Widdershins (novel)
Encyclopedia
Widdershins is a 2006 urban fantasy
novel
by Charles De Lint
in the Newford
universe
. It continues the events of the 2001 novel The Onion Girl
, where Jilly was left paralyzed and her relationship with Geordie unfulfilled. It also deals with a potential war between fairies
and "cousins." Fairies, according to the novel, came to the Americas
along with the European explorers
. Cousins are the original inhabitants, who can take the form
of specific animals depending on their bloodline.
According to De Lint in the introduction, Widdershins is the last novel he will write centering on Jilly Coppercorn, though he subsequently followed up the book with a prequel about Jilly's earlier days, Promises to Keep (2007).
' is to walk counterclockwise or backwards around something. It's a classic pathway into the fairy realm. It's also the way people often back slowly into the relationships that matter, the real ones that make for a life." The term is used in the novel when Timony tells Jilly that the way to enter the croí baile is to walk widdershins around an object of power.
s (a type of fairy) to hunt down Grey, a cousin who accidentally blinded him many years earlier. Odawa has already killed Grey's wife and several of Grey's friends. But when the bogans murder Anwatan, the daughter of a cousin chief, it threatens the cold peace between fairies and cousins. Because Grey rescues an innocent bystander named Lizzie from the bogans, they assume--incorrectly--that she's romantically involved with him, and they begin stalking her, which leads her to talk to Jilly. The bogans attempt to kidnap Lizzie and Jilly, but through a series of accidents, the two end up in Jilly's croí baile or "heart home," a piece of the otherworld made up of people and places she unknowingly created out of her own memories.
experiences upon Mattie. This version of Mattie carries all the memories of Jilly's abuse as though they happened to her.
Mattie summons up a version of Jilly's abusive brother Del and a priest who also molested her. The priest banishes Timony, a magical little man accompanying them, from the croí baile before he gets a chance to explain to Jilly that she can take control of the place as long as she believes she can. Del transforms Jilly and Lizzie into little girls, then picks Jilly up and takes her to a nearby house. With her martial arts
skills, Lizzie beats up the priest.
While traveling through the otherworld, Geordie loses his way and runs into Timony. Geordie realizes he needs Joe's help, so Timony asks him to focus his mind on Joe. Instead, Geordie begins thinking of Jilly, which causes him to be drawn into her croí baile. Del immediately kills him. He continues to exist as a ghost
unseen by the others, and he and Jilly finally realize their love for each other.
Joe finds the croí baile, and the pitbull
accompanying him manages to enter. Immune to Del's powers, the dog kills Del, giving them all the opportunity to leave. They eventually rejoin Timony, who brings Geordie back to life. Jilly decides to return to the croí baile and confront Del again, realizing it is the only way she can put the wounds from her past behind her.
She returns to the house where the dead Del is still lying, but he comes alive and transforms her, once again, into a child. In a moment of anger she manages to turn herself back into a full-grown woman and hit Del. He immediately changes her again into a little girl. But she realizes that in the moment when she hit him, she was focused, without uncertainty.
With her newfound power, Jilly draws her sister Raylene into the croí baile. While surprised to be there, Raylene acts on instinct and beats up Del. Jilly changes herself into her adult form, then she explains to Raylene what is happening. The two sit down and discuss the different ways they have handled their experiences, and Jilly sends Raylene back home.
Confronting Del again, Jilly declares that anytime he thinks a dirty thought, he will shrink to half his size. Predictably, he immediately shrinks until he disappears. Leaving the house, she is met by many friendly characters from her childhood, who inform her that she's become the Conjurer (the one with power over the croí baile) now that Del has been defeated.
She coaxes Mattie to read a piece she has written on her abuse experiences and how she recast them on Mattie. She then makes Mattie the Conjurer, a risky move, but Mattie is no longer angry at her. After Jilly leaves the croí baile, the crow girls are able to repair her body at last. She and Geordie decide to get married, and she asks Raylene to be the maid of honor.
. Lucius agrees to talk to Minisino, the cousin instigating the rampage.
The increasingly remorseful bogan Rabedy summons Anwatan's spirit, telling her that he was part of the gang that killed her, that he wants her help in talking Minisino out of the coming rampage, and that he intends to give himself up. She agrees to help, but doesn't believe he should sacrifice himself.
Minisino does not listen to the pleas of Lucius, Anwatan, or any of the others. Only Christiana has an effect, by informing the buffalo warriors that they will have no power outside the spirit world because most of them are ghosts. Angered, Minisino kills Joe, and Lucius kills Minisino. Anwatan meets Joe in the afterlife and agrees to bring him back on the condition that he protect Rabedy from harm.
On trial, Odawa faces either death or banishment. Grey proposes that he simply be freed on the condition that he will spend the rest of his days atoning for his crimes--and if he doesn't, he'll be hunted down. He accepts the offer.
Urban fantasy
Urban fantasy is a sub-genre of fantasy defined by place; the fantastic narrative has an urban setting. Many urban fantasies are set in contemporary times and contain supernatural elements. However, the stories can take place in historical, modern, or futuristic periods...
novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
by Charles De Lint
Charles de Lint
Charles de Lint is a Canadian fantasy author and folk musician. He is also the chief book critic for The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction....
in the Newford
Newford
Newford is a fictional North American city, the setting in many of Charles de Lint's works of urban fantasy. De Lint generally avoids writing about cities that he has not been to; however, his hometown of Ottawa did not afford him the necessary freedoms for certain stories, and he began to set them...
universe
Fictional universe
A fictional universe is a self-consistent fictional setting with elements that differ from the real world. It may also be called an imagined, constructed or fictional realm ....
. It continues the events of the 2001 novel The Onion Girl
The Onion Girl
The Onion Girl is a 2001 contemporary fantasy novel by Charles De Lint which takes place in the Newford universe. It is the first Newford novel centering on the recurring character of Jilly Coppercorn, now a middle-aged woman...
, where Jilly was left paralyzed and her relationship with Geordie unfulfilled. It also deals with a potential war between fairies
Fairy
A fairy is a type of mythical being or legendary creature, a form of spirit, often described as metaphysical, supernatural or preternatural.Fairies resemble various beings of other mythologies, though even folklore that uses the term...
and "cousins." Fairies, according to the novel, came to the Americas
Americas
The Americas, or America , are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World. In English, the plural form the Americas is often used to refer to the landmasses of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions, while the singular form America is primarily...
along with the European explorers
Age of Discovery
The Age of Discovery, also known as the Age of Exploration and the Great Navigations , was a period in history starting in the early 15th century and continuing into the early 17th century during which Europeans engaged in intensive exploration of the world, establishing direct contacts with...
. Cousins are the original inhabitants, who can take the form
Shapeshifting
Shapeshifting is a common theme in mythology, folklore, and fairy tales. It is also found in epic poems, science fiction literature, fantasy literature, children's literature, Shakespearean comedy, ballet, film, television, comics, and video games...
of specific animals depending on their bloodline.
According to De Lint in the introduction, Widdershins is the last novel he will write centering on Jilly Coppercorn, though he subsequently followed up the book with a prequel about Jilly's earlier days, Promises to Keep (2007).
Title
De Lint's official site notes, "To walk 'widdershinsWiddershins
Widdershins means to take a course opposite the apparent motion of the sun, to go counterclockwise or lefthandwise, or to circle an object by always keeping it on the left...
' is to walk counterclockwise or backwards around something. It's a classic pathway into the fairy realm. It's also the way people often back slowly into the relationships that matter, the real ones that make for a life." The term is used in the novel when Timony tells Jilly that the way to enter the croí baile is to walk widdershins around an object of power.
Overview
Odawa enlists a gang of boganBoggart
In Englishfolklore, a boggart is a household fairy which causes things to disappear, milk to sour, and dogs to go lame. Always malevolent, the boggart will follow its family wherever they flee...
s (a type of fairy) to hunt down Grey, a cousin who accidentally blinded him many years earlier. Odawa has already killed Grey's wife and several of Grey's friends. But when the bogans murder Anwatan, the daughter of a cousin chief, it threatens the cold peace between fairies and cousins. Because Grey rescues an innocent bystander named Lizzie from the bogans, they assume--incorrectly--that she's romantically involved with him, and they begin stalking her, which leads her to talk to Jilly. The bogans attempt to kidnap Lizzie and Jilly, but through a series of accidents, the two end up in Jilly's croí baile or "heart home," a piece of the otherworld made up of people and places she unknowingly created out of her own memories.
The croí baile
Mattie Finn, a physical manifestation of a character from a storybook Jilly read as a kid, hates Jilly because Jilly projected her child abuseChild abuse
Child abuse is the physical, sexual, emotional mistreatment, or neglect of a child. In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Children And Families define child maltreatment as any act or series of acts of commission or omission by a parent or...
experiences upon Mattie. This version of Mattie carries all the memories of Jilly's abuse as though they happened to her.
Mattie summons up a version of Jilly's abusive brother Del and a priest who also molested her. The priest banishes Timony, a magical little man accompanying them, from the croí baile before he gets a chance to explain to Jilly that she can take control of the place as long as she believes she can. Del transforms Jilly and Lizzie into little girls, then picks Jilly up and takes her to a nearby house. With her martial arts
Martial arts
Martial arts are extensive systems of codified practices and traditions of combat, practiced for a variety of reasons, including self-defense, competition, physical health and fitness, as well as mental and spiritual development....
skills, Lizzie beats up the priest.
While traveling through the otherworld, Geordie loses his way and runs into Timony. Geordie realizes he needs Joe's help, so Timony asks him to focus his mind on Joe. Instead, Geordie begins thinking of Jilly, which causes him to be drawn into her croí baile. Del immediately kills him. He continues to exist as a ghost
Ghost
In traditional belief and fiction, a ghost is the soul or spirit of a deceased person or animal that can appear, in visible form or other manifestation, to the living. Descriptions of the apparition of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to...
unseen by the others, and he and Jilly finally realize their love for each other.
Joe finds the croí baile, and the pitbull
American Pit Bull Terrier
The American Pit Bull Terrier is a medium-sized, solidly built, short haired dog whose early ancestors came from England and Ireland...
accompanying him manages to enter. Immune to Del's powers, the dog kills Del, giving them all the opportunity to leave. They eventually rejoin Timony, who brings Geordie back to life. Jilly decides to return to the croí baile and confront Del again, realizing it is the only way she can put the wounds from her past behind her.
She returns to the house where the dead Del is still lying, but he comes alive and transforms her, once again, into a child. In a moment of anger she manages to turn herself back into a full-grown woman and hit Del. He immediately changes her again into a little girl. But she realizes that in the moment when she hit him, she was focused, without uncertainty.
With her newfound power, Jilly draws her sister Raylene into the croí baile. While surprised to be there, Raylene acts on instinct and beats up Del. Jilly changes herself into her adult form, then she explains to Raylene what is happening. The two sit down and discuss the different ways they have handled their experiences, and Jilly sends Raylene back home.
Confronting Del again, Jilly declares that anytime he thinks a dirty thought, he will shrink to half his size. Predictably, he immediately shrinks until he disappears. Leaving the house, she is met by many friendly characters from her childhood, who inform her that she's become the Conjurer (the one with power over the croí baile) now that Del has been defeated.
She coaxes Mattie to read a piece she has written on her abuse experiences and how she recast them on Mattie. She then makes Mattie the Conjurer, a risky move, but Mattie is no longer angry at her. After Jilly leaves the croí baile, the crow girls are able to repair her body at last. She and Geordie decide to get married, and she asks Raylene to be the maid of honor.
The fairy-cousin conflict
An army of buffalo spirits is planning an attack on fairies, as vengeance for Anwatan's death. Grey seeks the help of Lucius Portsmouth, supposedly the Raven who created the world. Confronted by Odawa outside Lucius's place, Grey persuades him to postpone their feud to deal with the buffalo problem. As soon as Grey knocks on the door, however, a guard apprehends Odawa because it turns out that Grey's murdered wife was Lucius's goddaughterGodparent
A godparent, in many denominations of Christianity, is someone who sponsors a child's baptism. A male godparent is a godfather, and a female godparent is a godmother...
. Lucius agrees to talk to Minisino, the cousin instigating the rampage.
The increasingly remorseful bogan Rabedy summons Anwatan's spirit, telling her that he was part of the gang that killed her, that he wants her help in talking Minisino out of the coming rampage, and that he intends to give himself up. She agrees to help, but doesn't believe he should sacrifice himself.
Minisino does not listen to the pleas of Lucius, Anwatan, or any of the others. Only Christiana has an effect, by informing the buffalo warriors that they will have no power outside the spirit world because most of them are ghosts. Angered, Minisino kills Joe, and Lucius kills Minisino. Anwatan meets Joe in the afterlife and agrees to bring him back on the condition that he protect Rabedy from harm.
On trial, Odawa faces either death or banishment. Grey proposes that he simply be freed on the condition that he will spend the rest of his days atoning for his crimes--and if he doesn't, he'll be hunted down. He accepts the offer.
Major characters
- Jilly Coppercorn – warmhearted painter who suffered abuse as a child
- Joe Crazy Dog – a friend of Jilly's who can take the form of a dog
- Cassie – Joe's girlfriend; uses tarotTarotThe tarot |trionfi]] and later as tarocchi, tarock, and others) is a pack of cards , used from the mid-15th century in various parts of Europe to play a group of card games such as Italian tarocchini and French tarot...
cards - Geordie Riddell – Jilly's long-time best friend; they are in love with each other but have never acknowledged it
- the crow girls – two powerful beings who can take the form of humans or crows and who may be able to cure Jilly's paralysis
- Lizzie Mahone – spunky young fiddleFiddleThe term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, most often the violin. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music...
r who gets pulled into a conflict in the spirit world by accident - Galfreya/Mother Crone – member of the fairy court who is dating Geordie
- Del – Jilly's abusive brother; though now a middle-aged drunk in a trailer park, the version of him she meets in the croí baile is simply a physical manifestation of her memory of his younger self
- Christiana Tree – the "shadow" of Geordie's brother Christie, a fairy creature who started out as Christy's imaginary friend, based on a combination of himself and his first crush, a girl named Ana
- Grey – a cousin who plucked out Odawa's eyes when Odawa was in fish form, without realizing Odawa was alive
- Walker – a cousin who is chief of the deerDeerDeer are the ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. Species in the Cervidae family include white-tailed deer, elk, moose, red deer, reindeer, fallow deer, roe deer and chital. Male deer of all species and female reindeer grow and shed new antlers each year...
clan - Anwatan – Walker's daughter, whom the bogans murder
- Edgan – a "techno treekin," a creature that formed itself by gradually replacing its original organic body with pieces of electronics
- Odawa – a cousin from the salmonSalmonSalmon is the common name for several species of fish in the family Salmonidae. Several other fish in the same family are called trout; the difference is often said to be that salmon migrate and trout are resident, but this distinction does not strictly hold true...
clan who relentlessly pursues Grey for having blinded him - Rabedy – a member of the bogan gang that killed Anwatan; comes to regret the destruction he has caused
- Timony – a "doonie," a magical little man who can transform himself into a pony
- Lucius Portsmouth – supposedly the Raven who created the world, he cannot remember that far back and claims to have little power now
- Honey – a pitbullAmerican Pit Bull TerrierThe American Pit Bull Terrier is a medium-sized, solidly built, short haired dog whose early ancestors came from England and Ireland...
Joe has rescued - Minisino – a cousin who tries to instigate a massacre of fairies