Once upon a time I really like the work of Jane Harris. Now it just feels like the same thing, slightly tweaked and drawn out with some kind of strangeness. Particularly this book, where it was poems and religion and it just felt awkward. I know I'm in the minority but I can't praise a book or its author if I don't believe it myself.

A mythical fable that spans seasons, A Pocketful of Crows has all the ingredients of a modern day fairytale. Combined with gorgeous illustrations, the tale of William and his bonny brown girl, Malmuira will stay with me for a long time.

I have always wanted to read one of Joanne Harris's book and picked up this one because it looked like it was really interesting and I was intrigued by the premise. I think that Harris makes truly unique worlds for her books and this was no different. I would definitely like to read more from this author.

I have to admit that I didn't really know what was going on when I first started the book but I soon got into the swing of the story as it is quite weird but I like weird. I think that the writing definitely puts you in the character's shoes and on many occasions feel like I was in the characters head and really felt for her.

I think that I was in the mood for a fantasy when I read most of the book and it was a different kind of fantasy that I don't typically read so for me it was something different new which I really enjoyed. The book was the introduction that I needed from Joanne Harris and I can't wait to read more from her.

The Verdict:

A Pocketful Of Crows is a wildly unique read and showcases Joanne Harris's talent as a great writer working today.

This was the first book I've read from this author and I enjoyed it very much. It was very well written and the characters were well thought out.

Joanne Harris is an auto-buy author for me as she is such a skilled storyteller. A Pocketful of Crows is a beautiful retelling of the Child Ballads accompanied by a series of stunning illustrations. It's dark and haunting, and will stay with you long after finishing.

Beautiful cover. Unfortunately the contents weren’t for me. Just couldn’t bring myself to finish it.

Good little short but a touch weird for me. Definitely fantasy-esque

I struggled with this book for the longest time. I fancy myself something of a fan of lyrical writing, of novels in verses, of those books that are doing things just a little bit different. And while I adore beautiful writing & thus should have all the reasons to love this, I just... couldn't get into it. It felt almost alienating. Because while all the lines by themselves were, indeed, wonderful & the concept itself was like a dream-come-true for me, all of it together? Just made me feel too inadequate to even know what I'm actually reading. I didn't actually manage to finish the book, even though it's not that long at all, and it might be one of my biggest disappointments of last year.

This was a very strange read that left me feeling a bit unsatisfied. It tells the story of a girl of the travelling folk and what happens when she allows herself to be named by a man. There is a real otherworldly feel to the prose, like a bad dream or a memory that makes the reader feel uneasy. The prose is beautiful and the world Harris has created here is a fascinating one. My issue is that there is no depth to the characters and the narrative, despite being short, is somewhat repetitive and lags in places. Overall, I like what the author is attempting but I think it just falls a bit short of the mark.
I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Wild brown girls do not have names, they are able to shift skins and move where they will, the village folk don't understand them but carry superstition. One brown girl finds a love token in which a village girl professes her love for William, a young noble. When the brown girl saves William after he falls from his horse, she falls for him and he names her Malmuira. However one named the wild girl loses her powers and his subsequent rejection of her raises her wrath. However even the special people can play games amongst themselves and she finds herself part of a completely different story.

This is a short book which reads like the most wonderful fairy or folk tale. The writing is both authentic and accessible to a modern audience, the narrative clear and the prose lyrical. A magical tale.

A fantastic retelling from a prolific writer of magical realism in the UK. Joanne Harris tells this story in an unapologetic fashion. Though there are instances within this story that veer away from the traditional way of writing a novel it works perfectly in bringing to light this strange world that feels somewhat gothic as well as employing classic storytelling skills. A beautiful tale of revenge.

"They call us the Devil's children. But we have no allegiance to your Devil, or your God. We are the travelling folk. We live. And we will live for ever."

This is a story that transports you out of modern life's mundanities and into a more timeless reality that focuses on nature and lore. If only for a moment, because A Pocketful of Crows is a small book, but it is all the better for it as the story of the 'brown girl' is not dragged out but perfectly encapsulated in this beautiful book.

I read a lot of Joanne Harris (Joane M Harris for this one apparently) when I was younger and especially loved Chocolate and the mix of the supernatural and real life. I was a bit worried that I wouldn't enjoy A Pocketful of Crows though as my tastes have changed over the years (I seem to need a few more juicy murders now) and I was worried that the fairy tale element might make this book a bit too cute and tedious.

I shouldn't have worried though, Harris knows how to balance the whimsical with the darkness of human nature. A Pocketful of Crows is a lyrical story of one wild girl and her discovery of love and betrayal, but really it's a timeless story about the seasons, time and love. Plus, for all the mythical elements, this book touches on several deeper themes, such as the hypocrisy of religion, the treatment of women and the power of nature.

The writing style did worry me when I first started reading; the fable-type voice seemed a bit too much to be able to take throughout the entire book, but I actually got used to it and it's the right style for this story, which is based on The Child Ballads, 295, which I'm now going to have to hunt out and read.

A Pocketful of Crows is a refreshing read, something different among the light romances or twisty thrillers that saturate the charts (not to mention celebrity autobiographies, don't get me started). I read this as the seasons changed from summer to autumn and it seemed the perfect time to soak up this story that celebrates nature and the turn of time.

My Rating: 4 Stars

I received a copy of A Pocketful of Crows via NetGalley in return for an honest review. My thanks to the author and publisher.

Some of Harris' books tend to be hit and miss with me, but I really enjoyed this tale. A few moments could have done with a little less exposition but ultimately it was a really enjoyable read

I like Joanne M Harris as an author as her books are so different from the expected normal and this was no exception. It is a tale of sweet love, undying revenge and of course the travelling folk and the village folk. The descriptions of the forest, the animal patterns and the village life were perfect as they were not too long which could have caused them to distract from the main story. The poems and proverbs that are quoted throughout are so apt and show that over the years some have changed in word but keep the same context. .
I found this a very easy to read book and one that I read in one day as I did not want to put it down.

After reading and being impressed by The Gospel of Loki by Joanne M Harris I was keen to try this.
A tale of love and revenge based on an old poem called The Child Ballads.
It’s beautifully written, fantastical and dark but left me a bit cold. Although a short read I struggled through and found it all a little dour. I was probably more comfortable with her treatment of Norse mythology. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an ARC.

This book utterly bewitched me as I fell under its spell and gobbled it up in one sitting.
Based on "The Child Ballads" this is a dark fairytale weaving threads of love, loss, betrayal and revenge into its threads. The writing is lyrical and I found myself singing along to some of the rhymes that are included. It is at once a tale as old as the hills and as modern as todays newspaper.
I would urge anyone to pick up this gem of a book, and I'm thrilled to see that Joanne Harris is currently writing another book in the series.

Thanks to the publishers and net galley for the advanced copy in return for an honest review.

I love it when Joanne M Harris draws out beautifully human stories from myths, legends or folk tales and she's done it again with this book!

It starts with a rhyme from the Child Ballads. If like me you've never heard of the Child Ballads let me share with you what I discovered about them, they are not what I first supposed - rhymes sung by children like Oranges and Lemons. They are 305 traditional ballads from England and Scotland, anthologized by Francis James Child during the second half of the 19th century. Many of them are difficult to date but it seems that most of them have been in existence since at least the 16th Century. And to be fair probably most have been sung by children down the ages just as much as adults!

Harris has picked ballads from this collection and drawn them together to tell a circular coming of age story full of love, loss and revenge around a nameless wild girl.

It starts with ballad 295;

"I am as brown as brown can be,
And my eyes as black as sloe;
I am as brisk as brisk can be,
And wild as forest doe.

Our brisk, brown hero is one of the 'travellers', able to slink into the skin of birds and mammals and travel with them through the surrounding countryside. On her travels she sees a charm tied in a yew tree beckoning the love of a prince and steals it, mocking the milk blonde country maid for her simple desires.

But then she meets the prince and they fall in love the way that only teenagers can. But to be with him she must become named and tamed.

The tale follows their love through the seasons of the year, full of the conflict between youth and wisdom, love and jealousy, freedom and belonging.

It is beautifully, poetically written and in the way of all good mythologies shows you a secret place in your own soul when freedom and belonging join to make you whole again.

Five Bites

NB I received a free copy of this book through NetGalley in return for an honest review. The BookEaters always write honest reviews.

I'm a moderate fan of Joanne Harris, loving her series with Vianne Rocher, but ambivalent about her Rune series. This book falls somewhere in between and I'm not sure how I feel about it.

Harris's prose is, as always, beautiful and evocative of whatever she's trying to tell you. Here it's descriptions of the seasons, the earth, and a great deal of vengeful feeling.

Based on an old ballad, the novella tells a love story turned sour and just how far the girl is willing to go to destroy her ex-lover.

The story is woven with various references to folk tales, remedies, superstitions, sayings, and a myriad of other things so that the setting feels deep and real and at times, terrifying.

As beautiful as the prose is, as skilfully as the characters are shown given the limited space, this type of story leaves me somewhat annoyed. The girl empowers herself in seeking revenge, but the spurned woman seeking (incredibly over the top) revenge is so overused to show how unreasonable women are that I dislike it on principle. Harris is a great feminist so I'm sure she wasn't going for that angle--perhaps I just missed the point of it. Either way, it made me uncomfortable, and that's the source of my inability to decide whether I liked it or not.

In a time when superstition ruled the way people behaved, a brown-skinned, black-eyed, girl falls in love with the beautiful son of the local laird.
She is not the type of girl people fall in love with, not the type the local folk trust.  She is not like them, she is a traveller. She moves on the wind, with the animals, lives with nature.  She is completely free, or at least she is until she falls in love.
Then she becomes bound, changing her name, her ways, her future.  She trusts in the love she feels and, already in love with her myself, I prayed that that love wouldn’t be betrayed.
The course of true love never runs smooth though and this story is no exception.  The question is whether there will be a happy ending or if it will all end in tears? 
I won’t tell you which way it goes (spoilers!) but I will say that – if you are like me – you will be hooked from the first page and desperate to know how it all ends.  You will love the brown-skinned girl, hate the way she is treated, and feel completely lost in a world that is so alien to us nowadays.
You will learn about the seasons, how they change, how they affect the world around them, and how those who live in that world respond to it (it’s no wonder they are so superstitious).  They dominate this book, with the story being broken up into months and local proverbs or songs starting each one, to give you a flavour of what you can expect.
Nature is a character in an of itself and I really enjoyed this aspect of it.  It felt very different from so much that I normally read and, tied as it was to the superstitions and the supernatural, it felt perfect for this witching season.
The language used to describe what is happening is beautiful and lyrical and fits perfectly.  It took a few chapters to get into the flow but then I was away.  I almost felt like I was singing as I read, the way the words flowed.  I only wish I had a hard copy so I could see the illustrations that come with it.
And then it was over – it’s not a long book – and I felt like I hadn’t gotten enough.  I could quite easily have read on for another 100 pages or more – so much so I went on to spend a pleasant hour reading the child ballads (one of which this story is based on). I really didn’t want to leave the world Harris created and, weeks after finishing this book, I feel like I am still there a little.  I really can’t recommend it enough.  Loved it.

This is one of Harris's many books based on myths and folklore and a perfect short read for the dark nights around Hallowe’en. The main character is one of the ‘travelling folk’ (who we would probably refer to as witches, faeries or the like), a girl who lives wild in the woods. She is nameless and free, experiencing life through the eyes and bodies of various animals, until she steals a love token and then falls for its intended target. This is a book about a rather female folklore – maidens, mothers and crones – and our nameless heroine is bought low by the young man she falls for (especially when he gives her a name – naming confers power over the named). But revenge at hand and the wheels of both the seasons and life turns full circle. This book feels like a new version of every classic folk tale – as old as Old Age but fresh as springtime.