The Wood at Midwinter
by Susanna Clarke
Illustrated by Victoria Sawdon
Reviewed by Galen Strickland
Posted November 1, 2024
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In the afterword, the author says this story was originally one of the footnotes (one of the many, many footnotes) in her award-winning novel, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, but that it somehow got lost before the book was printed. In actuality, she didn't write it until 2022, as part of a BBC Christmas radio show. The notion it could have been a footnote to that book is not out of the realm of possibility, since several of those notes are probably as long as this short story, if not longer.
It begins: "It was winter, just a few days before Christmas." Ysolde Scot is driving a two-wheeled chaise carriage, her younger sister Merowdis at her side. In the back of the carriage are Merowdis's favorite pets (but hardly her only ones, and more like friends than pets); Apple the pig, and the dogs Pretty and Amandier. They stop at a gate, where Merowdis and the animals get out of the carriage. They will take a walk in the wood, Ysolde coming back to pick them up later. Merowdis is most at home, and the happiest, when she is in the wood. She had always said, "A church is a sort of wood. A wood is a sort of church. They’re the same thing really." Ysolde is not the only one who thinks of her sister as a saint, since she is able to communicate with animals, or at least it appears so. Things her pets and other animals say are not in quotes, but italicized, perhaps just what Merowdis thinks they are saying, and even if so, she seems to be right most of the time. Ysolde tells her to wear her bonnet due to the cold, but Merowdis does not like the way the bonnet blocks her side view, and she most definitely wants to be able to see all the wood around her in its snowy glory. After Ysolde drives off, Merowdis drops her bonnet beside the gate. Merowdis is nineteen, but most might think her younger due to her soft, childlike voice, and her infatuation with animals and nature. Another way she is younger than her age is her innocence. She may know the facts of life, but sees no need for a relationship with a man. She does want a child though, and an eerie encounter in the wood gives her an idea of how that might happen. Ysolde does return, and they go back to their home. The next time Merowdis goes into the wood, she is never seen again.
The afterword also says the setting could be England, or Scotland, or Wales, but wherever it is, it resides in the world of Strange and Norrell, that the wood Merowdis lives near might be near Newcastle. But not that Newcastle, the other one, the one built by John Uskglass, the King of the North. If we could find our way there, if we went to the St. Francis church near that wood, we might see the mural of Merowdis, and her child. More than that I will not reveal. It is a very short story, but wonderfully evocative in its description of the wood, the other animals Merowdis encounters, and her dreamlike philosophical thoughts. There are more pages in the book than necessary for the text, due to the gorgeous illustrations by Victoria Sawdon. I can recommend this, and while the price is a bit steep for such a short book, it would make a great Christmas gift for someone you might know. The hardcover is available now, along with a paperback which seems exclusive to Amazon, but ebooks will drop November 8. For anyone partial to audio books, the author narrates it herself, and it is possible her reading is from the radio drama.
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