Title: Silver in the Wood
Author: Emily Tesh
Publisher: Tor
Publish Date: June 18, 2019
Genre: Novella, Fantasy, LGBT+, Romance
Pages: 112
Format: Paperback

There is a Wild Man who lives in the deep quiet of Greenhollow, and he listens to the wood. Tobias, tethered to the forest, does not dwell on his past life, but he lives a perfectly unremarkable existence with his cottage, his cat, and his dryads.

When Greenhollow Hall acquires a handsome, intensely curious new owner in Henry Silver, everything changes. Old secrets better left buried are dug up, and Tobias is forced to reckon with his troubled past—both the green magic of the woods, and the dark things that rest in its heart.

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I read this novella a few months ago, and it was one of the most heartwarming reads I’ve had in a while. This short story follows Tobias, the Wild Man of the forest of this small village, that has been tethered to essentially be the guardian of the forest for all of time. He’s there for a long, long time, watching the village change and grow as time does, and he also watches something dreadful happen every year during a celebration for a lord of the wood. Many, many years into this, he meets Henry, the new owner and mayor of the town, and it kind of just follows the story from there.

There’s only so much that can be packed into 112 pages, but this book had a lot of heart and whimsy in it. I felt like I could really feel the growth of the forest, the need to protect its inhabitants, and how every part of the forest acts of its own accord sometimes. It was rich, which I really appreciated.

The romance between Tobias and Henry is subtle and sweet, and it grows over time. Tobias is protected by the forest, and no one can every really find where he lives twice – unless he allows it. And of course, this subtle romance is also potentially doomed from the start (for reasons I won’t go into because of spoilers here).

There is a twist I sort of saw coming, but it still surprised me nonetheless, and I felt that the stakes ramped up a little bit toward the end. It was a fast-paced read given the length of the book, but there were still moments of slowness that could be felt in every page (intentionally and not in a bad way).

I think if you’re looking for a quick read to pick up this novella. It’s definitely one you can finish in a sitting and one that I think you’ll also find whimsical.

★★★★☆