Fire and Hemlock Giveaway (Diana Wynne Jones March)

Kristen at We Be Reading has declared March Diana Wynne Jones month, and she’s inviting readers everywhere to join the read-alongs she’s hosting, to watch Howl's Moving Castle together on Twitter, and to celebrate in any other ways they choose to. She also invited her fellow bloggers to host giveaways of their own, and of course I jumped at the chance to push one of my absolute favourite books on people. The book I picked was out of print for a few years (horror of horrors!) but thankfully it was reissued last year, so now I can recommend it to people without having to add “but you might have trouble finding a copy” in a forlorn tone.

The following is the GoodReads plot synopsis for Fire and Hemlock:

Polly has two sets of memories.

One is normal: school, home, friends. The other, stranger memories begin nine years ago, when she was ten and gate-crashed an odd funeral in the mansion near her grandmother’s house. Polly’s just beginning to recall the sometimes marvellous, 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.

This isn’t a terrible way to introduce a book with a notoriously complex plot, but it doesn’t really tell you why Fire and Hemlock fans are so passionate about it. Let me start by telling you a story: one day, many years ago, I saw Jenny say in a comment (at Geranium Cat’s blog, if I’m not mistaken) that she felt that Fire and Hemlock fans should all be part of a secret society, and that she immediately wanted to be friends with any that she met. This memory makes me smile because it was exactly this comment that made me click over to Jenny’s blog, decide that I was going to read it forever and ever, and immediately add it to my Google Reader favourites folder, where it’s been for the past five years.

Experience has taught me that assuming you’ll automatically have things in common with people who like the same things as you can lead to disappointment, but to this day I can’t help but feel that way about Fire and Hemlock. The people who really love it all seem to share the same sort of sensibility: not only do they generally enjoy the same kinds of books I do, but they seem to like them for similar reasons as me. Which is why I’m always so excited when I meet another fan, or when I successfully push it on a friend and they end up loving it as much as I do.

Fire and Hemlock is a sort of retelling of Tam Lin, which appeals to the folklore lover in me. It’s also, as readers of Reflections will know, the first book where Diana Wynne Jones felt comfortable having what she calls “a real female hero”, and I think the thought process behind that decision is visible in the text in lots of subtle ways. I love this novel for Diana Wynne Jones’ sharp and perceptive writing; for all the ways in which it reminds me of why I love reading so much; for what it has to say about growing up and memory and creativity and emotional ties of all kinds; and last but not least, for being such an extraordinary piece of storytelling. When I say that it has a complex plot, I don’t mean to imply it’s anything other than a gripping read; it’s just that it’s also a novel that rewards close reading and paying close attention to details and coming back to the story again and again (and of course that novels can and often do both). Jenny’s Law, which states that Diana Wynne Jones is always better on a reread, especially applies to Fire and Hemclock. The fact that I’ve never reviewed it here is a sign that my last reread was over five years ago, which makes me shake my head at myself in complete dismay.

Anyway! The point of this post is to give one of you the chance to read this book (or to win a copy of your very own even if you’ve read it before). Because comments sections that go “Please enter me!” are kind of boring, I’ll make things more fun by asking you a question: Is there a book you love whose fans you think should belong to a secret society? Which books make you feel an immediate sense of kinship with people who love them too?

To be entered, just leave your answer in the comments (though feel free to answer even if you don’t want to be entered, of course). The giveaway is open internationally and I’ll draw the winner in a week’s time.