The Onion Girl

by de Lint, Charles

• ISBN13: 9780312873974
• ISBN10: 0312873972
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-10-19
• Publisher: Tor Books

Summary

In novel after novel, Charles de Lint has brought an imaginary North American city to vivid life. Newford: where magic lights dark streets, where myths walk in modern shapes, where humans and older beings must work to keep the whole world turning. At the center of the entwined lives of all the Newford tales stands a young artist named Jilly Coppercorn, whose paintings capture the hidden beings that dwell in Newfords shadows. With her tangled hair, her paint-splattered jeans, a smile perpetually on her lips, shes darted in and out of the Newford tales. Now, at last, we have Jillys own story. Behind the painters fey charm theres a dark secret, and a past shes laboured to forget. That past is coming to claim her now, threatening all she loves.

Author Biography

Born in Holland in 1951, Charles de Lint grew up in Canada, with a few years off in Turkey, Lebanon, and Switzerland.

Although his first novel was 1984's The Riddle of the Wren, it was with Moonheart, published later that same year, that de Lint made his mark, and established him at the forefront of "urban fantasy," modern fantasy storytelling set on contemporary city streets. Moonheart was set in and around "Newford," an imaginary modern North American city, and many of de Lint's subsequent novels have been set in Newford as well, with a growing cast of characters who weave their way in and out of the stories. The Newford novels include Spirit Walk, Memory and Dream, Trader, Someplace To Be Flying, Forests of the Heart, The Onion Girl, and Spirits in the Wires. In addition, de Lint has published several collections of Newford short stories, including Moonlight and Vines, for which he won the World Fantasy Award. Among de Lint's many other novels are Mulengro, Jack the Giant-Killer, and The Little Country.

Married since 1980 to his fellow musician MaryAnn Harris, Charles de Lint lives in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

Excerpts

Jilly
 
Newford, April 1999
 
Once upon a time…
I don’t know what makes me turn. Some sixth sense, prickling the hairs at the nape of my neck, I guess. I see the headlights. They fill my world and I feel like a deer, trapped in their glare. I can’t move. The car starts to swerve away from me, but it’s already too late.
It’s weird how everything falls into slow motion. There seems to be time to do anything and everything, and yet no time at all. I wait for my life to flash before my eyes, but all I get is those headlights bearing down on me.
There’s the squeal of tires.
A rush of wind in my ears.
And then the impact.
 
Copyright © 2001 by Charles de Lint

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Excerpted from The Onion Girl by Charles De Lint
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.