People asked for her autograph and wanted to be her friend. This is nothing like being a hero, which is inside you. "Polly came away from the Headmistress to find that the rest of the school regarded her as a heroine. Another pleasure for readers is seeing Tom sending books to Polly, and hearing about what she learns from reading them, along with her occasional ignorant mistake before she has read something, like the time she asks if she can call him "Uncle Tom."Īs in any novel by Diana Wynne Jones, one of the incidental pleasures is in the little slices of psychological verity, like this one: And like any reader, I was enchanted with the magic that allows Polly and her friend Tom Lynn to imagine things and then see them come true. Like most readers, I was appalled with the characterization of the main character's (Polly's) parents, who neglect her to an extent almost unbelievable even in fiction-at one point, leaving her stranded in a strange city with no food, money, or shelter. Before I could write up my impressions of Diana Wynne Jones' novel Fire and Hemlock, based on the Tam Lin and Thomas the Rhymer stories, I learned that Jenny believes it's even better on rereading, and since this was my first time through it, all I can give you is first impressions.
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