Slow and green he felt the life of it, the life that had been his life as well these four centuries past. I love the way the Wood is embodied in the story and in Tobias – even the way he thinks and feels about the world seems very slow and green and strong and old, like an ancient oak.

So much of this story is about the atmosphere. To local villagers, he is a creature out of myth himself, and someone to fear.Īnd then one day Henry Silver, the lord of the manor, turns up at his door in a rainstorm, dripping wet, charming, handsome, curious, and, oh yes, a folklorist. Tobias is very much part of the Wood himself, and though he certainly started life as a human he is not, quite, human and mortal at this point. These include smaller spirits like dryads, both friendly and otherwise, and more dangerous creatures like the Summer King. Tobias has been the Wild Man of Greenhollow Wood for four hundred years now, protecting the Wood from the local people, and the local people from the things that dwell in the Wood. It’s very hard to say much about the story without spoiling it, but I’ll try.

One comes away from reading it with the feeling that yes, this is what happens in the woods, and also feeling both eager and afraid to go for a walk in the woods and perhaps lose oneself there. Silver in the Wood by Emily Tesh is a gorgeous novella that feels somewhere between fairy tale and myth, only it’s the kind of myth that is probably true. Genre: LGBTQIA, Novella, Science Fiction/Fantasy

Silver in the wood