Silver in the Wood: 1 (The Greenhollow Duology)

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Their two books of nonfiction, Hidden History of Napa Valley and Lost Restaurants of Napa Valley and Their Recipes, are on sale now. The people I spoke to in Hallerton village. They say there’s a wild man out here—a priest of the old gods, or a desperate criminal, or just an ordinary lunatic. He eats nothing but meat, raw, and it has made him grow to a giant’s stature; or so I was given to understand at the Fox and Feathers. They informed me I would know him by his height and his hair. At once slow deep green rolled over him. He took a breath, and another, smelling old rotting leaves and healthy growth and autumn light. He felt almost as though he could have planted his feet and become a tree himself, a strong oak reaching up to the sky, brother of the old oak who ruled the wood." Tobias Finch lives deep in the quiet of Greenhollow forest where he tries not to dwell on the past. When Henry Silver, a curious and clever young man, acquires Greenhollow Hall, the quiet and the secrecy Tobias clings to may soon come to an end. Trigger warnings for alcohol consumption, minor blood and injuries (gunshot wounds), murder and attempted murder, kidnapping, gun violence, knife violence, stabbing, and disappearance of a loved one.

Silver in the Wood by Emily Tesh - Ebook | Scribd Silver in the Wood by Emily Tesh - Ebook | Scribd

A wildly evocative and enchanting story of old forests, forgotten gods, and new love. Just magnificent."—Jenn Lyons, author of The Ruin of Kings At once slow deep green rolled over him. He took a breath, and another, smelling old rotting leaves and healthy growth and autumn light. He felt almost as though he could have planted his feet and become a tree himself, a strong oak reaching up to the sky, brother of the old oak who ruled the wood.” Woods with a curse, immortality under the bases of managing the woods, love in the most unexpected places, love of mythology & folkloreTwo years after the events of the first story, Silver has become the new Wild Man of the Woods, and Tobias has ended their romantic relationship. Tobias now works for Mrs. Silver. One day, Henry receives a letter from his mother; she is investigating the disappearance of Maud Lindherst, who has been kidnapped by a vampire. Silver agrees to help. he felt himself for a moment as the stump of a rotten old tree, putting up thin green shoots at strange new angles.” Tobias does figure it out eventually, but one gets the sense that he is not in the habit of thinking of new things and his thoughts move with the slowness of old sap when their direction is unfamiliar.)

Silver in the Wood Quotes by Emily Tesh - Goodreads Silver in the Wood Quotes by Emily Tesh - Goodreads

Figure you must be the new owner up at Greenhallow Hall, said Tobias. Which makes you my landlord. Not being kind, just buttering you up. I love the way the magic creeps up on you in this book. Tobias is our narrator, and he’s used to the way things change in the Wood, and doesn’t feel any need to comment on this. It’s only as the story progresses that one begins to realise, from his passing remarks, and from things that Silver says, that, for example, his house is never in the same place twice unless he remembers to make sure of it. It’s a lovely, habitual sort of magic, and it also kind of plays into the feeling you get when you are lost in a wood or bushland that you’ve seen this bit before, but somewhere else, or that the paths have moved and you have wandered in a circle. (Come to think of it, this experience may well be at the root of the many stories people tell about magical forests.) Alex Brown (18 August 2020). "The Wild Magic of Emily Tesh's Drowned Country". Tor.com . Retrieved 24 September 2020.

I don’t know where Tesh has been all these years, but she’s a gem of a writer. The world of Greenhollow Hall and the lives of its inhabitants are gorgeously rendered. She is a captivating writer, one who can describe a scene in detail without burying the reader in minutiae or losing sight of how the characters influence and are influenced by the scene. Silver in the Wood reads like a forest fairytale. It could be seen like a loose m/m retelling of the Green Man myths, so it's fitting that this is a story about rebirth and reawakening, not only of nature after spring but of people after toxic relationships. there’s something so powerful in being able to put concepts like immortality and ineffability and destiny (...........and depression, lol, honestly immortality is horrifying) in painfully, brutally human terms and to examine the effects they might have on Actual People... and nobody has Done It For Me like this in years and years. this book is EVERYTHING i love about myth and faery and the power of story mixed with “okay but what if these characters acted like real people tho” — aka what DWJ did so well, and what the world has been desperately missing for almost 10 years. I utterly adored Emily Tesh’s Silver in the Wood. That’s it. That’s the whole review. What? You need more? Alright, then…

Silver in the Wood - Goodreads

Think of the loveliest, most shivery story you ever read, perhaps from a crumbling book of folk tales, and combine it with a book of nature writing. Add queer romance, a steely mama witch hunter, and the tension of knowing what a sweet, silly love interest doesn’t know. That is Silver in the Wood.

Tobias and Silver search for Maud, finding that she has already killed the vampire in question. Maud is also a scholar of folklore; she is interested in finding Fairyland. Silver uses his powers to open a door to Fairyland, which is empty. Most of the fairies have died out in the preceding centuries; only a servant and the Fairy Queen remain. The Queen attempts to possess Maud, but she is defeated by Silver's magic. Silver, Tobias, and Maud return to their world. Maud begins to work for Mrs. Silver. The fairy servant becomes the new Lord of Greenhollow Wood, allowing Silver to become mortal once again and to rekindle his relationship with Tobias.

Greenhollow Duology - Wikipedia Greenhollow Duology - Wikipedia

Fiercly rich in folklore and forestry, The Silver in the Woods oozes images of lush English landscapes and old forgotten stories. I could almost see myself alongside Tobias as he walks the forest floor, smell the damp and the rot and hear the leaves rustling as they whisper stories of old. Add in facinating characters that are immediately loveable, especially the Winters, and you're on to a winner. Even the Wild Man of Greenhollow can’t ignore a summons from his mother, when that mother is the indomitable Adela Silver, practical folklorist. Henry Silver does not relish what he’ll find in the grimy seaside town of Rothport, where once the ancient wood extended before it was drowned beneath the sea—a missing girl, a monster on the loose, or, worst of all, Tobias Finch, who loves him. Tesh’s exhilarating debut novel puts a queer spin on the Green Man myth, set in a time and place resembling Victorian England. Reclusive, taciturn Tobias Finch has spent over 400 years caring for Greenhollow Wood, with only his cat and dryads for company. Then attractive Henry Silver appears at his door, dripping wet. Tobias recognizes him as the new owner of the woods; Henry flirts with him, but Tobias avoids reciprocating. The two grow closer, however, when Tobias convalesces in the manor house after being shot by a young man While I did enjoy the plot and the mythology, overall Silver in the Wood fell somewhat flat for me. I liked Tobias and his quiet methodicalness. But, I also didn’t feel particularly connected with him. I felt especially disconnected from Henry. I had not even noticed the romance developing between them. The book has a romance, I knew that, I mean, that was the point of reading it. But, I just felt like Tesh never delivered enough depth from the characters to make the romance feel believable. However, I also didn’t really enjoy Henry as a character, inquisitiveness aside. He’s clever and curious, but I felt like we only saw the surface of his character. Silver in the Wood was enchanting and atmospheric and not a bad way for a new writer to show off her writing chops as she tells the story of a 400-year-old Wild Man in the Greenhollow Forest, guarding both the forest and the people around it; existing somewhere in the space between human and not quite human anymore, protected by a bramble dryad, easily falling into the slow green forest time - and keeping guard against the old fae evil.The flow. If you enjoy fairy tales or folk stories, this will pull you in with its loving mimicry of that style. Quiet, gruff Tobias was a caretaker with secrets he was content to never remove from the hollows he stored them in. A man the townspeople told stories about, the old soul had long been entwind with the woods. His kind heart beat with a gentle cadence, his prowess branching out as often as necessary. Mysteriously straightforward, he was quite intriguing. Greenman and faerie lore - almost an m/m Tam Lin - are prominent in this one, but I like it best when it talks of the woods: In England (and some other places) there's an old lore about a figure known as The Green Man, who is a forest spirit or wood deity of some form. Silver in the Wood takes this lore and puts its own lovely little spin on it. Tesh has a fluid, engaging writing style, and the woods setting was rich and evocative. Equally, so was the way reality was woven in to coexist besides the magical setting of the wood - I'm not sure when this was set (later Victorian era, perhaps?) but the wider world was so excellent. I also haven't seen any English folklore retelling for ages, and this is just a reminder of how much potential there is.