Tumnus’ Bookshelf: The NarniaFans Book Reviews: Once a Queen by Sarah Arthur

Hi everyone! Welcome back to Tumnus’ Bookshelf, where we review all the books written by, about, or inspired by CS Lewis, such as Narnia and The Inklings. In today’s review, we’re looking at Sarah Arthur’s novel Once a Queen.

TITLE: Once a queen

AUTHOR: Sarah Arthur

PUBLISHER ‏ : ‎ Water stream

ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0593194454

ISBN-13 ‏: ‎ 978-0593194454

Summary:

All her life, Eva Joyce wished her favorite fantasy stories were true. As the daughter of English professors, worlds of fantasy and adventure were deeply rooted in her imagination, and as she grew up, she began to wonder if they were really just stories. Then Eva and her mother Gwendolyn traveled to England to visit the grandmother she never knew she had; Eva was not surprisede what awaits you.

Initially showered with gifts and affection, Eva discovers the secrets and mysteries of her family’s past and learns that such worlds may actually exist. Moreover, she discovers that this world is closely linked to a tragedy that has struck her family and torn them apart. Together with her new friend Frankie Addison and a cast of other colorful characters, Eva embarks on a journey of redemption, mystery and fantastical adventure that delves deep into her family’s history.

Review:

It’s no secret that the fantasy subgenre that deals with what happens after “the end” has gained a lot of traction. From the moment we close the last book in a series, we wonder what comes next. And what about the circumstances that led to this journey? From the cholera epidemic that brought Mary to Misselthwaite Manor in 1888, The Secret Garden to the air raids on London in World War II, which led Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy to the wardrobe in Narnia, to the psychological torture that Charles Wallace was subjected to by the man with the red eyes in a wrinkle in time, These characters endured great suffering before the story changed their lives forever, and the older we get, the more we wonder if they will ever find peace and healing.

In her new novel Once QueenSarah Arthur attempts to answer these questions. Sarah Arthur has already written at least three devotional books on the works of JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis, and hosted a Madeleine L’Engle Writer’s Retreat. She has more than established herself in the community of fans of these works, so it is no surprise that she knows how to tell a story in this style masterfully. The book is set in 1995, a time when fantasy was not as fashionable as it is today. For many parents reading the book, it will feel just like it did when they first came into contact with their favorite worlds, as they embark on an adventure that is both familiar and new.

With her knowledge of the genre, she also knows how to play with the “portal” method of traveling between worlds, taking inspiration from a long-standing fan theory in The journey of On the Dawn, namely that the frame for the picture of the ship was made of the same magic wood as the wardrobe in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. This makes it feel as though her story could be connected by the forest between the worlds in Narnia, making it a compelling addition to the “portal fantasy genre.” But as mysterious events occur in the manor house at night, her story takes on an almost eerie, gothic tone reminiscent of the classic Sherlock Holmes novel. The Bakservilles’ dog, right down to family secrets.

Equally convincing are the excerpts from the fantasy novel AHW Clifton’s Ternival: Selected Stories. Not since William Goldman’s The Prince’s Bride introduced me to S. Morgnestern, I was more convinced that a fictional novel within a story does indeed exist. I actually scoured Google, Amazon, Wikipedia, and Barnes and Noble.com just to double and triple check that this wonderful book actually existed. It’s a pretty well-established fact among diehard fans of the fantasy genre that there was no shortage of forgotten fantasy stories in the time period between Frodo sailing off into the West and the gates to Narnia being closed forever to the day Harry Potter received his Hogwarts acceptance letter and Ned Stark lost his head. If even Lewis and Tolkien’s Inkling colleague Charles Williams is a victim of such a fate, it raises the possibility that AHW Clifton may have been such a lost genre. Clifton’s book seemed so real to me, and I wondered for a brief moment if Arthur hadn’t found a tattered copy in a used bookstore somewhere.

However, it wasn’t just the narrative cleverly woven into the text that made me believe the story existed, but Eva’s unabashed love for Clifton’s story. We all have that story that we love unconditionally, even when it’s obscure or ridiculed. Whether it was the love of B and C superhero comics like Iron Man, Aquaman and Silver Surfer before they became box office hits, or the reruns of Star Trek, Reading Expanded Universe war of stars Novels, memorizing the chronology of Middle Earth, or reading Narnia aloud in a British accent – fans of these stories wear their love for these worlds on their sleeves, and Eva, like so many of us, is no exception. This world she came to know meant something to her, just like these stories mean something to us. It may be silly, it may not mean much to others, but when we needed this story most, it was there for us, inspiring our dreams and hopes and making us believe in the impossible.

If anyone finds this hard to believe, it is Eva’s grandmother. As we meet the grandmother, we are swept away by her mystery, as she is equal parts Dame Julie Andrews and Queen Clarice Rinaldi in Suddenly Princess in her sense of class, grace, distinction, elegance, style and sophistication, and the Fairy Godmother in Cinderella when she takes her long-lost granddaughter on an all-expenses-paid shopping spree. Yet even there, when she spends money on her, it belies a sense of sadness, as if something in her life has broken that has left a huge hole in her life that has yet to be filled. Even the way her gardener and servants talk about her lack of church attendance suggests that she is running away from someone.

But then comes the moment when Eva starts digging a little too deep and it seems the spell may be broken and we hear Grandmother demanding that Eva never speak of it again. We learn that Grandmother was not unlike Susan Pevensie in her own story and lost most of her entire family as a result of a railway accident and as a result not only stopped believing in fairy tales but began to hate them all together. Eva, on the other hand, when she embarks on her own journey to another world, not only returns wiser but also discovers that rather than being bored by ordinary gardens and forests, she loves them more and sees the endless possibilities of enchantment in them.

Even her gardener and other servants in the house speak in hushed tones of Grandmother having “fits” or “seizures,” and the magic of the trip seems to have vanished. Her maid will even join in her “fit,” acting as the Queen’s maid, gently guiding her through these fits. These moments are as frightening for Eva as they are for the reader, and we are left worrying not only for Eva’s safety, but for Grandmother’s as well.

In these moments, Eva’s mother Gwendowlyn acts as a buffer of sorts. She loves both her mother and her daughter and wants so much for this to be an unforgettable journey for Eva. She tries her best not only to keep the peace but also to make sure her daughter doesn’t get too attached to her, lest she be rejected and excluded by her grandmother, just like Gwen was so long ago. Also, in light of this family tragedy, she knows how vivid her daughter’s imagination can be and doesn’t want her to be haunted by nightmares.

We also see through the three of them how the pain of the past can affect other relationships, and not just those between grandmother, mother and daughter. We find out that painful taunts from Grandmother have affected Gwen’s own feelings about her marriage, causing her to doubt herself. We even see how this pain in turn spills over into Eva and her budding friendship with Frankie Addison, the son of the estate’s gardeners. They quickly become friends due to their shared love of the Ternival stories. Equal parts Calvin O’Keefe in The Wrinkle in Time and Samwise Gamgee in The Lord of the Rings may be a supporting character, but he is anything but a “burden.” He is willing to do anything to help Eva, but he also stresses caution, knowing full well how deep his grandmother’s scars run from his own family’s stories. But those scars run so deep that they inevitably strain their friendship.

But a mysterious, glowing white stage seems to haunt the grounds of the estate and seemingly stalk them, reminiscent of the Hound of Heaven. To this end, while Once Queen is a “portal” fantasy, Arthur weaves between realities as the two worlds seem to collide with each other as not only the deer but also the grandmother’s lost family calls for her to come home. Eva therefore embarks on a journey to piece together the clues to her grandmother’s past and the end result is a thrilling mystery. There are secrets within this family and deep pain that only time can reveal and heal.

These secrets give Eva’s story a refreshing intimacy. It is not so much about the journey to another world, but a journey into the soul and heart, and a metaphorical trip into the past to heal the wounds inflicted. Sarah also masterfully grapples with the proverbial “Susan problem.” With her knowledge of the fantasies of Lewis, Tolkien, L’Engle, and Sayer as her backbone, she knows full well that Lewis’s alleged decision to leave Susan behind was not cruel. Like Susan with Narnia, Grandmother made her own decision to turn her back on Ternival, and therefore only she can make the decision to return.

In his commitment to The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe to his goddaughter Lucy, Lewis was aware that little girls grow faster than fairy tales, but hoped that one day she would love them again. Now we can finally follow the story of not one but three generations of girls who thought they had outgrown fairy tales, and who not only love them again, but learn to believe in them. Sarah Arthur weaves a masterful spell into her story that will captivate and haunt readers, keeping you engaged long after you’ve finished reading, as all good fairy tales do. An absolute delight. I can’t wait for the second book!

Five out of five shields.

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