The Onion Girl

The Onion Girl by Charles de Lint

The only author I possibly like more than Steven Brust, is Charles de Lint. There is nothing he has written that I have not liked, and most of what he has written I really love. Despite that, and despite buying this book over a year ago, I had not gotten around to reading it until this winter, which requires some explanation.

Charles de Lint has written a series of books and short story collections that take place in the town of Newford. Although the books, especially the short story collections, do not need to be read in any particular order, there is a greater sense of character development if they are read in order. This is, I think, particularly more important for the novels, where I think you get a greater sense of continuity and a better knowledge of what makes the characters tick.

Onion Girl is Jilly Coppercorn’s story, and delves into her past, and that is the reason that I hesitated for so long to read this book, for Jilly Coppercorn does not have a pleasant past, and so I knew that at least parts of this book were going to be hard to read, but probably no more so than some of his short stories. Regardless, sometimes you need to build yourself up to reading a book that you know is going to be painful in places.

And it is painful in places. But it is also an absolutely fantastic book, and one that expands Jilly Coppercorn, both her history and where she has been going in the stories. My only problem is that I had a tendency to want to yell at Charles de Lint and say “Haven’t you put her through ENOUGH already? Isn’t it time for good things to happen to Jilly?” I know. I know. They’re only made up characters. But that doesn’t mean I don’t get invested and I don’t care what happens.

Despite that, this was a very good book, and one that any devoted fan of Newford must read. Although this is not necessarily the first book by Charles de Lint that someone should pick up and read. I’d suggest his short story collections, but then I’m a fan of short stories, so take that advice with that particular bit of knowledge in mind.

As far as this book goes, as is typical for me, his books are ones that I read in a rush, lying down and devouring whole chapters at a time. I read this book in two evenings, the first night reading the first quarter of the book, the second night staying awake until 3am to finish the book.

As I said, it’s not particularly easy book to read, but then many of his short stories also have a similar dark thread running through them. Regardless, it is an excellent book, and the first to truly center around Jilly. If you have not read one of Charles de Lint’s books before, you may want to start with one of his earlier anthologies. If you have previously read Charles de Lint’s Newford stories, then you will definitely want to read The Onion Girl.

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