The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I’ve just finished re-reading this story (this time in book format) and it’s once again as wonderful as the first time. Born as a book within a book, Fairyland grew into the story of September, a young girl who is whisked into Fairyland and ends up having Adventures, meeting a Wiverary (part wyvern, part library) and several other friends, rescuing a Witch’s Spoon, riding on a Leopard, and more and more and more. Set into a pseudo-Victorian frame but historically close to World War 2 and with a distinct modern sensibility, the book melts all of its elements and ingredients into a delicious stew that is so much more than the single sum to its parts and is, in fact, a door into this wonderful Fairyland.