THE WAY OF THE RIVER

This debut middle-grade fantasy sees four young cousins enter an enchanted wood and become privy to the thoughts of animals.

Elinora Wolton, 15, and her 14-year-old sister, Tillie, live an idyllic existence at Kellandale, a landed estate in Eldmoor (a fictitious country not dissimilar to 19th-century England). Elinora is apprehensive about leaving home to pursue her education, but the only real constraint on the girls’ lives is that they are forbidden to go into Kellandale, aka “Wyches,” Wood, which is reputed to drive people mad. The siblings have reluctantly obeyed this edict, but when they spy a sack being dumped into the river, Tillie insists that they go in search of it. The sisters venture deep into the wood. They find the sack and, wrapped up inside it, a hapless Morlish Wolfhound puppy, whom they rescue and name Henry. In doing so, they discover that the wood is enchanted—in the best possible way. It allows them to share Henry’s feelings and memories and those of the other woodland creatures. Henry becomes their best friend; yet he has been torn from his mother, brothers, and sisters. Can Elinora and Tillie—and their cousins Graham and Jamie—help Henry save his lost family? Spyker’s omniscient narrative harks back to the wholesome escapades once popularized by such authors as E. Nesbit and Enid Blyton, albeit updated to a 21st-century view on gender and race. (The protagonists remain born of privilege but even this is commented on.) The author has an easy prose style and a storyteller’s flair for characterization. While the retro dialogue is mannered, timid, sensible Elinora and bold, impetuous Tillie will appeal to modern readers, and they work beautifully together as protagonists. Henry deserves an immediate induction into the literary pantheon of canine heroes, and it is he, not the children, who provides the narrative glue. As the series opener unfolds, the cast grows perhaps a little too large, but even this is thematically apt. Spyker delivers a strong message of inclusiveness, love, and respect for all creatures. When the plot moves from the shelter of the forest to the darker reality of Coddlefin’s circus (and animal cruelty), the kids’ good intentions only grow.

A safe yet magical adventure with plenty of heart.