Fire and Hemlock

Polly has lived a pretty normal life. Or has she? Packing up her room at her gran's to return to university, her eye is caught by a sci-fi story collection that suddenly jogs a whole set of parallel memories stretching over the past 9 years, starting when she accidentally gate-crashed a funeral at the imposing house down the road and met Thomas Lynn. Over the next several years, she and Tom became friends, just as Polly needed support when her parents' marriage fell apart. Together they imagined another world and got scared when the things they imagined came true. But Tom's ex-wife's family kept a close eye on him, and when Polly finally got too close, the memories suddenly stopped. Can Polly remember what happened and what she did to show more Tom before it's too late to save him?

I've read this book countless times, starting when I was about 11. That's about the age Polly is at the beginning of the book. The last time I read it before this most recent reading (in 2025) was in 2011, when I was 19, the age Polly is at the end of the book. I've counted it among my favorites for decades, and it's still up there -- the story and writing are brilliant. Reading this as a 33-year-old, though... wow, the relationship between Polly and Tom gets real squicky real fast. It's a little scary to me how not squicked I was when reading it as a child and a teenager. I've been recommending this to people for ages as one of my favorite DWJ books, and unfortunately I just don't think I can anymore. Tom is supposed to be in his 20s when he meets Polly at the age of 10 -- I would say if we're being generous, he's probably 15 years older than her. I really wish the book didn't end with a romance between them, or at least if there's a romance, give Polly more time to grow up and mature before making that choice. But the Tam Lin element requires that Polly love him... so I'm conflicted, because it's squicky but I still think the story is brilliant. Anyway, I think this book is very much of its time, and I don't think I would recommend it to a modern reader or anyone other than the biggest DWJ fan. But it holds a very nostalgic and special place in my heart and was one of the two books that inspired my love of Tam Lin retellings (the other one is Tam Lin by Pamela Dean which I think has held up a lot better over time by virtue of the protagonist being 18 when it starts), so I'm going to continue to give it 5 stars. show less

Nineteen-year-old Polly suddenly realizes that she has two different sets of memories of the past nine years. One involves some very odd, even fantastic events she experienced in the presence of a man named Tom Lynn, who meant a great deal to her. The other is relentlessly mundane, and contains no trace of this person at all. And as she thinks back over the life she's forgotten, she eventually comes to realize why she's forgotten it, and to consider what she needs to do save poor Tom.

It's really hard to say precisely how I feel about this book. The plot is intriguing, if a bit slow. But the subtle, complicated ways in which Jones weaves together the mundane day-to-day world and the world of faerie is really interesting, and rather show more thought-provoking. There is, for instance, probably a parallel to be drawn between the way young Polly gets half-understood glimpses of the supernatural around her and her child's-eye view of her parents' divorce, and I think there's some fascinating material to chew over there.

On the other hand, man, did aspects of this story make me uncomfortable. The person who recommended it to me sort of warned me of this going in, saying that it contains "a romance between an adult and a child." And that's absolutely what it does contain; there's really just no other way of putting it. This isn't quite as horrifying as it might sound. There's not really anything terribly sexually inappropriate. But for much of the novel -- especially at the beginning, as Tom first strikes up Polly's friendship in a way that left me feeling like he was going to offer her candy in his van at any moment -- it did have me squirming more than a little. "Geez," I often found myself thinking, "I know this is an area where social mores have changed a little over the past decades" -- the book was published in 1985 -- "but how the hell can the author not be aware of just how creepily this is coming off?!" Aspects of the ending, however, had me reconsidering that, and thinking that perhaps not only did she entirely realize how disturbing it was, but that that was actually part of the point. And now I feel unsettled about it all in an entirely different way, maybe.

Rating: It's really hard to know how to rate this one. I think I'm going to give it 4/5, but maybe with a rather large asterisk. show less

I stayed up past midnight to finish this marvelous book, and am still pondering it days later. It is full of symbols from ballads and medieval tales like Tam Lin, and even The Odyssey. The plot is haunting, confusing, sometimes creepy, sometimes muddled and very twisty in that special DWJ way, with an opaque ending that makes you want to start the book over again to recognize all the clues that she sprinkles throughout. Her use of names is very important, as well as what it means to be a hero in every-day life, but the book is also a story about a young girl growing up and being in love (despite the age difference). Reading her essay “The Heroic Ideal: A Personal Odyssey” in her book Reflections on the Magic of Writing, helps me to show more better understand it. I loved the character of Granny, I loved the classical music references (the “quartet” in more ways than one), and I loved the painting references. The reader learns things while she reads, but DWJ isn’t obvious about it. Final advice: Everyone should read this book. show less

The ballad Tam Lin is a tricky one to relay because it’s dense with folk customs and magical imagery, while also being a mire of moral discomfort. Jones uniquely captures this, and reshapes the ballad format so that a modern reader can see through the fairy glamour to the human tensions therein.

Before reading this book, read one of the ballads of Tam Lin. Or at least one of the prose versions of the story. Then read this - and do read it. It's very good.

Diana Wynne Jones, like Neil Gaiman, writes beautiful stories. Charming, engaging, deep, complex stories which are also perfectly simple and elegant. This is no exception. Polly reminds me of myself at fourteen, and at nineteen; she also reminds me of Polly in The Magician's Nephew (by C S Lewis), and of fairy tale heroines who win the day by being kind and brave and simply good. The magic is so unremarkable that it almost doesn't seem like magic, until it does. Thomas Lynn is as ambiguously good and not-so-good, brave and cowardly, victim and protagonist as in the original show more stories of Tam Lin, and the villains are perfectly wicked vampirish fairies. Or perhaps just magical, wealthy, powerful and amoral people. Or maybe something else entirely.

I read this in a day because I couldn't bring myself to stop reading once I started. Thoroughly enjoyed, would read again. show less

From the cover, the title and what I have read of other Diana Wynne Jones novels, I expected a blantantly magical world - different, confusing and not my own. What I found was reality, and somehow I have to say that's the book's greatest strength.

While packing to return to college, Polly picks up an old book, which isn't quite as she remembers it. Feeling that she has lost something important, Polly casts her mind back nine years and discovers forgotten memories of her friendship with Thomas Lynn. But why has he been erased from her life?

The memories begin at age 10, when Polly accidentally crashes a funeral and meets a cellist. Together they make up stories in which they are heroes, Tan Coul and his assistant Hero. However, their show more stories have a strange way of coming true, and Tom's ex-wife and her family appear to have sinister designs on Tom - and Polly, when she refuses to give Tom's friendship up.

Set in England during ~ early 1980s, the story follows Polly's relationship with Tom Lynn (through letters, books and occasional meetings), her struggles with her divorced and negligent parents and the usual complications of adolescence, inter-weaving them with the ballads of Tam Lin and Thomas the Rhymer.
The story is very real - Polly's family issues painfully so, and the're countered by the story's vitality, warmth and wonderful characters (Polly's parents and the bad guys excluded, obviously). One of the wonderful aspect of Mr Lynn's relationship with Polly as a child is the way takes her seriously and is honest with her creative en devours. (I also love the way he sends her books.) The reflections and insights into the pains of growing up are honest and acute, and made me empathise with Polly.

Fire and Hemlock is captivating and wonderful, vividly described and told in four parts and a coda - with each part cleverly given a music speed (allegro vivace, andante cantabile, allegro con fuoco, presto molto agitato and scherzando). Like an onion (or is it an ogre?) it has many layers. One of its strengths is that for the most part, things aren't explained - the fantasy element is also a mystery one, and in consequence of being vague, is sinister and intriguing. It's not blatantly a romantic story, either - for the most part, things are subtle and refreshingly so.

But, the subtly does cause difficulties with the ending. There is no tidy, clear explanation of what happens, and instead of the reality with hints of fantasy that is most of the book, this is fantasy (with hints of reality). The ending is rushed, vague, and disconcerting - it requires a few readings to get it all straight, along with a lot of guesswork and reading between the lines. Polly rushes in, instinctively knowing rules which are not explained and combined with a few twists and the parallels (or parallels twisted) with the ballads and Faerie Queen, confusion puts it mildly.
However, the ultimate conclusion is necessarily subtle, as it involves a paradox and finding a loophole - and would be counteracted by being more explicit. The story would also lose something by being spelt-out - working things out for yourself is part of the appeal, as is the cryptic manner they are presented in. There is also a reason why Polly knows, mentioned much, much earlier.
Luckily I knew a (very) little bit about Tam Lin, and between that and the quotes preceding each chapter, had enough of an idea. I suspect knowing more would help.

Which is the long way of saying this mixture of reality and fantasy is wonderful and brilliant, and highly recommended. show less

The writing is great, the plot is sophisticated, the ending is obscure. A highly complex, literary book that left me unsatisfied. I would recommend this to adults and older teens, but not to children.

Jones set out to write a heroic quest, but I think she forgot one thing: heroic quests have clear, powerful endings. The hero may succeed or fail, but we understand why. The tale foretells it all the way through - a good ending feels fated, as if no other ending could possibly work. But Jones' ambiguous and strange ending left me confused and feeling cheated.