KING'S COUNTY TALES
by Hannah Gilham ; illustrated by Khristian Gilham
A young writer recounts dark fairy tales of dystopian oppression in Gilham’s fantasy novel.
Wilhelm “Willie” Grimmerly wishes to leave the Blackened Forest on a journalism internship (“Whether brave or naive, Willie believed stories matter”). Upon her arrival in King’s County, Willie finds herself censored, relegated to writing propaganda in praise of marriage and femininity. Frustrated, she records the controversial stories of the Resistance, writing about the Levens (magical fairy folk) who suffer persecution by the King. “We all knew there were fringe groups in the forest who believed the hateful rhetoric coming from the Castle,” Willie writes, and she soon enters an underground world where Levens share their stories of horrific deeds undertaken by the King and his minions, the Menes. Laws from King’s County remove the Levens from their jobs and businesses, and new travel restrictions reminiscent of antisemitic policies in Nazi Germany contribute to the oppressive environment. (Black Carriages disappear Levens from their homes and workplaces.) Same-sex partners are met with social ostracization and violence. Willie is a single woman whose visa requires her to marry; it’s a misogynistic policy connected to eugenics and the propagation of “Man” over Leven. In contrast, Levens experience traumatizing reproduction crackdowns: “It wouldn’t occur to me for some time that growing life was its own resistance,” Willie reflects. In this novel, Gilham argues that “to create art and tell stories is to push back against power.” Willie’s work unfolds as a series of short tales that deepen the reader’s understanding of systemic discrimination; King’s County represents all systemic oppression, whether in the form of racism, sexism, xenophobia, homophobia, misogyny, or any other classification that divides human beings. Willie functions as a voice of resistance: “Is this the King’s County of our dreams and hopes? A King’s County for our children?” Willie’s tale effectively prompts readers to reflect on the ways in which governments legislate societal hatred into political violence.
A compelling fairy-tale allegory that interrogates political complacency with barbed storytelling.