Misery's Wife
by Joan Tierney
Reviewed by Galen Strickland
Posted June 24, 2026
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This is another debut novel I read in advance courtesy of Edelweiss. It will publish July 14. If I'm not mistaken, there is another Joan Tierney who has published several books of poetry. This novel is all that is listed at FantasticFiction.com, while ISFDb shows this book plus a poem published in Nightmare Magazine three years ago, but not any books of collected poems. The publisher, Macmillan, lists the novel plus a previous novella titled The Killing Grounds, and I found a review of it at the Nerds of a Feather website.
The blurb at Edelweiss says it is based on a Portuguese folktale, and that it is about a young trans woman who sets out to save her three older sisters. There was just one brief mention early in Elixane's story which implied some originally thought her a boy, then it never came up again. I've read no description that says it is YA, although it seems that way in the beginning, but all of the sisters age into maturity, with the three eldest marrying different fairy kings. It is not until after that when the fourth sister, Elixane, is mentioned, almost as if an afterthought. Elixane was still very young when her sisters disappeared from their village, and she had little memory of them, but their absence cast a pall over the family. One other thing, this is not a "Once Upon a Time…" type of fairytale, but rather an "In a Future Time…" The world is not as it was before the waters rose, and the wilderness has encroached on what had been large cities, but are now small villages on the brink of being washed away by the tides. There are only a few from older generations who recall what the now vine-covered electric and telephone poles were for, along with vague memories of automobiles and airplanes. Now there are only horse or donkey drawn carts, and small fishing boats. Since the world of man has been diminished, animal life has increased, not only in numbers, but also in size.
The story begins with their parents, Jaco and Agueda, and the difficulties she had during three pregnancies. Jaco asked what he could do to help, and each time she asked him to bring her something for her cravings, which were different each time. For the first she wanted a large bluefin tuna, but it had to be a male, since a mother should never eat another mother. Jaco wisely freed a female bluefin from his net, and later its mate rewarded that gesture with its own sacrifice when Jaco explained his need. When Adelina was born she was blessed by the sea. The second time Agueda craved a plump partridge, and again it had to be the male. Jaco was not the best of hunters, but he was patient, and was also able to recognize a female partridge when he had it in his sights, but lowered his gun instead. The male partridge asked why its mate had been spared, and when Jaco explained it agreed to be taken. When Borboleta was born, she was blessed by the sky. Agueda's third pregnancy was the hardest, and for several months she could not eat anything, and wasn't sure what she needed, only that it should be dark and rich upon the tongue. Jaco had no idea what to bring her, but he set out anyway, eventually ending up in a dark cave, where a fungus grew, and it spoke to him, agreeing to let Jaco take some of it. The taste was just what Agueda needed to end her fast, and when Dores was born during a strong hurricane, she was blessed by the storm, which told them, "She will be a child of the wind and rain, and Misery itself will bend to kiss her feet."
Each of their daughters were different in temperment, and each was drawn to different things. Adelina loved the sea, Borboleta the birds in the trees, and Dores was most happy during storms, and because of that they each attracted the attention of different fairy kings. Rei Glácio, King of the Sea, appeared to Adelina, and took her for his bride. For Borbelta it was Rei Pisco, King of the Air, and Dores was swept away by Rei Tristeza, the King of Misery. Their disappearances did not occur at the same time, but separated by a few years, and in each instance the parents and remaining daughters searched everywhere in vain, thrice over. All of this is recounted in just the first chapter. No mention of Elixane until the second. Elixane was born premature, and at first it seemed she was not breathing, but the parteira (midwife) had seen half a dozen premature babies before, and knew a few home remedies. Elixane not only survived, she thrived, growing stronger every day. Her parents were despondent, missing their three older daughters, and hardly spoke at all. Elixane helped when and where she could; on her father's fishing boat, in her mother's garden, and also hunting for game, and foraging the nearby forests for other foods. Being familiar with all the various places around their village, she is in the right place to encounter different animals who brought messages from her sisters. Adelina sent a thresher shark, which presented Elixane a large clam shell, telling her when she was ready, she should break it open and they would come to take her to Adelina. A crow gave her a large egg, and said the same about Borboleta, and a large toad gave her a rock of pyrite which would summon the servants of Dores. Again, these incidents did not occur close together, but years in between, with Elixane already twenty when the toad appeared.
The story then reverts to each of the daughters, giving us a glimpse of what they had experienced in the various kingdoms where they lived, and leading up to the reasons they each had sent a servant to contact Elixane. I won't go into detail about that, only say that it involved curses, as well as a war between two of the kingdoms. When I got to the end of the book I wasn't sure of the title's significance, because it felt more like Elixane's story rather than Dores's. If it had been titled for Elixane's part, it could have been The Child of Luck and Fortune, but I won't tell you the reason for that. In the case of Dores, it would have been more appropriate for it to be Misery's Wives. Beyond the end of the book Elixane might have married, and if so, that part of the story would warrant a title of Fortune's Wife, but again I won't reveal why. The book is good in several particulars, the main one being it was an unfamiliar tale, with lilting, lyrical prose. However, there were too many instances of repeated phrases and actions; for each time Jaco sought what Agueda needed, for each of the daughters and their experiences with their king, as well as for Elixane's encounters with the messengers sent by her sisters. I mean almost verbatim dialogue each and every time. I would have preferrend a bit of variation there. Other than that, it is an enjoyable story, unique enough that you won't confuse it with another fairytale retelling, or at least until the next one based on a Portuguese fable.
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