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The Stolen Child

By Keith Donohue

(68)

| Paperback | 9780099490593

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Critics

Odd bods

The Stolen Child by Keith Donohue 319pp, Jonathan Cape, £12.99 Once upon a time, quite recently, it seems, somewhere in the woods of New England there lived a small pack of shape-shifting goblins. Ageless, pitiless, feral, their purpose was to abduct ... (read full critics)

guardian.co.uk published on Sat, 25 Sep 2010

The Stolen Child

We create ourselves each day with memories of the past. The version of us that lives and breathes, that goes to work and makes decisions to do one thing and not another, leaves behind each new day an old iteration, and starts the next day anew. But t ... (read full critics)

bookotron published on Tue, 14 Sep 2010

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9 Reviews

3 people find this helpful

Nothing is better that starting the new year with a good book.
The Stolen Child is one of the best novels I have read in a long time. The story went back and forth between the narratives of Henry Day, a child who was taken by the changelings (fairies in the woods) to become one of them, and h ... (continue)

Nothing is better that starting the new year with a good book.
The Stolen Child is one of the best novels I have read in a long time. The story went back and forth between the narratives of Henry Day, a child who was taken by the changelings (fairies in the woods) to become one of them, and his impostor who took Henry's place in the human world when the kid was 7 years old. Through the vivid imagination of the author, readers are hooked from page one to the very different lives of the two closely-connected characters.
For those of you who expect the hocus-pocus of fairies in a magical world like the Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter may be disappointed. In fact, the changelings are no different from scavengers or tramps, and one may question why they even existed. There is no explanation, but after all, this is fiction.
What makes this such a good read is the writing - both the real and fake Henry Day spoke from the bottom of their hearts. They had been looking for the truth throughout their lives while struggling for survival in a world to which they didn't belong. I could feel their yearnings for love and forgiveness when I read their stories. I cared about them so much that I couldn't put down the book and postponed the more important tasks until I got the end of the story.
There are few books that can take priority in one's life. This is one of them. Read it.

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Tracy W said on Jan 6, 2008 | Add your feedback

1 person find this helpful

I have read a few comments on this book hence, did have a high expectation on it.
When a human lost his memory, he will try his means to find out his past. Maybe a person without memory will feel that he is not a complete person. If memory is a painful one does he still wish to know it? When ... (continue)

I have read a few comments on this book hence, did have a high expectation on it.
When a human lost his memory, he will try his means to find out his past. Maybe a person without memory will feel that he is not a complete person. If memory is a painful one does he still wish to know it? When Henry (the changling) finally get to know his real identity does he regretted it? To find out that he was once an autistic kid is such a painful truth.
A person who enjoy a smooth life will not know how to treasure what he owns now. That is why everyone life has setbacks. If a person could treat setback as a learning experience then he will be able to grow a little bit wiser each time. Life is so amusing...
When a person encountered a setback, it might not be a bad thing after all. It might lead to something good in the future. The kidnapping might be a worse thing that has happened to Henry (the changling). But without the kidnapping he will not have a second chance to live his life again. What will he be if he is still the autistic kid?

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Freya said on Dec 1, 2007 about the Hardcover edition | Add your feedback

Could not get it going in the first time. Let's see about this time.

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Sophiec0830 said on Feb 1, 2009 | Add your feedback

Peter Pan taken to its logical realistic chillingly depressing and horrific end.

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Fay Ng said on Sep 18, 2008 | Add your feedback

Only this. Haunting story.

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jacoutofthebox said on Sep 16, 2008 about the Hardcover edition | Add your feedback

The Stolen Child

This unique urban fantasy, inspired by W.B. Yeats poem of the same name, tells the lore of the changeling from two points of view: the child transforming into a changeling and the changeling transforming back to a human. Both characters have quite a lot in common, both appear to be the last of thei ... (continue)

This unique urban fantasy, inspired by W.B. Yeats poem of the same name, tells the lore of the changeling from two points of view: the child transforming into a changeling and the changeling transforming back to a human. Both characters have quite a lot in common, both appear to be the last of their kind and both are uncommonly interested in their past, dimly-remembered lives.

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Readingrat said on Feb 19, 2008 about the Hardcover edition | Add your feedback