming of age novel about two men who do not feel at home in their own lives. It is a novel about loneliness. I found it to be on the grim side. The main trouble for me was the completely unmagical "otherworld" that Donoghue constructs, not a shimmering world but a prison world. It seems to me that this is a novel written by somebody who is not actually in touch with other worlds and can only imagine them to be like this one.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      I have many mixed feelings towards this book. I have picked up this book off of my library's shelves countless times for the past several years. I've picked it up, read the synopsis, have been rather intrigued, and for whatever reason, put it back on the shelf for a later date. This time, I finally decided to read it. At first, I was kind of disappointed with this. My library has this shelved in the YA section, but I don't think it really fits there. I don't know how to put into words why I feel that way, I just do. Once I got past the fact that this was going to be different than what I had expected, I immersed myself in this story. Like any good fairy tale, this is rather dark. It sort of brought to mind John Connolly's The Book of Lost Things in that sense. As far as the characters go, I never really liked Henry Day (or I suppose I should say his substitute), but by the end, through Donohue's telling, I grew to understand him and what he was going through. I thought he was a jerk at first. I mean, he didn't seem very grateful for his new life, and, for having stolen someone else's life, he just seemed like a brat. Like I said, Donohue's character development really lets the reader come to see and understand how he is tormented by his own demons by the end. I did like Aniday, though, and overall, I have to say that I preferred his chapters. Seeing the world of the hobgoblins (or whatever you want to call them) and seeing our world through their eyes was really fascinating to me. Aniday's character grows throughout the tale, as well, as he learns and begins to understand his role as a "indifferent child of the earth." This story really isn't about the plot, so not much goes on there. This was much more focused on the characters and their struggles to understand just who they are. Donohue also did an excellent job with the alternating chapters. I was never once confused by what was going on, and the switch never seemed abrupt to me. While I did prefer Aniday's chapters, I started to enjoy Henry's chapters more when their separate stories began to overlap. Donohue's writing style took me a little bit to get used to, but I suppose it was because the last book I read was by the short and simple Agatha Christie, and his language is a bit more flowery. He states that this story was inspired by Yeats' poem, "The Stolen Child." I thought that he deftly portrayed the sense of myth and imagination found in Yeats' poem. Overall, I really enjoyed this book. One of the reviews I read on the cover or somewhere (maybe his website?) mentions that this tale is like a bedtime story for adults, and I find this quite accurate. I enjoyed immersing myself in this age-old fairy tale and find myself still thinking about the world of changelings. **MINOR SPOILERS** Oh, and before I forget again--two things. 1) I loved Speck! She was a kickbutt female character. 2) I also really enjoyed how she and Aniday would spend time in the library. Donohue drops literary references to various authors and as a bibliophile, I just love stuff like that.
    • 5/5
      This is one of the best books I have ever read, I have read alot of great books so thats hard to qualify. In Keith Donohue's debut novel he seemlessly blends fantasy and reality to create a novel full of wonder, excitement, poignancy & sadness. Henry Day is just an ordinary 7 year old boy until the day a changeling kidnaps him, from that day on, Henry become Aniday, his memories slip from him like so much gossamer, until he no longer remembers who he was. He soon learns he is to spend the rest of his days in a his enhanced though childlike body among the ragtag band of child fairies in the woods. Until it is his turn to kidnap a child and take his place in the human world again. Scrapping for their meals and stealing from the nearby town he falls into group and becomes friends with many of them and butts heads with others. The 100 plus year old changeling who now looks just like Henry & lives in his place in the town has his own set of problems adjusting to life as a human boy again. Not the least of which is fooling his new parents into believing his their son.In alternating chapters the story of both the real Henry Day (Aniday) and the imposter Henry Day is told. I can't possible do the tale any justice by trying to describe how deftly the tale is told and the feelings it evokes. Keith Donohue is a master at revealing the feelings of these two characters and alternately making us love and hate them and finally giving us the understanding we need to come to terms with the injustice done to little Henry Day. I am forever a fan of the brilliant mind that crafted this tale. So few authors can pull off a fantasy tale in a reality setting that doesn't come off sounding like a fairy tale. This is literary fantasy at it's best... Bravo Mr. Donohue and More Please!
    • 3/5
      I had a hard time getting into this one. I appreciate it for it's artistic style and the basic storyline, but I wasn't as captivated by it as I thought I would be.
    • 2/5
      Fantasy, nicely written. However it was moving too slowly for me and I didn't finish it.
    • 4/5
      Seven year old Henry Day was taken by changelings, ageless fairy creatures living in the woods, and replaced with one of their own, who himself was taken about a century earlier. The story is told from each point of view. The new Henry explores his past - both his real family and his fear of being found out - as he grows to manhood and becomes a father. The old Henry - now Aniday - longs for his family as he transitions into his new life as a changeling.
    • 3/5
      The Stolen Child A Novel is the story of two changelings: Henry Day, whose life is taken from him, and the hobgoblin who takes his place. The story is told by each in interleaving chapters as the latter Henry Day grows and becomes a man and has a family. Aniday (the former Henry, now faerie) finds his passions and his place in the feral forest community of faeries in a world that is quickly growing out of faeries altogether.I suspect this is a book that I would have liked more had a read it instead of listened to the audiobook on a car trip. I didn't like the voice of the latter Henry, and it took Aniday far too long to catch on most of the time. Still, there are occasionally audiobooks that draw me into their world, and this was just not one of them. Not a total waste of time, though, I loved many of the faeries.
    • 2/5
      I feel cheated. I mean, I just sat through a few hundred pages, anxiously turning the page, hoping for some action, for something twisted to occur - heck for anything to occur - but it never happened.Sure, there were tidbits of action in The Stolen Child by Keith Donohue. There is the swap of a child and his replacement, something I would imagine to be every parents nightmare. There's a rag-tag little gang of children that reminded me of Peter Pan's "Lost Boys" running about, but.. although they supposedly had a bunch of rules they never seemed to follow any of them.I mean, honestly - this book is called The Stolen Child and the description talks about how these two obsessively try to figure out who they were before, yet the obsessiveness didn't even happen until 2/3rds of the way through the book, just when I was starting to feel the boredom creeping in and I was fighting the temptation to throw the book across the room.I feel like I read a whole lot of nothing. And I'm disappointed, because this story is based on such an exciting premise. Stolen children and hobgoblings should make for a fantastic story filled with adventure, mystery and a touch of horror. Am I wrong in thinking that? Instead I got an incredibly tame coming of age story with just a touch of the magic required by having a magical creature in the book.
    • 4/5
      This was an interesting book written from two points of view: the child who was stolen and the changeling who replaced him. The changeling struggles with the fear that he will be discovered throughout his entire life, even into adulthood. The boy who was taken is slowly raised in the changeling ways, waiting for the day when he, too, will replace a child. However, as the modern world encroaches on the wilderness, the continued existence of the changelings is threatened.I found the book to be unique, though a bit tedious in a few places. His use of music as a stimulant for memory is quite interesting. The way that Mr. Donohue weaves the lives of the two boys together is what really makes the book unique.
    • 4/5
      The Stolen Child both draws you in and repels you as you read the story of Henry Day and the hobgoblin who takes his place, also an unfortunate who had been stolen from his home a century before. The story is told in tandem, alternating chapters between the real Henry Day who, once stolen, becomes the changling Aniday and his archnemesis, the changling referred to as Chopin because of his talent for the piano, who takes Henry Day's place and lives out his life in the upper world. The changling children - who remain children forever until and unless they change places with another stolen child - live in the forest and are variously referred to as faeries and hobgoblins. An interesting story, but it will take hold of your dreams if you let it.
    • 4/5
      A wonderful modern folktale with much to say about identity and self-identity. Through the changeling myth, it explores our biological and environmental backgrounds. Highly recommended for fans of mythology, folklore and fantasy.
    • 4/5
      Very interesting take on changelings - told from the points of view of both the changeling and the boy whose life he stole.
    • 2/5
      In the tradition of the real Grimm Brothers stories where desperate and dark things happen to children in the woods, the story was interesting but really wasn't my thing so my rating is reflective of my interest rather than the quality.Its well written, evocative and honest but dense, the pace can be pretty slow at times and I had to push my way through parts of it. The switch between narratives were handled quite well, though the overlap at the end tripped up a bit. Worth a read if this is your type of thing.
    • 4/5
      One of the bloggers at the "blogger-signings" we hosted at BookExpo America last year recommended this book to me. I wish I could remember who it was because what a great recommendation. The book is haunting, beautifully written, and enchanting--I love when you can feel the weight of the story's environment on you as you read, and this is certainly the case here--the darkness and life of the woods is clearly present as you read. I felt the same way about Snow Falling on Cedars. Besides the environment, the story itself is compelling--and sentimental too, as it harks back to a different era that can never be recaptured. All in all, not a book I would have picked up on my own but so glad someone else put it in my hands.
    • 5/5
      Anything with the title of my favorite Yeats poem will grab my attention, especially if it is indeed a novel about changelings. And I did indeed love the way Donohue wove phrases from the poem into the novel. Hell, I loved the whole novel. Let me say first off I understand how the changeling theme can be seen as a metaphor for growing up, etc., but I don't care at all about that part. That's not what held me spellbound. What grabbed me was the updating of the changeling myth. The story of Henry Day and Aniday. The wild children in the woods, never growing, never aging until they replace a child as they were replaced. Is it the fact that Aniday was taken so recently that he is the only changeling who wants to return to his family? Or were the others from worse families? They said they tended to take children who were neglected, abused, sad, bratty--the ones who weren't so noticed in case the change wasn't perfect. Sure, the changelings are able to contort and change themselves to look exactly like the stolen child, but sometimes behaviors aren't exactly right.Another thing this caused me to ponder is the feral child. Like the changeling, the feral child is a phenomenon that's always intrigued me. I probably have The Jungle Book to blame for that, though I can't say where I first heard about the changeling legend. One of those things I feel I've always known--part of those Irish myths and legends that nobody in my family ever told me but I've always known. Anyway, the way changelings were described in this book were very feral and they couldn't speak English unless they really concentrated. How many instances of changelings in the wild were feral children? Perhaps even children deemed changelings by parents and left out in the wild to die, but who managed to survive? It's a fascinating parallel. Wish I thought of it back in college.This is simply a beautiful book on many levels and it touched me deeply. The current me and the child me who thought she was indeed a changeling.
    • 4/5
      I had this book sitting on my shelf since it debuted and had been meaning to get to it. I'm glad I did as it was a great read. I won't give spoilers, but I feel this book would have hit 4 stars had it not seemed to almost change style during the last few chapters. If it had maintained as strongly from beginning to end, it would certainly have been a 4 star. Still, well worth the read and I hope to see more works from Keith Donohue.
    • 3/5
      If you enjoy the concept of switching lives or.. being in two places at once, somewhat like Time Traveler's Wife, or the idea of "the wilds" of suburban woods being encrouched upon by modern sprawl, this book is an interesting take on those concepts. Unfortunately the writing is not beautiful and the language is sometimes prosaic. But the story/concept was very intriguing.
    • 4/5
      A fascinating, fantasy tale that switches back and forth between two characters searching for their identity. Author did a great job of exploring their search without overdoing it. Like a true fairy tale the story is a little spooky. I loved the way the author included explanations on how/why folklore about faeries may have come into existence.
    • 4/5
      A story of hobgoblins and changelings is told by two Henry Days, one is a seven-year-old who ran away from home and the other by the replacement Henry Day. The real Henry was kidnapped by a clan of hobgoblins. The replacement made himself look like the real Henry and has now taken his place with Henry’s family. The clan members had spent a year studying the real Henry, to learn his likes and dislikes, to find out about each of the family members so those closest to Henry wouldn’t suspect he wasn’t the real deal. The one thing about hobgoblins is that they never age. They also at some point in their life were also replaced. The replacement Henry used to be a concert pianist in his true life almost a century ago. This talent is the first clue the father has that something isn’t quite right with Henry. His parents are thrilled that searchers had found Henry after he disappeared but the father’s suspicions grow. By telling the story in each of the Henrys points of view the reader understands the struggle the real Henry has with accepting life among the hobgoblins while realizing every memory he had of his real life was fading. The replacement Henry struggles with making sure he isn’t caught while realizing he too is having a hard time remembering his previous life. As the replacement Henry gets older, marries and has a child, he starts to fear for his own son’s life, knowing the hobgoblins might target his son next. This was a spellbinding, mesmerizing read that does a great balancing act between fantasy and reality.
    • 4/5
      This book grew on me as the two principal characters Henry and Anidaystarted to interact with one another's environment. Despite there beingsome discrepancies in the story, I really enjoyed it.
    • 5/5
      “Come away, O human child!To the waters and the wildWith a faery, hand in hand,For the world’s more full of weeping than you can understandâ€?- The Stolen Child by W.B. YeatsChildren often express their displeasure by running away from home, wandering a short distance before returning once they feel their parents have been sufficiently punished. The parents, awash with joy at once more having their child, brush off any minor personality differences as residual shock from a traumatic experience. But what if the child brought home isn’t their child at all, but a changeling?This is the premise behind Keith Donohue’s haunting debut novel, The Stolen Child. Drawing its plot and title from the W.B. Yeat’s poem of the same title, Donohue has crafted the modern fairy tale of Henry Day and the changeling (or hobgoblin) who replaces him. One summer night Henry runs into the forest and hides in a tree. It is there that he is taken by the changelings, who have been covertly watching him. If changelings wish to reenter the world, they must find a child to replace who is exactly the same age as the changeling was when he/she left. Henry becomes the magical Aniday and the changeling who replaces him becomes the new Henry Day, suddenly a musical prodigy. The Stolen Child is the story of the two young boys searching for identity in a world turned upside down.The new Henry slowly adjusts to the life of a twentieth-century family. Having spent more than one hundred years in the forest, he spends his time in intense concentration, “I set my mind to forgetting the past and becoming a real boy again.â€? Aniday spends learning a way of live beyond civilization and it is only by a similar amount of effort that he maintains the ability to read and write.Yeat’s poem shows life in the woods as one full of innocence; however, many experts suggest that the forest of fairytales is really about the journey of sexual awakening as the child moves through puberty into adulthood. Unknown creatures, dangers and pain lurk in the dark forest, a journey of pitfalls every child must travel on the road to maturity.In Donohue’s forest, the tribe of hobgoblins exists in a life free from memories, familial ties and responsibility. Their life a perpetual existence given to the baser instincts of the body, one in which all sense of self disappears along the way.As decades pass, Aniday lives as a permanent child in the wilderness, making friends and enemies among the hobgoblin band, struggling for survival, and trying to remember his past. The other changelings tell Aniday to "stay away from people and be content with who you are." By settling for the life in the forest however, Aniday would lose the innocence of his dreams of a future. Both Aniday and Henry are tormented by the fleeting memories of half-remembered paths and it is these memories that keep them tied to a search for identity - destined to lose their innocence. Donohue has created a mesmerizing world that seems to exist shifted slightly outside of our time. The Stolen Child quickly engages the reader in the familiar rhythm of childhood fairytales, allowing the magic to infuse the carefully crafted words. It is only upon stepping outside, back to reality, that questions slowly seep into the reader’s mind. Has Henry really lived as a changeling or could he be suffering from split personality, everything being a fantasy his illness has created? Donohue says in an interview with the Pittsburgh Tribune Review: “The subconscious world, the world underneath, is a real world, and it's just as valid, our imaginative reality, as our everyday reality.â€? Whether readers choose to approach Donohue’s offering as it is written or choose to engage the novel on an existential level, The Stolen Child is a timeless, magical novel that will linger with readers long after they read the last page.
    • 5/5
      This is great, one of the best in the genre and far from the wizards-and-swords typical fare. if you liked Little, Big, you'll love this.
    • 4/5
      A strange and at times creepy novel, it's a twist on the changeling fairytale. Alternating chapters are told from the changleing's perspective as he takes over a child's life and then from the stolen child's perspective as he becomes one of the "fairy" children.
    • 5/5
      I normally avoid fantasy fiction at all costs. But as the early 'buzz trumpeted this book as a "bedtime story for adults," I couldn't resist.A dark story, indeed. And a riveting one. Donohue's use of two narrators to spin essentially the same string of events from different perspectives provides an intriguing journey. The story also probes some interesting issues, including the age-old debate over nature vs. nurture, and how our memories tend to shape our lives. The work is not without its faults. As with many books, I'm convinced Donohue could have told the story quite effectively in about one-third fewer words. Still, it's a work that will stand out in my "memory," especially in a niche that I almost never explore. I look forward to seeing what fascinating tales Donohue will deliver in the future.
    • 4/5
      Feeling ignored and tired of his twin baby sisters getting all of the attention, young Henry Day decided to run away one day in the 1940's. Henry never returned home; in fact, he ceased to exist, but no one noticed. Why? Henry was abducted by the hobgoblins who lived in the nearby forest and a changeling was left in his place--a changeling who had been studying everything about Henry and knew how to mimic him so perfectly that no one could tell the difference. The novel follows the boy and the changeling for the next 30 to 40 years and tells their story in alternating first person narratives that, in the beginning, were a little confusing, but rightly so as both children are confused about their identities as they adapt to their new world. Their lives run parallel to one another and occasionally intersect to disastrous results. A friend of mine described this book as "melancholy," and I think that's the perfect adjective to sum up my feelings after reading this book. For one, the changelings are not villains. They are all children who had their lives stolen from them and are now biding their time until they can reclaim what was forcefully and brutally taken from them. As a result, I feel sorry for both Aniday (the name given to Henry after he becomes one of the changelings) and Gustav (the changeling who takes Henry's place). Often in a fantasy, you get the joy of hating the evil-doer or the monster lurking in the dark, but here the evil is something nebulous and never clearly defined. I think this is partially due to the allegorical nature of the plot. In a sense, life is the monster in that it's a force of nature that can't be stopped or reasoned with. For each of us, our childhood must eventually end and, as children, we often can't wait to grow up and find out who and what we'll be. To do so, we have to cut ourselves away from the child we were so that we can embrace the adult we'll become. We leave a "changeling"--a collection of memories and childish desires and emotions that revisit us throughout our lives, but the child version of ourselves is like a stranger we once knew. Also, as we get older, many of us look back on the innocence of childhood with a sense of nostalgia and think, if only upon occasion, "if only I could go back" or "wouldn't it be great to be a child forever?" The answer provided by Donohue is no; that the romantic view of childhood is just that--the tinge of rose-colored glasses. The changelings are not The Wild Boys; sure they are given to fun, frivolity, and mischief, but theirs is not a life to be envied. It is a constant struggle for survival against the harsh elements and the encroachment of man as civilization and suburbia threaten the wilderness where they were able to secret themselves away. They long to grow up and are trapped in tiny bodies while their emotional and mental maturity continues, unimpeded. They wait and they yearn and they think about all they will never have and all they will never be.In presenting the changeling myth for modern times, Donohue has given us a haunting and beautiful examination of childhood and the search for identity. And he has done so in humanity’s most enduring medium: that of myth.
    • 4/5
      In my research on this title, I read many reviews that called The Stolen Child a fairy tale for adults. Quite frankly, that is the most appropriate moniker that I could give this work despite my attempts to be original. The only other descriptor I might apply would be “literary fantasy.” The story is a brilliantly intertwined piece about two boys/men/goblins that live in a small Northeastern or Mid-Atlantic U.S. town. Now, admittedly, when I began the story and it started down this path of hobgoblins/fairies/”changelings”, I was highly skeptical. Fantasy just isn’t my thing. I held no interest in Lord of The Rings or any of its kind. Needless to say, this book faced an uphill battle within the first five pages. That said, within 25 pages, I was hooked.Before getting into the spoilers let me summarize by saying: If you’re a fan of the fantasy genre, I would imagine The Stolen Child to be an instant classic. If you aren’t but want something a bit out of your comfort zone, it’s an excellent place to live for a few days.**SPOILER ALERT (Highlight)**Henry Day is two people. He’s the original seven-year old boy who is stolen by changelings and made to become one of them (hereafter “Aniday” as he’s called). He’s also the 100-year old changeling who took his place and grew up to be the adult Henry Day (hereafter “Henry”). The story alternates chapters between the points of view of these two characters.The changelings are hobgoblins/fairies/elves/trolls (they go by all of these) who live in the woods outside of this town. They have magical senses (particularly, super hearing) and powers (ability to alter their physical features) although; this is not a focus of the story. What is a focus of the story is that these beings live to be approximately 100-years old. Around the century mark, the changeling will find a withdrawn and dispirited child with whom to change places. They study the child and the family and then the eldest of the clan morphs their face to look exactly like the child (yes, they can do that), the child is stolen, and the changeling assumes the child’s life. That child lives with the changelings until his turn comes to re-enter the human world. We never receive an explanation for this cycle. We just know it is so.This is what happened with Aniday and Henry. As Aniday lives the life of a changeling, the group is cast from their longstanding area of the woods when an attempt to steal a child goes poorly. The tribe of changelings thins and weakens and Aniday shows a passion to learn more about his family and the memories that he has from childhood. Along the way, he falls in love with another changeling named Speck.Meanwhile, Henry, who knows that he was a changeling, becomes more interested in his childhood in old Germany where he was a child prodigy on the piano. Henry’s feelings of fraudulence build as the story progresses and as you might imagine, their paths begin to cross. When Henry marries and has a child he becomes increasingly concerned for the child’s safety. The changelings have just started to come back into the town and Aniday is snooping around to learn more about his former life. Along the way, he finds Henry’s home and begins create mayhem in his life. All the while, Henry wants to come clean to his wife Tess about his secret but cannot bring himself to do so. Henry is writing his first symphony and cares only about three things, his wife, his son, and his music.Ultimately, the two do meet and without speaking words or understanding one another, they make their peace. In the closing chapters, Aniday watches Henry (and Henry watches Aniday) at the premier of Henry’s symphony. The music is titled The Stolen Child and the music communicates the story between these characters. Aniday accepts his new life and goes to find his lost love. Henry realizes that his past is no longer of concern – he is Henry Day.**END of SPOILERS**In writing this summary, I’m conscious of the fact that I cannot do the story justice in a few paragraphs. My summary will only turn off those who are not into such stories just as I turned up my nose in the first few pages. The story must have time to build to become beautiful. I would certainly recommend it. In fact, I already have to a co-worker.
    • 5/5
      I was enchanted with this story. It's hard to believe that this is the author's first book! To truly appreciate the beauty of this book, you must be willing to accept the idea of magic and unexplainable events. If you can do that, you will experience a story that is utterly unforgetable!! Seven year old Henry Day in a fit of temper runs to the woods and hides. While he is gone, he is exchanged by hobgoblins for another stolen child who has been waiting a century in the forest for his chance to grow up in the world. The changelings have been studying Henry for over a year to make sure his replacement can fool his new family. Now it will be Henry's turn to spend a century or so in the woods as a permanant 'child' with the other changlings, a dozen or so in all until it is his turn to replace a 'real' child and grow up. The story is told from the point of view of both 'Henry's' the origional and the new one. There are many, many layers to discover and embrace as their lives unfold in alternate chapters until the stories intersect. The enchantment of being forever a child versus the very real need to grow up, experiencing the belonging of family while being true to yourself, the unique gifts that make us who we are yet push us onward to discover who we can become are only a few of questions that are suggested by the authors wonderful prose and lyrical style. Certainly a book that will leave you thinking long after the last page. I did not want it to end, and strongly recommend it as one of the BEST BOOKS I have ever read!!!
    • 3/5
      I apparently wasn't as taken in by this book as most other reviewers. I found it an "okay" read, but it never captured me the way I had expected, based on the opinions of others. It did move somewhat slowly, and I kept thinking that maybe something big was going to happen at the end to redeem it, but that never happened for me. So all in all, I was rather disappointed in this one.
    • 5/5
      I loved this story revolving around the Changeling Myth. Awesome storytelling!
    • 5/5
      This book started a bit slow for me, with what is basically an infodump, but it didn't take long for the narrative to snare me in its web. There are two, alternating povs, a hobgoblin who has become a changeling by taking the life of a child stolen away, and the child, Henry Day, now named Aniday, who has been turned into a never-aging hobgoblin living in hiding in the forest. The book moves from 1949 through the '70s, following the life of the new Henry who struggles with emerging memories of his own human life a century ago while trying to maintain his new identity, shifting his body as Henry would naturally age, wondering if the hobgoblins will come to snatch him back as he rediscovers the humanity that once had been his. Meanwhile, Aniday must adjust to his new life, maturing mentally while stuck in a misshapen, unaging body while his memories of his past life slowly fade.Over the years, "Henry" and Aniday form relationships in their new lives. Henry falls in love. Aniday grows fond of spec, a female hobgoblin. But lurking in the background is the feeling that something is wrong, and they aren't truly comfortable with what they are. Aniday longs to return to his old life even as he forgets it. Henry seeks his humanity in music, a talent he had in his old, first human life. A chance encounter sets the two of them on a collision path.I won't say more about the story. I wouldn't want to take the wonder away. This is a truly magical book, filled with all manner of emotion from joy to despair, exploring what it means to be human along with the goals we set for ourselves, our hopes and dreams for ourselves and our loved ones. This simple, beautifully told story and its vivid characters will stay with me a long time.