Fifty Beasts to Break Your Heart

November 13, 2023
Nethercott (Thistlefoot) collects 14 delectable dark fairy tales which tend to start in worlds that feel almost comfortable—until the shadows thicken and all at once everything has teeth. Some of the beastly creatures featured here are literal monsters, as in the title tale, which is presented as a bestiary (with splendid illustrations by Bobby DiTrani) assembled by three florists who create strange bouquets of creatures. Others are much more human, like the sixth graders in “A Diviner’s Abecedarian.” Girls playing fortune-telling games in the schoolyard and during sleepovers is a familiar motif—but what if they could tell exactly how the new girl in class would die? Nethercott’s supremely confident prose assists—and indeed demands—the suspension of disbelief; of course a woman can become a house, if she wishes (“Homebody”). Naturally, water might leap from lakes and bottles and clouds to drown a girl where she stands (“Drowning Lessons”). And why shouldn’t a reality-bending, mind-shattering staircase also be a slightly tacky local tourist attraction (“Sundown at the Eternal Staircase”)? That’s simply how the world is. By the end of this grimly fantastic collection, readers will have bought in entirely. Agent: Paul Lucas, Janklow & Nesbit Assoc.

Starred review from April 1, 2024

While the audiobook for Nethercott's (Thistlefoot) short story collection lacks the illustrations of the titular story, it doesn't lack any of the emotional nuance. With five narrators, a range of human experience is compellingly explored in a magical if often surreal way. Nethercott takes some of the most challengingly formatted stories--a bestiary, a calendar, and an abecedarian of divinatory practices--and makes them utterly gripping. Narrator January LaVoy stands out for the gentle menace she adds to "The War of Fog" and "Dear Henrietta," as well as the wearier, harsher menace the world inflicts on the undeserving in "The Plums at the End of the World." Gabra Zackman, Max Meyers, and Elena Rey round out the collection, voicing lost love, doomed love, consuming love, and painful yet fulfilling love. The collection is full of layered explorations of love and its effects, as well as foxes, transformation, and lingering memory. There is an ache at the center of these stories, underneath the magic. But perhaps it's the ache felt at the start of the healing process. VERDICT An alluring exploration of relationships through a fantastical lens that may appeal to those who enjoyed Cassandra Khaw's The Salt Grows Heavy or Kelly Barnhill's The Crane Husband.--Matthew Galloway

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