Little (Grrl) Lost

Little (Grrl) Lost (2007) Charles de Lint

I’m a huge fan of Charles de Lint, and own most of his book. But when I get a new book of his, I’ll put off reading it for awhile, for some unknown reason. Then later I’ll come upon the book and remember I had it, snatch it up, and read it.

I’ve been out of sorts recently, and none of the books I’ve started reading have interested me. What I often do on this occasion is pick up an anthology of short stories, in this case, Firebirds Rising: An Anthology of Original Science Fiction and Fantasy. Once I started reading Charles de Lint’s story, I realized that it had been expanded into a novella, which I had. So the next day I picked up the novella Little (Grrl) Lost and started reading where the short story had left off.

T.J. is fourteen and hates living in the city. She was happy living on the farm, and didn’t want to move, no matter how much she understood that her parents had no choice. Elizabeth wants to see more of the world, but her status as a Little greatly restricts her life. Despite their differences, they end up becoming friends.

How’s that for a synopsis? Not that impressive, I know, but it’s hard to describe a Charles de Lint story without giving away the most interesting parts.

So if you have not read Charles de Lint, what should you expect? First, he is very good at writing teen characters. The teens in his books have problem and issues, but they deal with those issues the way real teens would: sometimes foolishly, but with the best of intentions, and they learn from their mistakes.

Next, as with many of his books, the story is set in and around Newford (even though I don’t believe this is ever explicitly stated) and you catch glimpses of characters from other stories.

One thing I particularly liked about this story was that when the situation TJ is in explodes, no one actually did anything wrong–the steps everyone takes are logical, and make sense; it’s simply that events mean different things to different people.

But I think that the characters are the heart of Charles de Lint’s stories. You care about the characters and what happens to them, because they feel like real people who make real mistakes. You can understand their troubles and problems, and even if you would not choose the path they did, you understand their path.

If you have not read Charles de Lint, then you could certainly begin here without difficulty–no understanding of Newford or other characters is necessary. Although TJ makes some decisions that might make parents uncomfortable, this would still be a good book for younger teens, and one I can heartily recommend.
Rating: 8/10

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