
Fire and Hemlock
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
3 months free
Buy for $21.49
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Gemma Dawson
Polly has two sets of memories....
One is normal: school, home, friends. The other, stranger memories begin nine years ago, when she was 10 and gate-crashed an odd funeral in the mansion near her grandmother's house. Polly's just beginning to recall the sometimes marvelous, sometimes frightening adventures she embarked on with Tom Lynn after that. And then she did something terrible, and everything changed.
But what did she do? Why can't she remember? Polly must uncover the secret, or her true love - and perhaps Polly herself - will be lost.
©1985 Diana Wynne Jones (P)2021 TantorListeners also enjoyed...




















People who viewed this also viewed...









perfection
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I love this book… and listening to it was Fabulous!!!
FABULOUS!!!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I had to work at this one
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Hauntingly layered and complex
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A surprise of an ending!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
At Last!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Best of DWJ
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This complex fantasy, taking place in 1980s England, brings in elements of the traditional "Thomas the Rhymer" and "Tam Lin" tales to tell the story of Polly and Tom Lynn. Unfortunately, if the reader is unfamiliar with those old stories, much of the nuances, and even some of the salient points, are missed. Despite that, it's an engrossing novel, twisty and layered, and well-written with Jones' typical intelligence and imagination. My only reason for not giving it a full five stars is that I felt Polly's younger self displayed an unbelievable perspicacity. None the less, I recommend it unhesitating, but advise the reader to become familiar with the aforementioned British legends before starting.
A note on the narrator: Gemma Dawson has a pleasant voice, but tends to run sentences together or pause in mid-sentence, both of which interrupt the flow of the story and detract from the book as a whole.
Engrossing
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Great story good character arc very enjoyable listen
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The story has several situations which are only appropriate for and understood by older readers. The story is not explicit, but the implications are solidly there making this book less suitable for children than Jones’ Howl’s Moving Castle trilogy.
The girls’ mother takes several men in as boarders which she becomes romantically involved with. The girls’ father is a philanderer as are most of the men in this book.
Most of the males in the book are enslaved by their desires, and some are addicts. Some of the men sell their lives to a beautiful woman who promises them all a male wants and more.
The heroine becomes infatuated with an adult male. There is nothing improper in their relationship, but the the male knows she is infatuated with him and still encourages her friendship for his own ends (which are not sexual).
This relationship is still enough to make the reader uncomfortable. Jones deals with this moral conflict by breaking the relationship until the girl grows old enough for a proper handling of her infatuation with the male and his growing feelings for her. There is a lot implied here but never elaborated on.
I am a Christian mother of seven so in light of the things I have said, one might think I did not like the book as I have described it above. I actually loved the book because it was not explicit nor was it preachy. Jones does a good job of letting the reader know what is going on without making that the most important part of the story. She lets us feel the effect of the problems people have without detailing the experience to make it gratuitous. And Jones writes so beautifully of how the little girl feels that I was moved to tears many times. I especially appreciate that Jones doesn’t let the reader feel that there is no hope.
If there is something I am uncomfortable with, it is the overly precocious way the girl acts in general as well as towards the older male protagonist. Jones does deal with this properly, I think, but it was a bit of a stretch to see the good in the relationship without feeling uncomfortable. The girl also uses magic which seems more like what I hear real occult practices are. This also made me more uncomfortable.
I think the book is worth the listen or read. It is performed extremely well by the reader here. This is one of Jones’s most poignant works, but readers should know it is more for adults than children.
Touching story but for adults
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.