The Little Country by Charles de Lint
"The Little Country" is a fantasy novel that intricately weaves together the lives of its characters with elements of magic and the significance of creativity. The story begins with an unpublished manuscript by the late novelist William Dunthorn, which is under the protection of his friend Tom Little, known as the Gaffer. When Tom’s granddaughter, Janey, discovers the manuscript, a series of enchanting events unfold, particularly involving a young girl named Jodi Sheperd who becomes a Small, or fairy.
As Jodi embarks on an adventure to regain her freedom, she encounters a diverse cast of characters that highlight the connection between the magical and the rational. The narrative escalates with the involvement of John Madden, a leader of a secret society, who seeks to seize Dunthorn’s work for his own gain, leading to a confrontation with Janey and her allies. The tale explores themes of sacrifice and the duality of creativity and logic, culminating in a profound realization about the power of stories. Ultimately, the novel emphasizes the transformative journey of its characters as they navigate their intertwined fates and the magic contained within the manuscript, elevating the narrative to a reflection on the significance of art and imagination.
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The Little Country
First published: 1991
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Fantasy—Magical Realism
Time of work: The 1990’s
Locale: Cornwall, England
The Plot
The story centers on an old unpublished manuscript, The Little Country by William Dunthorn. The novelist has asked his closest friend, Tom Little (otherwise known as the Gaffer), to protect his unpublished works after his death. The Gaffer knows only that this novel cannot ever be published. The troubles begin when Tom Little’s granddaughter, Janey Little, a folk musician in her twenties, finds the novel in Tom’s attic and begins reading it.
The events in the manuscript unfold with their own magical overtones. Jodi Sheperd, a young, inquisitive girl, has stumbled on the Widow Pender’s captured Small, or fairy, and has been turned into a Small herself. A host of other characters help to free Jodi from her enchantment: Tatters children; Hedrick Henkie Whale, an eccentric artist; Denzil Gossip, an inventor; Brengy Taupin, a hedgerow philosopher; and Lizzie Snell, the mayor’s secretary. Through the course of the story, Jodi realizes that the free creativity of the fairy world and the logic and reason of humanity are two halves of the same mind and need each other.
The act of opening Dunthorn’s novel sounds a magical note in the real world that is heard by the leader of a secret society, John Madden, ruling patriarch of the Order of the Gray Dove. For years, he has been trying to lay hands on this last, unpublished work by Dunthorn because he believes he can use it as a magical talisman in his own pursuits of magic and power. In his scheme to acquire the manuscript, Madden employs Michael Bett, a megalomaniacal character with an addiction to blood and suffering, and Lena Grant, the rich, spoiled daughter of one of his confederates. Both try the usual avenues to pry the secret from Janey and Tom Little, but when these methods fail, both turn to surrounding characters: Felix Gavin, Janey Little’s boyfriend returned from seafaring, and Clare Mabley, Janey’s best friend. When Michael Bett threatens to kill Clare, a handicapped person unable to defend herself, Lena Grant takes matters into her own hands. She calls for help from the local criminal element, Davie Rowe, as well as from her own father to stop Bett’s blood lust.
The Littles gain valuable insights from a local hermetic philosopher that Dunthorn’s book is more than a book: It can set ripples in motion that can change the world. In addition, the novel is not the same for any two people. When they read through Dunthorn’s old correspondence, they find a picture with a Small man in it, playing the fiddle on the armchair shown in a portrait of Janey Little’s grandmother. They realize that the novel cannot fall into the wrong hands. They take their cue from the manuscript itself and decide to pass the novel nine times through the aperture of the Men-an-Tol, a local, ancient stonework, to send the novel back to the world of fairy.
Bett and Madden both choose this time to attack. Bett takes Tom Little captive in an old silo, and Madden follows Clare, Felix, and Janey out to the Men-an-Tol. Madden is too late to stop the book from being sent forever from this world. Bett is prevented from killing Tom Little by the self-sacrifice of Davie Rowe.
There are similar endings to Dunthorn’s manuscript and the lives of its protectors. Jodi Sheperd of Dunthorn’s manuscript returns to the Men-an-Tol after defeating the Widow Pender. She gives herself away in order to share the fairy music with the world and lives the rest of her life as a Small. Janey Little similarly returns to the Men-an-Tol and passes herself nine times through. When she does this, she receives a fairy brooch as a message from Jodi that the music is magic and that the magic is real.