Rating: 9 out of 10
Spice Level: 3 out of 5
Cover: A
Audiobook Narration: Outstanding narrations by Catrin Walker-Booth & Geraint Rhys
Synopsis
In the haunting debut novel Honeysuckle, a lonely little boy named Rory receives a gift from his sister for the sole purpose of leaving her alone: a friend to play with named Daye, “woven from flowers and words.” Their friendship blossoms until Rory discovers Daye disintegrates at each season’s end unless meticulously reconstructed, and with each decay comes the potential of Daye not returning. As they mature and their relationship deepens beyond simple friendship, Rory’s obsession with extending her existence through increasingly desperate experiments forces Daye to question her autonomy. Drawing inspiration from the Welsh myth of Blodeuwedd, this reimagining explores the unsettling intersection of love, control, and the price of defying natural cycles.
Strengths
The story builds layer after layer in such a beautiful way. The writing has an elegant richness to it, with images that really stick in your mind. I found myself connecting with characters who felt genuinely human and relatable. It’s the kind of book you can just sink into without trying too hard. The settings pull you in completely—you can practically feel the atmosphere around you. And by the end, a powerfully bittersweet finale that left me feeling a little heartbroken for Rory and Daye.
Weakness
None. Look, I’m easy. You will rarely find me filling this part in. I love stories, period.
Verdict
What a magical story. I had never heard of the Welsh Blodeuwedd Mythology before and felt a connection to her from the start. A tragic story, a dark descent into obsession and fear, these characters were so real; I really felt for both of them. The story was such a human one; the ending was just simply … inevitable. (9/10)
Tropes
Mythic Retelling/Welsh Mythology
Created Being/Construct
Childhood Friends to Lovers
The Mad Scientist/Alchemist
Stolen Agency
Seasons of Life
Tragedy/Bittersweet Ending
Trigger Warnings
Body Horror (of the Floral variety)
Loss of Autonomy
Death and Rebirth Cycles
Medical/Experimental Trauma
Obsession
Isolation
Thank you to Bar Fridman-Tell, Bloomsbury Publishing, and Libro.fm. I received an advanced review copy for free and am leaving this review voluntarily. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Order Your Copy
Aber Stoat Books (print)
Bookshop.org (eBook)
Libro.fm (audiobook) 🎧
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More Titles by Bar Fridman-Tell
Debut Novel.
From the Publisher:
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 9781639736737 / 9781639736751
336 pages / 11 hours 27 minutes
Narrator(s): Catrin Walker-Booth & Geraint Rhys
Fiction | Fairy Tales, Folk Tales, Legends & Mythology
Fiction | Fantasy | Dark Fantasy
Fiction | Literary
Description:
The Bear and the Nightingale meets Weyward in this enchanting, deeply compelling debut about love and power, autonomy and consent.
Once upon a time, on the edge between meadow and forest, there was a lonely child with only his older sister for company. In exchange for being left in peace, his sister made him a playmate-Daye, a girl woven from flowers and words. And for the first time, this boy, Rory, had a friend.
Rory couldn’t be happier, until he learns that Daye is a short-lived creature. At the end of each season, she must be woven back together or fall gruesomely apart. And every time Daye falls apart might be her last.
As Rory and Daye grow older and the line between friendship and romance begins to blur, Rory becomes desperate to break this cycle of bloom and decay. But the farther Rory pushes his research and experiments to lengthen Daye’s existence, the more Daye begins to wonder just how much control she really has over her own life.
As a loose reimagining of the story of Blodeuwedd from Welsh mythology, Honeysuckle is an entrancing, inventive, and unsettling debut.
Author Bio:
Bar Fridman-Tell has a BA in art history and an MA in English literature. (She gleefully wrote her thesis about Victorian vampires.) She has worked as a bartender, a bookseller, a translator, and a library assistant. She is currently studying for a master's in library and information sciences at the University of Toronto, hoping to stay in a library for good. She lives in Toronto with her professor husband and two very fluffy cats. Honeysuckle is her debut novel.
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