Getting to Know My Fiancee Through Books - The Moorchild
- Atticus
- Jun 24, 2019
- 2 min read
The Moorchild by Eloise Jarvis McGraw
My fiancee and I talk about everything - including at one point last month, witchy-type books we read as kids. I brought The Witch of Blackbird Pond to the table. As always, my love came out of left field with The Moorchild. I thought I hadn't heard of it until she described a bit of it to me. It seemed familiar, so I bought it. I am so glad that I did.
Saaski wasn't always Saaski. She was Moql'nknn, one of the fair folk. Until her failure to do any of the basic Folk tricks got her banished as a changeling. She took the place of the daughter of a blacksmith, and after time no longer remembered his life under the Moor.
Told in fanciful language, this story is beautiful and attention-grabbing. Saaski's village can tell something is different about her; adults and children alike treat her poorly. As a kid who was bullied just because people could tell I was different, this was something I connected to right away even as an adult. Saaski even has trouble connecting with her parents. She wants to please them, but her desire to please herself always seems to come through first. It is so easy in reading this to see how the autistic infants from so long ago gave rise to the tales of changelings. Saaski is different, alone, living in her own world and not understanding the world around her.
As she grows, though, she comes to learn of her true nature. Against the back drop of bagpipes, a goatherd, a loving mother, a caring but confused father, and a village full of people who grow increasingly more violent against an innocent child (?), Saaski decides to take her life into her own hands and right what has been wronged since the moment she was thrown out from under the Mound.
I loved this book more than I can say. It made me feel like a kid again, longing for the magic of it all to come true. I wish I had found it back then. I have it as an adult, though, and I will definitely read it again.
5/5 pickles.
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