This is the premise for Tchaikovsky’s novella And Put Away Childish Things - a social commentary on Britain during the pandemic all wrapped up in a fairytale nightmare centred around Felix “Harry” Bodie, the grandson of the famous author of a series of postwar books based in the fictional realm of Underhill.
The worldbuilding in this short novella is fabulous, as is always the case with Tchaikovsky, with the decrepit fantasy realm coming to life as Bodie makes his way through decaying forest to the tumbling down castle, and the characters are wonderfully real, despite being broken down fairytale characters. Their sad reflections of beloved Narniaisms such as Mr Tumnus, and the addition of an oversized clown and spider - well known triggers for horror - work really well to build a creepy atmosphere and develop a fear and disgust in our main character which is almost palpable, until he realizes just how non-monstrous and, in the case of the clown, pathetic these “monsters” actually are.
This was a delightful take on contemporary Britain with references to Bagpuss, C. S. Lewis and Dominic Cummings’s flight to Barnard Castle coupled with the desperate desire for escapism from a bleak pandemic-filled world, no matter how dissatisfying and ugly the alternative, and I highly recommend it.
Thank you to NetGalley and Rebellion Publishing for granting me a digital review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
