There is a Wild Man who lives in the deep quiet of Greenhollow, and he listens to the wood. Tobias, tethered to the forest, does not dwell on his past life, but he lives a perfectly unremarkable existence with his cottage, his cat, and his dryads.
When Greenhollow Hall acquires a handsome, intensely curious new owner in Henry Silver, everything changes. Old secrets better left buried are dug up, and Tobias is forced to reckon with his troubled past—both the green magic of the woods, and the dark things that rest in its heart.
"He had thought himself a thing uprooted."
Emily Tesh's Silver in the Wood is a soft achillean novella about the cycle of death and rebirth, loosely taking inspiration from the Green Man myths. It takes its time, slowly taking us into the forest, detailling each tree with lush and atmospheric writing. Told entirely from the point of view of Tobias, it's a reflection on time and on overcoming an abusive relationship, but also on curiosity and love.
The format works perfectly; novellas so rarely get the pacing right, but this one does. Even if the narration is slow, it's packed with warm emotion and so much care and a small mystery that hooks the reader, pulling us into a small enclosed space that brims with magic and dryads and the quiet strength of old trees. The romance between Tobias and Henry follows the same slow rhythm, steady and dreamlike, towards a fitting conclusion.
Silver in the Wood is a small treasure.
✨ 4 stars
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