Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5
Being a single Dad is hard enough but when Pryor loses his daughter Lily in an unthinkable event he thinks he has experienced the ultimate horror but it’s when Lily returns he realizes his nightmare has only just begun…
When Pryor’s daughter Lily is taken by a wolf, Pryor is convinced she has turned into the creature he sees lurking in his woods. He swears she promises to return to him. But is it his despair and desperation making him see things or is there something more lurking in the shadows of the forest?
When he meets Ned, a silversmith who helps him with a plan to bring his daughter back into his life, he begins to live again. But can his newfound love help ease the horror that may be waiting? What if the ultimate horror isn’t when Lily was taken but it’s when Lily returns and he realizes his nightmare has only just begun…Its Father’s Day and two men are waiting for a little girl to appear. They are waiting for Lily. Lily, his beloved little girl, had been lost a year ago, dragged off into the woods by a wolf. In the time since, Pryor, consumed with his loss, has retreated to his cabin, his days numbed by his grief. Only the love and support of Ned, his partner, and a plan to reclaim his daughter has kept him sane. And now the time has come to see if she will return to him, if only for a day.
What a marvelous short story Lily is. Lyrical in language and strong in its empathy for a parent’s pain, it has a singular voice in Pryor, Lily’s father. To Pryor ” still believe being Lily’s father is the most important thing in this world.” And you feel that hole in his life so acutely as she described just before she is ripped from him, her hair all “wild and white – blonde”. Pryor’s voice and his descriptions provide a wealth of clues and information about his past. He hears voices, whether is the derogatory words of his dead mother, or whispers from the woods. He described his lover’s beard as his “summer fur”, and stares into the moonlight woods searching for signs of his daughter. All three characters here are beautifully realized, one heartbroken, one steady and one filled with wildness and innocence. I love how we are fed bits of information until we can finally spin together the fibers that make up the tapestry that is this family and its tragedy.
There is such a distinctive style to this story, as the mundane are juxtaposed with the magical. Like silk against the skin, this story glides over into your memory. I loved this and hope you will feel the same.
New cover, much better than the original. Adds a little more shiver to the tone with the new font and love the white wolf. Although I am never a fan of a division so severe in the design, the red line here, especially when it bisects the title. That’s a minus.
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Books Details:
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words 