Page & Wick #5: November 2024
Back today with the catch-up of my overdue book boxes. We are at number 5 of the 7 now!
This time for the third and last time an overdue Page & Wick, one that I had chosen very consciously, because the predicted author is one that I really like to read!
I am talking about the November box with the theme Thread of Obedience.
In their announcement of this theme they mentioned a standalone adult book with a dark retelling of the fairy tale “the goose girl” and I knew immediately which book it would be. Yes, yes!
The first thing I noticed when I opened my box was that the spoiler card was gigantic compared to the cards we usually get. These are usually postcard size, but this time the card was twice as big! Why I find this important to mention will become clear later.
But first, of course, the book. In case you haven’t guessed it yet, it’s A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher!
Cordelia knows her mother is unusual. Their house doesn’t have any doors between rooms, and her mother doesn’t allow Cordelia to have a single friend—unless you count Falada, her mother’s beautiful white horse. The only time Cordelia feels truly free is on her daily rides with him. But more than simple eccentricity sets her mother apart. Other mothers don’t force their daughters to be silent and motionless for hours, sometimes days, on end. Other mothers aren’t sorcerers.
After a suspicious death in their small town, Cordelia’s mother insists they leave in the middle of the night, riding away on Falada’s sturdy back, leaving behind all Cordelia has ever known. They arrive at the remote country manor of a wealthy older man, the Squire, and his unwed sister, Hester. Cordelia’s mother intends to lure the Squire into marriage, and Cordelia knows this can only be bad news for the bumbling gentleman and his kind, intelligent sister.
Hester sees the way Cordelia shrinks away from her mother, how the young girl sits eerily still at dinner every night. Hester knows that to save her brother from bewitchment and to rescue the terrified Cordelia, she will have to face down a wicked witch of the worst kind.
I’m always super-curious about fairy tale retellings and especially those by T. Kingfisher’s! Her interpretation of Beauty and the Beast is one of my favourites, so I’m super excited to discover this story.
The completely redesigned cover of this P&W edition took some time to properly sink in, but the more I look at it and the more I notice the details in this illustration by @alicecaoillustration the more I start to love it. It really exudes a dark menace, while also being reminiscent of Gothic settings such as the English moors.
With the incidence of light at the time I took the photos, I had trouble photographing the texts in gold foil, but the quote at the back says: “Such is the problem of beauty. Once is is imperfect, the admiration it has won you is at an end“. Yes, this only increases my curiosity, which is of course the intention! I also find the font that was chosen very original and particularly well-suited to the atmosphere of the illustration. So yes, I’m a fan and very happy with this cover!
Let me return to my earlier comment about the oversized card.
Normally this wouldn’t bother me, if the card also fits well in the book, but that is not the case here. Where the card measures 21 cm on its long side, the book is only 20.5 cm. The short sides don’t fit either, with the 15 cm of the card and the 13.5 cm of the book. Nitpicking perhaps, but this bothers me. Especially because this is the first time we have received such a large card and this is also the first B-format book. If they had kept the standard postcard format, it could have been used perfectly as a bookmark in this small, compact book, but now it sticks out way too far. And when I see that on the back of the card, with the explanation, a gigantic large font had to be used to fill the white space somewhat, I really do not understand the choice to double the size of the card.
Anyway, okay, not the most important thing, I know. I’m curious now if they will always provide this format of cards, or if this was a one-off.
Back to the special edition and what else P&W did with it.
The hardcase also features a fully printed and continuous illustration, by the same illustrator. This illustration is a bit more subdued than the one on the cover, but almost radiates even more danger and menace. Nice!
In keeping with P&W tradition, the book block is digitally sprayed all around with an illustration in a colour and style that matches the rest of the book, again by @alicecaoillustration.
The illustrations are different at the bottom, front and top.
At the bottom there is a hidden skeleton that I almost missed. Oooh, yes, that sense of evil is really well conveyed in the whole of the edition.
Only the illustration at the front is a bit hard for me to decipher. The goose looks deformed? Maybe this has something to do with the story or I don’t see well what the perspective of this bird should be?
On the endpapers, the book has the same illustration on both the front and back, again by the same illustrator. The atmosphere that has been built up is completely maintained with this illustration. The thread that also returns in each piece, I think is a well-thought-out detail, especially considering the theme of this month.
Inside we also find a digital signature of the author.
Yes, yes, three winners in a row for Page & Wick! Although it wasn’t love at first sight for me with this edition, I’m starting to become more of a fan and I’m definitely looking forward to diving into this story!
Cheers,
Charlotte
