Cuckoo Song

Title: Cuckoo Song
Author: Frances Hardinge
Publisher: Macmillan
Published: May 2014
Click to buy.

Triss wakes up one day to find that her hair is shedding leaves and she is ravenously hungry (so hungry she even raids the garden at night to eat rotting apples). Her sister Penelope (or Pen) is terrified of her, as though she is no longer Triss but someone else living in Triss’ skin. Triss also has odd nightmares that seem to end with a voice counting down her days. There’s no help to be had from her parents, who are grieving for her dead brother, Sebastian, lost to the war. Triss – or a new someone posing as Triss – has to solve the mystery of what happened both to her and the girl she replaced, if either is going to survive.

Cuckoo Song was a wonderful, sad and chilling book that I couldn’t put down. It is set in the aftermath of the First World War, though has the gothic overtones of a dark Victorian fairy tale, and Triss makes a compelling, fierce, strong and loyal protagonist. In this story, the war has literally shaken the core of what things we accept and choose to believe, resulting in the uncertain and impossible gaining new footholds. The magical and fantastical elements of this tale are not safe, beautiful or kind; the creatures of this book are frightening, harsh, cunning and macabre. Yet it is still an uplifting tale about sisterly trust, strength of character, broken dolls and diary souls. It is very hard to cover everything this tale encompasses and the extent of magic it contains without giving away vital spoilers, making it such a difficult book to review, yet all I can urge you to do is read it. There is nothing quite like it. 

However, I should read it in the daytime, and a warning to all the china doll lovers of the world: dolls will be harmed in the reading of this book.

Also, you may never look at scissors in the same way again.