DRUJIENNA'S HARP

by Ellen Kindt McKenzie ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 26, 1971

An ancient bottle in a curio shop transports Tha and her brother to the hideous land of T'Pahl, where the sky changes color and wayfarers must seek the shelter of a parahephara tree at the very white of the high yellow. The land is ruled by the evil Jadido who commands an army called the Lodzati, makes Know-nothings of his subjects, and exiles dissenters to the dreaded diggings. The children's arrival (on the Malimound) is part of an ancient prophecy of bloodshed and upheaval, to occur when Drujienna is asked to play her harp at the (now approaching) end of the Second Thousand. The adventure is densely packed with incidents, portents of doom, rhymed bits of ancient lore, and encounters with ever more oddly named denizens: Eshone, Zacapoos, Hag Shchin, even Granfa' Drad (short for Dradredridrodrude). But the mythical land of T'Pahl remains less a creation than an invention, Tha herself is without background or dimension, and the absence of a contrasting, firm reality -- such as Dorothy's Kansas farm or the hobbits' cozy English-type village -- keeps T'Pahl forever out of focus. Glass toads in an imaginary garden.

Pub Date: April 26, 1971

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Dutton

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1971

Categories: FICTION