The Life of Elves
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3.0 • 1 Rating
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
A “beguiling fairy tale” by the bestselling author of The Elegance of the Hedgehog (The New York Times).
The villagers had never seen anything like it: dense white curtains of snow that instantly transformed the landscape. Not in autumn, not here in Burgundy. And on the same night a baby was discovered, dark-eyed little Maria, who would transform all their lives.
Hundreds of miles away in the mountains of Abruzzo, another foundling, Clara, astonishes everyone with her extraordinary talent for piano playing. But her gifts go far beyond simple musicianship.
As a time of great danger looms, though the girls know nothing of each other, it is the bond that unites them and others like them which will ultimately offer the only chance for good to prevail in the world.
“Vivid imagery and a thread of mystery draw readers into the timeless and ethereal world of these young girls with a destiny to fulfill.” —Booklist
“The novel is essentially a parable about the power both of art, which abolishes the ‘border between earth and mind,’ and of women.” —The New Yorker
“Fans of both Barbery and fantasy from writers like Alice Hoffman and Sarah Addison Allen will be enchanted.” —Library Journal
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In an unnamed year, France and Italy are home to small groups of elves living precariously among dangerous humans. Two young girls can bridge the gap between human and elven cultures and save the elves, but only if they survive a story whose urgency doesn't match its pace. Anderson captures the rich, beautiful language of Barbery (Gourmet Rhapsody), such as "the noble dust of cellars" and "childhood is the dream that allows us to understand what we do not yet know." Despite elven politics, Christianity, and war, the plot feels secondary and downplayed. Distant narration, exemplified by an entire chapter without dialogue and phrases like "It must be told what this child was," draw attention to the words, not the characters. Just as battle is coming, readers are stopped by descriptions of the numerous participants, breaking the tension and typifying a reading experience in which the parts are greater than the whole.
