#14 The Stolen Child - Keith Donohue

What a beautiful and unique book! I have never read a story quite like this, and I don't think I will find another one! It is a true gem.

Most people have heard of fairies. The word often conjures up images of Tinkerbell and her beautiful winged friends, sprinkling magic dust on flowers and singing happy songs. But in many myths, fairies are not happy little sprites. They are evil little demons, causing mishief and havoc. One such type of fairy, is the changeling. In ancient times, these changelings were believed to steal children and morph themselves into copies of them. The changelings would then return to the child's home and take over their lives. The kidnapped child was then doomed to a life in the forest, waiting for their turn to kidnap and steal another's child's life.

The Stolen Child is a modern story of Fairies. Henry Day is a young boy when he runs away from home. He hides in a tree in the forest where the fairy children find him. A changleing steals his life and Henry is left to live eternally in the forest with a mad gang of feral children, all waiting and watching for their chance to do the same to another unsuspecting child.

The Stolen Child is narrated by both the original Henry Day and his changeling counterpart. Both are fighting to fit into and understand their new lives. I was amazed at just how intriguing both sides of the story really were. I felt for both of them. Both had many obstacles to overcome. The original Henry had to learn how to live in the woods, foraging for food, and learning the rules of the hobgoblins. The new Henry Day, new to the upper world, has to figure out how to be a real boy. He is also struggling with trying to remember his life before he became a changleing, a hundred years ago. Both stories are fascinating.

This book was a great surprise to me! I'd had it waiting on my shelf for over a year, not knowing what literary gold was hiding between the covers!