Frindleswylde by Natalia and Lauren O’Hara – Book Review
Frindleswylde by Natalia O’Hara – Book Review
Frindleswylde
Author – Natalia & Lauren O’Hara
Publisher – Walker Books
Pages – 40
Released – 4th November 2021
ISBN-13 – 978-1406388961
Format – hardcover
Rating – 4 Stars
I received a free copy of this book.
This post contains affiliate links.
Synopsis
Can you feel a tremble in the wind? The sun grows pale. The wild things hide. Frindleswylde is coming!
When the mysterious boy Frindleswylde enters Cora and Grandma’s house in the woods, he steals the light from their lantern. Without it, Grandma will not be able to return home after work in the dark. Cora is determined to get the lantern back, but first she must follow Frindleswylde down a hole in the pond that leads to his magical frozen kingdom, where he sets her three Impossible Tasks.
Reminiscent of The Snow Queen, beautifully written and sumptuously illustrated, Frindleswylde is a classic in the making.
Review by Stacey
Frindleswylde gives you the feeling that you are reading a fairy tale, such as one from Hans Christian Anderson. It tells the story of a young girl, Cora, who lives with her Grandmother in the woods and how each winter Frindleswylde is near. If Cora lets him into the home he will make the place frozen and blow out the little lamp that keeps the home lit and warm and her Grandmother won’t be able to protect her from him.
It is a strange tale and one that will chill you to your bones with the cold atmosphere it generates as you read. The book is filled with full-page icy illustrations that capture the essence of winter.
It is quite a wordy book. I was expecting it to be more of a young children’s picture book, but this is more of a large-sized storybook that new readers will struggle with, so would be better for more confident readers or a bedtime story.
The story is imaginative, enchanting, and was a joy to read.
Purchase Online From:
Natalia and Lauren O’Hara are sisters from the north of England. In the daytime they edit scripts and design sets and at night they draw and write together. As children they loved fairy tales, animal fables and the stories their Polish grandmother told on snowy nights.
Frindleswylde is their third collaboration. Their previous picture books are Hortense and the Shadow and The Bandit Queen, both published by Puffin. Lauren is also the illustrator of Sophie Dahl’s Madame Badobedah.
