Wolf Worm by T. Kingfisher

Book Review

Pauline Morgan

The beginning of a novel is both the most important part of the book and the most difficult. It has to hook the reader so that they buy/carry on reading. It also has to set the tone and the scene for whatever comes afterwards. It is not surprising, then, that an author will use similar successful approaches in different books. In Hemlock and Silver, Anja travels to a distant isolated place at the request of the king to treat his daughter, who he suspects is being poisoned. In Snake-eater, Selena travels on her own by train to a place she has never been before to visit an aunt, fleeing her abusive boyfriend. In this book, Wolf Worm, another lone female, travels to an unknown place by train. Here, Sonia Wilson, like Serena, finds that her ultimate destination is a long way from the station and reluctantly accepts a ride from a local going her way.

            All three of these have similar aspects in the way they start, but they belong to very different genres. The first is fantasy, the second contemporary with supernatural elements and Wolf Worm is historical horror. In it, Sonia has accepted a post as an illustrator for entomologist, Dr Halder. This is 1899 and after her father’s death, botanical artist Sonia needs a way of making enough money to survive. She is teaching art in a school before accepting this position. She discovers that the artist previously in the post was Dr Halder’s wife, Louisa, and that she was a better artist than Sonia. Louisa had disappeared and the general belief was that she had run off with a lover.

            Halder’s passion is parasitic insects and wants illustrations of every stage of their life cycles. Sonia has a strong streak of curiosity. When she is exploring the surroundings of the isolated house, she comes across an out building. She is warned away from it, being told that it holds explosives. When she sees Halder visiting it in the night, she follows him. She becomes determined to find out what is going on inside the building. It is her discoveries that add layers of horror to this novel.

            To add to the gruesomeness of the larvae she is drawing (bot flies lay their eggs in mammals where they develop in cysts) she hears tales of ‘bloodtheives’ that are supposed to haunt the woods.

            Kingfisher is meticulous in her details of parasitic life cycles, which lend themselves to the squelchy horror. To balance this is the way that Sonia sees the colour of everything. She constantly looks to see what paints she would use to render a depiction exactly like the real object. This aspect of her personality is a delight.

            For those interested in the writing process, the Acknowledgements at the end of the book show how Kingfisher accumulated the ideas that are packed into this volume.