Effy has read her copy of Emrys Myrddin’s Angharad so many times she can quote entire chunks of it verbatim. A student of architecture (because women aren’t allowed to study literature), Effy has a unique connection to the story.
Though she had read Angharad for the first time at thirteen, she had been dreaming of the Fairy King long before that.
When she learns that designs are being sought for Hiraeth Manor, which will house the recently deceased national treasure’s writings, Effy jumps at the chance. While the odds are slim that a university student a mere six weeks into their degree will be chosen, Effy’s determined to make her design stand out.
Upon arriving at Hiraeth Manor, Effy meets Ianto Myrddin, Emrys’ son, and Preston, a literature student. Ianto is … odd and she’s not a fan of “smug, pedantic” Preston. (Effy’s words, not mine.)
Effy’s disdain for Preston grows when she learns the focus of his study, to discredit Emrys Myrddin. Fair enough, too. If your intention is to cast aspersions on one of my favourite authors, we’re going to have a problem.
A book featuring a character who’s this passionate about a book was always going to end up on my radar. Set it in a location like Hiraeth Manor, which you should really explore yourself before anyone describes it to you, and I’ll be planning a road trip. Add fear, uncertainty, some trauma, magic and a mystery to solve, and consider me sold.
I may have to rethink my ‘I don’t do romance’ stance. Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries and now this book have both well and truly sucked me in, and I haven’t had a problem with the romance components of either. I was actually looking forward to the characters finally getting their acts together and declaring their love.
“Oh, stop it. You’re being so relentlessly you.”
And now I must retreat into the forest to contemplate my fractured bookish romance worldview.
This book describes dissociation in one of the most authentic ways I’ve ever read. The impacts of the trauma Effy has experienced also rang true.
The writing is beautiful, even when it’s describing darkness. It took me much longer than I expected to finish this book, not because I wasn’t enjoying it but because I wanted to linger over each sentence. I didn’t want to miss a thing and I’m keen for a reread.
I’ve agonised over this review for weeks. There’s so much I want to say but I don’t want to ruin anything. I expect this will be one of my favourite reads of the year.
But if fairies and monsters were real, so were the women who defeated them.
Content warnings include sexual assault.
Thank you so much to NetGalley and Del Rey for the opportunity to read this book.
Once Upon a Blurb
Effy has always believed in fairy tales. She’s had no choice. Since childhood, she’s been haunted by visions of the Fairy King. She’s found solace only in the pages of Angharad – a beloved epic about a mortal girl who falls in love with the Fairy King, and then destroys him.
Effy’s tattered copy is all that’s keeping her afloat through her stifling first term at her prestigious architecture college. So when the late author’s family announces a contest to design his house, Effy feels certain this is her destiny.
But Hiraeth Manor is an impossible task: a musty, decrepit estate on the brink of crumbling into a hungry sea. And when Effy arrives, she finds she isn’t the only one who’s made a temporary home there. Preston Héloury, a stodgy young literature scholar, is studying Myrddin’s papers and is determined to prove her favourite author is a fraud.
As the two rival students investigate the reclusive author’s legacy, piecing together clues through his letters, books, and diaries, they discover that the house’s foundation isn’t the only thing that can’t be trusted. There are dark forces, both mortal and magical, conspiring against them – and the truth may bring them both to ruin.
Schizanthus Nerd 