The Storyteller's Library
December
Welcome to December’s, Storyteller’s Library. This month’s books include the following folkloric wonders and novels based on history and folklore:
The Song Of The Huntress - Lucy Holland
Woman’s Lore - Sarah Clegg
The Wolf Den - Elodie Harper
Song Of The Huntress by Lucy Holland
A retelling of the tale of King Herla, this intriguing rendition of the age old tale paints Herla as a misguided Briton who sought help from the otherworld to defeat Boudicca’s enemies; the Romans.
Hundreds of years pass and Herla and her band of warrior women find themselves in the presence of the late Anglo-Saxons and uniting against a threat that is far greater than all of them combined.
The premise for this tale is a mix of history and fiction, as is always the case for Holland’s books. After reading Sister Song this book had been on my to be read the moment it was published and I was not disappointed, however there is a but coming. I felt it was too long. The characters’ motivations were on occasion laboured, conversations or thoughts repeated several times without a conclusion at the point of the conversation, creating ongoing arguments and conflict. This does build tension and the desire to read on, but for me, at times, it was conflict for conflict’s sake .
Holland’s prose is, as always, beautiful and her knowledge of history and timelines means that you will learn quite a bit about the Saxons through what I like to call stealth learning. Her characters are complex but occasionally forced, perhaps to make sure we don’t miss the point. There is plenty of diversity and in this way this tale feels authentic in its representation of Saxon England, its grey areas between Christianity and paganism, fae and goddess, man, woman and the non-binary.
Altogether a great tale with some solid, multi-textured writing which I would recommend to those interested in alternative folktales, just remember it’s a long haul if you’re not used to sagas.
Woman’s Lore by Sarah Clegg
Sarah Clegg is a new author to me and I was intrigued by the subtitle of this book ‘4000 Years of Sirens, Serpents and Succubi’. It did not disappoint, it was however a slightly different book to the one I was expecting.
It’s not a standard book of folklore with subheadings and chapters covering different mythical beings. Instead it looks at the evolution of one particular trope, that of the vengeful Mesopotamian, serpent-demon, Lamashtu. It tracks her 4000 year journey through ancient Greece as the Lamia, through the Jewish and Christian religions as Lilith, and onwards where she morphs into a siren, then a mermaid, then a vampire and then back into a demon.
On the way she starts life as a way for women to control and protect themselves against the dangers of pregnancy, childbirth and infant mortality, to become a weapon of misogyny and then is finally reclaimed as a representation of women’s liberation.
It reads as a part study, part book of entertaining folklore and Clegg’s research is extensive and in depth. She leaves not a stone unturned in her hunt for this serpent woman. As a result it can be a bit heavy going in places but in the main it is an accessible read.
If you want to know more about the representation of women in folklore then this is an excellent place to start.
The Wolf Den by Elodie Harper
What did the Romans do for us? Well, not a lot for human rights, other than showing us a lot of ways we should not be doing it.
This book charts the story of Amara a Lupanar slave, a ‘she wolf’ or slave within the a Pompeiian brothel. It shows how she starts life as a ‘respectable’ doctors daughter, is educated, destined for a free life and then fortune finds her with Felix as her master and her body, wit and guile as her only tool for survival.
Elodie Harper manages to show a lot of the issue concerning consent without actually preaching to us. She shows us how you may find yourself in situations where you have no control. You may have come from nothing or you may have lost everything, either way you find yourself on the same path, doing things you never thought you would, just to survive.
What Harper also manages quite nicely in this book is to tell the stories of the men too, without detracting from the female narrative. She again shows how their cruelty is sometimes born of their situation, not just the arrogance of being born into privilege.
As you might expect for a book about a brothel and the women within it, there is a lot of brothel action, but not in a gratuitous or lascivious way. An accessible read, this story tells of human survival, women’s autonomy, rich men’s power and how in some cases, history is still very much the present.
Another great book for history and lore lovers with Roman traditions such as, beast hunts, gladiatorial fights, Vinalia, Floralia, and Saturnalia featured as well as Pliny making a not insignificant appearance in the tale.
What Were Your December Reads?
Don’t forget to share what you’ve been reading this month in the comments below.
Next Month’s Reading List
As always you can buy any of above books in all good bookshops. If you would like to buy a copy online, please consider visiting my page on Bookshop.org where I have gathered some of the books I read and recommend. Here you will find a plethora of myth, legend and folktale.
And don’t forget to support your local library too. See if they have a copy to borrow.
