Thornhedge

Thornhedge is a 2023 novella by Ursula Vernon, writing under the pen name T. Kingfisher. The novella is a reimagining of the story of Sleeping Beauty.

Plot
Toadling guards a wall of thorns which conceal a sleeping princess in a tower. She hopes that humans will eventually forget the existence of the tower and its occupant.

Hundreds of years later, a knight approaches the hidden tower. Toadling tries to tie elf-knots into his hair to scare him away, but he awakens and discovers her. The knight tells her that his name is Halim and claims to be looking for the lost princess.

Toadling narrates her story to Halim. She was born a human princess and switched with a changeling at birth. She was raised in Faerie by frog-like creatures called greenteeth. Because time passes differently in Faerie, she was able to return to the human world and stand as the fairy godmother for the christening of the changeling, Fayette. The Faerie hare goddess instructed Toadling to give Fayette a gift: “she will do no harm to those around her.” Toadling messed up the words of the spell, rendering it ineffective. As Fayette grew, she became increasingly violent and unpredictable. At first she tortured animals. Later, her nurse fell down the stairs and died; Fayette puppeted the corpse around the palace. Toadling could not bring herself to kill Fayette and so decided to place her in an enchanted sleep. She grew the hedge of thorns around the keep for the protection of the outside world.

Halim and Toadling enter the tower and accidentally wake Fayette. Fayette tries to strangle Toadling; Halim pushes her out of the tower and kills her. The hare goddess returns to Toadling and reveals that the initial gift of “doing no harm” would have killed Fayette anyway, as the dead cannot harm anyone. The goddess brings Toadling back to Faerie, where she reunites with her family of greenteeth. She returns to the mortal world to journey with Halim, but plans to return home to Faerie someday.

Major themes
Gary K. Wolfe writes that the novella exists in "that liminal space ... between fairytale lore and actual medieval history". The opening chapter "serves as a remarkable evocation of loneliness" as Toadling watches the centuries pass around her. Later, Halim's "references to the Pope, the Byzantine-Seljuk wars, and his own Muslim background" place the story more firmly in a historical context.

Reception
Thornhedge is a finalist for the 2024 Hugo Award for Best Novella. It won the Locus Award under the same category.

Publishers Weekly gave the novella a starred review, writing that "Kingfisher’s trademark wit and compassion transforms “Sleeping Beauty” into a moving meditation on guilt, grief, and duty, as well as a surprisingly sweet romance between outsiders." Fiona Denton of Grimdark Magazine gave the novella five out of five stars, calling it "an exceptionally written, bitesize piece of escapism".

Writing for The New York Times, author Amal El-Mohtar stated that the novella has a "particularly fine flexibility of tone that bends from sweet and shy to tragic and frightening". In Paste, Lacy Baugher Milas wrote that the novel is different from modern fairy tales, which are often seen as "colorful, romantic stories of princesses in magical castles, dashing princes, and first kisses". Instead, the novel hearkens to the stories of the Brothers Grimm, which are "sharp, dark things, often uncomfortable, always complicated." Milas also wrote that "no one is doing more with less in the fantasy space than Kingfisher. Not a single word is wasted—even the punctuation feels insanely purposeful—and its delicate descriptors, mournful tone, and carefully crafted dialogue all feel deliberately arranged for maximum emotional and narrative impact."

Adrienne Martini of Locus'' wrote that the work is "both kind and brutal as it shows how narrow the power of love is". She also praised the novella's short length as "exactly as long as it should be – and we’re fortunate to have so many publishers willing to give these longer short works a chance to delight an audience." Also writing for Locus, Gary K. Wolfe called the novella a "strikingly original" take on the Sleeping Beauty tale, based on a "central reversal". He also wrote that Thornhedge is "a masterful demonstration of what novellas do best" and that "Toadling is one of the more endearing and memorable characters I’ve encountered this year, and pretty much the same can be said for her tale." Martin Cahill of Tor.com called the book "atmospheric and engrossing", particularly praising the protagonist Toadling as "a protagonist I would gladly read about for many years to come."