The Stolen Child, by Keith Donohue

The Stolen Child
Keith Donohue

What separates you from the other faces in the crowd? What makes you you? And what's to say that you couldn't very easily be someone else? These are the main themes explored by Keith Donohue in his first novel, The Stolen Child.

The novel is inspired by Yeats' poem of the same title (click here to read it), about a young boy stolen by fairies. Donohue takes this idea and runs with it, creating a fairy world unlike anything I've ever read before.

One day, young Henry Day is kidnapped--not exactly by fairies as we are quickly informed--but rather by hobgoblins--better yet, by changelings. Henry Day becomes of their world and is newly christened "Aniday." As a changeling, he and the other "children" live in a state of relative immortality in the forest. Aniday must wait his turn (which might take a century) before he can kidnap a child and return to mortal life. Meanwhile, the changeling who stole him takes his place and lives the life of Henry Day.

Each chapter is narrated by a Henry Day--either the new one or Aniday. As the story progresses, we find each character troubled by his new identity, and each struggles to make sense of their worlds.

The Stolen Child's effect on me was quite interesting: I felt really no emotional connection to either the characters or the plot. And yet, when I got to the very end, I nearly cried. Couldn't tell you why, however. Extremely odd, to say the least.

In a nutshell: An interesting, though not earth-shattering, read. I didn't find that it had much new to say about identity, and it didn't illuminate any great profundities for me. It was basically an interesting "fairy" tale with a modern twist.

Bibliolatry Scale: 3.5 out of 6 stars