Nettle and Bone by T. Kingfisher

(Titan Books, 2022)

Reviewed by Anne F. Wilson

“Three tasks the dust-wife had given her. Sew a cloak of owlcloth and nettles, build a dog of cursed bones, and catch moonlight in a jar of clay. Three tasks, and then the dust-wife would give her the tools to kill a prince.”

Marra is the third daughter of a King and Queen whose kingdom stands between two much bigger rival kingdoms. Through years of diplomacy Marra’s mother has managed to balance the competing claims of their neighbours and stave off war. Now Marra’s eldest sister Damia is of age, she can marry the son of the Northern Kingdom and bring peace and stability. Unfortunately, a few months after the wedding, Damia dies, and her second sister Kania is lined up to marry the prince. Marra is safely tucked away in a convent in case of need. Then on a visit to the Northern Kingdom she discovers that the prince is a sadist, he murdered Damia, and Kania is suffering though repeated pregnancies and stillbirths to avoid the same fate.

In this grim situation Marra decides that she has to act, and that only magic will help. She goes to find the dust-wife who lives in a graveyard and talks with the dead. The dust-wife gives her the three tasks, and if Marra completes them the dust-wife will be bound to help.

I liked the character of Marra. She is happier at the convent than she was at the palace. She gets on with shovelling the stables even though (as a princess) no-one expects her to. She learns to spin, weave and knit. Although the tasks set for her are impossible, she carries on doggedly doing the next thing and the thing after that.

I thought the family relationships were well-drawn and believable. The sisters are not alike, and Marra loves Damia much more than Kania, who told her (aged 12) that she hated her. Nevertheless, she goes on her epic journey to save her. The Queen, who has gone so far into Realpolitik that she accepts the necessity to sacrifice her daughters for the sake of everyone else in the kingdom, has no attention to spare for Marra. “The Queen’s mind was as brittle-sharp as an iron dagger, and she spent her days delicately threading the web of alliances and trade agreements that allowed their kingdom to exist without being swallowed up.” “You’ll like the convent,” she says as a send-off to Marra. “More than you like it here, at any rate.”

But Marra finds other mothers. There are the nuns, who are collegiate rather than maternal. The dust-wife is an un-godmother, chosen not fated. Then Marra’s own godmother turns up, who had promised the sisters good health and that Damia would marry a prince. With their help Marra begins to find her own path in the world. As this is a fairy-tale, she does manage to complete her impossible tasks, though (as always with Kingfisher) in somewhat unexpected ways. The dust wife takes her to the goblin market (a perilous undertaking in any story) to find what she needs. Marra is not a fast thinker, but she is thorough, which is hugely important when dealing with fairies, where bargains need to be considered carefully in advance.

I particularly liked the fact that in this author’s work there is no line between fairy stories and horror stories, and a blessing may turn out to be a curse. For all the scary (and sometimes horrific) things that Marra goes through, however, not one of them is as bad as being trapped in an abusive marriage.

I enjoyed Kingfisher’s delightfully ironic tone and her deft storytelling, continually overturning the reader’s expectations. She is an economical writer, and nothing that appears in the first few chapters is wasted by the end of the novel. In summary, this is a thoroughly enjoyable book and I highly recommend it.

Review from BSFA Review 18 - Download your copy here.