Tag (real name Hyacinth nickname Tagalong shortened to Tag) is locked up at home with just her mother and a few servants. Her older sisters - Rose, Lily and Iris have been windswept. Wild storms hit this place from time to time and any children who are outside are swept away. No one knows where they go or even if they are still alive so the town has very strict rules. Children under fifteen are not allowed outside - ever!
When her mother goes out to a council meeting Tag decides to explore the hidden attic. And she works out a way to escape. She meets up with other children and joins them as they decide to travel to the distant mountains to seek out their lost siblings. Tag ties pieces of clothing together that she finds in the wardrobe and then she uses this as a rope to escape from her locked house.
"Moving aside rolls of old wallpaper and saggy cardboard boxes. Tag reached the wardrobe. When she opened the doors, it was as if her sisters rushed out - at least, the smell of them did, as if they were in there somewhere, among their trousers and party dresses, their skirts and stockings and shoes. Tag climbed inside and sat right down among the shoes and wept. She wept ... for her sisters lost to the wind. For her father, sent to his grave. For her mother laced into a corset of grief. And for herself ... "
In this dystopian world books are banned:
"The book even smelled dangerous. It smelled of clouds and fiddlehead ferns, woodland campfires and castle kitchens. Or at least what Tag imagined those things might smell like. It was dangerous to posses an illegal book. People were sent away - banished - for the offense. Still, somehow, she found herself tucked into a corner of the attic with the book open on her lap. The light from the window cast a lemon-yellow circle on the book and left the rest of her in soft brown darkness. Tag read stories of golden birds, magic beanstalks and long-haired girls locked in tall towers. ... She encountered witches and shape-shifters, mermaids and snow snakes, dragons and people-eating giants."
There is also a political layer to this story which I really enjoyed. Here are some text quotes from the council meeting. Tag and her companions listen in while the townspeople demand some action about their children.And in this world the leaves which are swept in by the wind are currency.
"Ren scooped a leaf off the ground and handed it to Tag. It was a leaf unlike any other Tag had ever seen or felt - leathery and a little heavier than an ordinary leaf ... 'That's currency,' Ren explained ... 'In other words, money. And really, the only people authorised to pick those up are the PTB (Powers that be) footlickers in the white jumpsuits. But everybody goes out anyway, ... They use is to pay for things. They're valuable. ... Everyone has to agree that each leaf has a certain value so you can use them to pay for things your need or want.' ... 'Where do the come from?' ... 'They blow in on the wind. That's the only time you find them."
There is also a layer of environmental consciousness in this book as the children encounter piles of rubbish and plastic on their journey.
"She thought she had come to the piles of gold and silver likely to be found in a troll's lair. But as she rounded the corner and entered an immense chamber, she saw that what was sparkling and glinting in the smokey light of the torches were piles of broken glass and shards of plastic. The walls were covered with or were maybe made of trash: plastic packaging, plastic straws, plastic toothbrushes, toys and more toys, doodads and knick-knacks, and a mountain of plastic bags. Millions of tiny plastic particles caught the light, sparkling like mica."
And I like the final wisdom:
"You have all survived something hard, and you have grown stronger because of it. Use this strength to create a new and better life for yourselves and for all the kingdoms and their inhabitants on our one and only Earth."
Author blurb: In Tag’s world, children are disappearing. “Youngers” who venture Outside are windswept—vanishing in the swirling snow—Tag’s sisters among them. Many have tried to find the lost children; all have failed. And since the Other Times, the Powers That Be seem intent on keeping it that way. Little remains from those times: snippets of songs, heaps of plastic trash, and a few banned texts—including a book of fairytales. An unlikely crew of Youngers join forces—Boots, who can climb anything, Ant, who will eat anything, Ren, who will say anything, and Tag, who doesn’t appear to have any talent whatsoever. With their dubious skills, the (book of) fairytales, a possibly magic ribbon, and an unwillingness to accept “that’s impossible,” they set off to rescue their windswept siblings ...
Windswept references a dozen Norwegian folk and fairy tales along with more familiar (to my eyes) tales such as Sleeping Beauty; Rapunzel; Rumpelstiltskin; Little Red Riding Hood; Snow White and Jack and the Beanstalk.
There is also a repeated refrain in this story which acts as a puzzle:
The Mountains - you'll get there too late or never at all.
And there is a time constraint because if the mountains turn completely blue they will be too late to rescue the stolen childen.
Fairy Tale Tropes (Metropolitan Opera)
The absent or deceased mother
Many fairy tales feature young women who are, for a variety of reasons, motherless.
In Windswept, Tag's mother is not absent but she is distant and does not have a close relationship with Tag because she is grieving the loss of her other three daughters and her husband.
The wicked older woman
Be it a controlling stepmother or malicious witch, fairy tales also often include an older female figure who torments the young protagonist out of jealousy.
In Windswept these are the legendary trolls who is is rumoured have taken all the children to their mountain lair. This was the only part of the story that I found a little puzzling. The trolls, we learn, take the children because their own youngsters have been hunted and killed. The trolls use the children build up their numbers. After seven years of living with the trolls in their filthy lair the children become troll-like trolls. "The younger they are, the longer they can serve the trolls' interests."
A supernatural or magical helper
Many stories feature a magical figure who aids and protects the young protagonist. This character may take the form of a fairy godmother, a deceased ancestor or spirit, a magical animal, or an enchanted tree.
In Windswept there are three magical helpers - old women who offer advice and practical help such as a magical table cloth that produces food.
Rags-to-riches
Many fairy tales follow protagonists who have been reduced to lowly circumstances, are held in some sort of captivity, or have been exiled and/or denied their rightful inheritance. The narrative arc of these stories often concludes with the hero reclaiming or even exceeding the social status and material wealth that was rightfully theirs.
In Windswept the children want to restore their freedom and find their siblings and discover the truth about the wind and the way their city has been controlled by draconian rules. By the end of the story the lives of these children are certainly much richer and as a reader we make the wonderful discovery about the power of stories to set the captives free.
The motif of three
Three old women help the children; to call up the wind Tag uses a special string with three knots and Tag had three sisters who were Windswept and taken to the Trolls
Listen to a five minute audio sample which begins with the voices of a group of creatures who are gathered around to listen to the storyteller.
I really love the cover of this book and the internal illustrations by Armando Veve. Here is some more of his work:
The structure in this book where the bard tells stories reminded me of Podkin One Ear.
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