THE STOLEN CHILD

A Novel

review by

Larry Shallenberger

THE STOLEN CHILD

by Keith Donohue

(Nan A. Talese / Doubleday)

Reader Appeal: Adults and mature teens

Genre: Fiction

Billed as a “bedtime story for adults” The Stolen Child is a wonderful gift from first time novelist, Keith Donohue—tales of hobgoblins and fairies and two wonderfully complex characters. The Stolen Child masterfully blends myth with realism.

This is the story of young Henry Day, who has been kidnapped by a band of hobgoblins—changelings to be precise. Henry is sentenced to live with a band of childlike creatures who scrap their existence from the forest. Over time, Henry discovers that he too is becoming a changeling, and his only way out of this shadowy existence is to steal a human child, assume his form, and live out his victim’s life…

This is also the story of the changeling who stole Henry Day’s existence. That changeling finds it difficult to adjust to Henry Day’s world, living an estranged existence from the only life he can remember as a changeling. His father, who seems to believe the myth of the changeling, becomes suspicious about the true identify of this child living in his house and claiming to be his child. I can’t tell you any more without ruining the book for you—so I won’t.

Donohue weaves a moving story of these two characters as they live someone else’s life and each struggle with issues of love, identity, and what it means to be an individual. Inner conflict mounts in each of the Henry’s until they are both driven to find each other for an ultimate confrontation.  

The Stolen Child is an unusual work, inspired by a poem about changelings written by Yeats. The book is at once myth, a coming of age story, and a story about evaluating one’s life in middle age. Donohue writes with a light and compelling style. By infusing myth with psychological realism, the reader accepts the existence of fairies and hobgoblins as common fact. While Tolkien’s hobbits went on a journey to fight evil from the east, Donohue’s changelings fight inner demons.

Parents, be cautioned before allowing your teens to read this book however. Henry Day’s coming of age account includes his sexual discovery. Teenage curiosity and apprehension is amplified by Henry’s secret identity as a changeling. Theses scenes are few, short, and not overly erotic. However, they merit parental awareness and preparedness for discussion if you choose to let your older teen read the book.

Overall, The Stolen Child is an enjoyable, arresting fable. Donohue has given us two compelling, sympathetic characters that will steal the reader from his or her world and into his world of fairies.

FAMILYFANS RATING: A

 --LS