Onion Girl by Charles de Lint

From Barnes & Noble

"I'm the onion girl," Jilly Coppercorn insists. "Pull back the layers of my life, and you won't find anything at the core. Just a broken child. A hollow girl." But just like an onion, the story of Jilly Coppercorn lures us into its mysteries; its colorful coils of insistent elaboration; its pull into its deepest, self-apparent secret.

From the Publisher

In novel after novel, and story after story, Charles de Lint has brought an entire imaginary North American city to vivid life. Newford: where magic lights dark streets; where myths walk clothed in modern shapes; where a broad cast of extraordinary and affecting people work to keep the whole world turning.

At the center of all the entwined lives in Newford stands a young artist named Jilly Coppercorn, with her tangled hair, her paint-splattered jeans, a smile perpetually on her lips--Jilly, whose paintings capture the hidden beings that dwell in the city's shadows. Now, at last, de Lint tells Jilly's own story...for behind the painter's fey charm lies a dark secret and a past she's labored to forget. And that past is coming to claim her now.

"I'm the onion girl," Jilly Coppercorn says. "Pull back the layers of my life, and you won't find anything at the core. Just a broken child. A hollow girl." She's very, very good at running. But life has just forced Jilly to stop.

Publishers Weekly

Life is truly an act of magic in Canadian author de Lint's triumphant return to Newford, his fictitious North American city, with its fascinating blend of urban faerie and dreamworld adventures. When Jilly Coppercorn becomes a victim of a hit-and-run driver, her happy life as a popular Newford artist comes to a screeching halt. Half of her body, including her painting hand, no longer works properly, and the prospect of a long recovery, despite supportive friends, depresses her. Her dreams - the only escape she enjoys - connect her to friend Sophie's dreamland of Mabon. Another friend, of otherworldly origin, Joe Crazy Dog, calls it manido-aki, a place where magic dwells amid mythic creatures and e-landscapes far away from the World As It Is. Joe also knows that's where Jilly must heal what has broken inside herself to speed recovery of her physical body. Complications ensue when her friends discover that someone broke into the artist's apartment after the accident and destroyed her famous faerie paintings. De Lint introduces yet another intriguing character, the raunchy, wild and furious Raylene, as dark as Jilly is light, who deepens the mystery. Is she Jilly's shadow self, or a connection to a past Jilly would rather forget? This crazy-quilt fantasy moves from the outer to the inner world with amazing ease and should satisfy new and old fans of this prolific and gifted storyteller, whose ability to peel away layers of story could earn him the title "The Onion Man." (Nov. 1). Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

VOYA

Is someone trying to murder artist Jillian Coppercorn? As she lies in her hospital bed, paralyzed from a hit-and-run accident, someone trashes her studio, destroying her renowned faerie paintings. Jilly's artwork is inspired by subconscious trips to an alternative world she calls the dreamlands, a place full of literary, mythical, and surreal landscapes and characters. There she can still walk about, able-bodied. She is surrounded by friends, most with a foot in both worlds, all ready to protect her from a stalker. In this New Age environment, Jilly perhaps possesses a special magic yet also harbors secrets from a dark past. She is told that her psychological wounds must heal before her physical ones can. Juxtaposed with this fantasy tale is a grittier story about two sisters suffering in an abusive white-trash family. One sister runs away, leaving the younger one to feel betrayed and abandoned, although both separately endure years of hardships in the seamy world of prostitution and crime. Over time, the resourceful but vengeful sister discovers magic and access to the dreamlands. The two plots collide as Jilly confronts the layers of her past and is forced to make a crucial decision. These characters and their imaginary city of Newford have been featured in many of the author's writings. Here they are developed further in an enjoyable modern-day fantasy adventure. The well-written but graphic depictions of life in the edgy world of switchblades and sleaze recommend this book to more mature fantasy fans. VOYA CODES: 4Q 3P S A/YA (Better than most, marred only by occasional lapses; Will appeal with pushing; Senior High, defined as grades 10 to 12; Adult and Young Adult). 2001, Tor,512p, $27.95. Ages 15 to Adult. Reviewer: Kevin Beach SOURCE: VOYA, February 2002 (Vol. 24, No.6)

Library Journal

Jilly Coppercorn, a talented painter whose works reveal the hidden life of the magical Canadian town of Newford, lies in a hospital, the victim of an apparent car accident. As her friends gather around her, Jilly's own story comes to the fore, filled with the mysteries and secrets she has hidden from herself as well as from others. Continuing his series of novels set in a modern world that borders on a dimension of myth and legend, de Lint (Moonheart) highlights the life of one of his most popular characters. A master storyteller, he blends Celtic, Native American, and other cultures into a seamless mythology that resonates with magic and truth. A good selection for most fantasy collections. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

Another of de Lint's urban fantasy novels (Forests of the Heart, 2000, etc.) set in the imaginary city of Newford, this one centering on artist and philanthropist Jilly Coppercorn. Jilly, long in touch with her magical side, captures the beings of fairyland in her paintings; but she's able to visit fairyland only in her dreams. As the story opens, Jilly, nearly killed by a hit-and-run driver, lies half-paralyzed in a hospital bed. Despite the efforts of her friends-artists, musicians, those she's helped and befriended over the years-Jilly, reluctant to face existence as the Broken Girl, spends more and more time in fairyland. As a young girl, she fled her drunken parents and Del, her rapist elder brother, only to slip into prostitution and drug addiction. When finally she got straightened out, she went back to find the younger sister she feels she abandoned. But Raylene was long gone, raped by Del in turn until her friend Pinky gave her a switchblade and the courage to use it. Now, years later, Raylene's back, nursing her hatred for the sister she feels abandoned her, breaking into Jilly's studio to trash her paintings. Worse, Raylene also can enter the dreamlands, where she's a wolf and a ruthless hunter, feeding on the blood of unicorns. Another absorbing tale, as believable and insightful as they come, yet there's still an unsatisfying lack of weight-even the ancient spirits don't pack much of a wallop.

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