I wasn't quite sure at first why the author had set the novel at the beginning of the 1920s, but it became clear quite quickly that this is, apart from describing a wild magic that finds itself backed into a corner by the modern world and with claws raised in defence, also a sensitively written lament for a generation of boys and men lost (in one way or another) during the First World War, and the consequences in society that came with women demanding more rights and liberties as a result. This is not a mindless monster made from twigs, leaves and paper (the pages of the real Triss's diaries) but someone who feels and thinks, and who has opinions of her own. When they go back home, events begin to escalate as it dawns on everyone that Triss is not really Triss at all.I thought this was a very intriguing take on the changeling story, with an unexpectedly sympathetic protagonist at its core. As Triss regains her strength, she starts to behave in a way that bewilders those around her, and that's even before she discovers that her doll can now talk to her. Triss wakes up one morning after an accident while on holiday, but without a memory of what happened all her other memories, such as those of her parents and younger sister, or even of her life before the accident, appear strangely vague and incomplete.
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