Fantasy - my escape mode

Click for more book review blogs @Barrie Summy!

I am excited to finally find a new author, and a new book. It's been awhile, as I was barrelling my way through hospice training, a couple of hospice clients, and a new volunteer load with Dignity House Day Hospice. Lately, it's been a tried and true author, Heather Graham, a bit simple, predictable, mysteries, but comforting when I'm working with clients with serious health issues. Hubby is preoccupied with two days a week coordinating Meals on Wheels. Some light-hearted fare was on the list.

Now, we be ready.
Fantasy. If you haven't tried it, you probably don't like it, sorry to say. I love it. I love magical thinking in my crafts and my reading! I like mysteries by strong women. I dread the blood and gore some male author create. When one deals with palliative clients...well, you can imagine! Freda Warrington is prolific, creative, and entertaining.

One of the fairy folk

This is a mature woman, our heroine. Something that appeals to me. The author doesn't sacharine us up in mental images of a perky Barbie girl figure, either. Like the strong heroine in the Nevada barr books, Anna Pigeon, our narrator is strong, too. A former Olympic athlete, she is now facing physical and emotional health issues, which lend some realism to her person.

With this character I can identify! Some prefer escapes into fantasy worlds where they create a goddess and paint them to be slim, supple, and perfect, but this really turns me off.

Another character in the book, a strong, divorced woman closer to my age than our heroine, is an artist who creates magical sculptural works. They are most incredible in one's imagination, and allows me to paint my own mental pictures and become an artist, too. Quite clever and creative.

I enjoyed the dark imagery, the thought of portals into other worlds, and supportive characters who are three-dimensional. The forest walks were as soothing and comforting to me as our heroine.

This book is deep and symbolic. Having moved to Perth, Ontario, and steeped in a place where Scots farmed and tamed the land, it felt positive learning to love the setting of the UK. Growing up in downtown Toronto, I love escaping to the woods with the fairy folk of my imagination.

This author is new to the New World. So it says on the book jacket. I'm glad she has now visited North America. I will be reading more!