Escaping Into Fiction

 Remember how I mentioned that I spent most of the last weekend reading a book? It was “Den of Wolves” by Juliet Marillier. I didn’t love it, I found the main characters somewhat annoying and not particularly believable. It got too much into the touchy-feely territory. But the stories the author wove together were excellent. They were based on Irish folklore, I believe, and they definitely had a real folklore feel to them. These stories felt real, and meaningful, and like something I could reach out and touch. I had a hard time putting that book down –  because of these intricate stories that were fading in and out of the main narrative.

There was also one paragraph that struck true for me. It felt like the author reached out and told me why I loved books, told me that escaping into stories made me stronger.

From “Den of Wolves” by Juliet Marillier:

“…when you felt sad or angry or hopeless, a story could help. A story could lead you into a different world for a while. It might be a world where a foolish youngest son could turn into a brave and clever hero, or a beaten woman could end up as a wise leader of folk. And when the story was ended and that world was gone, you still had the idea of it inside you. Like a flame that didn’t go out even when the bad things rattles and swirled and screamed, and worse, oh, much worse, when they whispered and goaded and tormented.”