Release date 19 February 2024
Aoife Ni Coillte is the eldest daughter of an Irish Indentured family, living in a poor village near the estate of Tanglewood Manor. In love with George Oliver Williams, the eldest son of the wealthy Williams family to whom the manor belongs, Aoife is rejected as an unsuitable match in favour of the heiress, Dido Dubois. Pride and bigotry drive her to unkindness towards Dido’s younger sister, Bellouise, until one fateful evening, when she is jointly punished by the African ancestral spirit, Belloko, and Pouq, the Irish phantom faerie. Transformed into the monstrous Steel Donkey, Aoife is condemned to haunt and terrorise the area, until she can learn to love that which she hates.
Ten years later, the Williams family hires John Jack, a discerning and kind freed slave to help maintain the family property. An unlikely bond takes root between Aoife and John, followed by rumours of Steel Donkey sightings spreading like bushfire across the hills.
Tanglewood is a postcolonial gothic romance, set in a fictional 1840s Barbados, that explores the isolation of the Irish Indentured, and a unique origin story for the local folkloric legend of the Steel Donkey.
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Endorsements
‘Tanglewood is a thing of subtle, exquisite beauty. Knicky L. Abbott has a rich, luscious use of language where every scene feels as saturated as an oil painting, bringing Barbados into trembling life. By twisting together the strands of Irish and Caribbean history and mythology, she has created a vivid and unsettling story, made even more poignant and painful thanks to her grasp on the complexities of human nature and grievances. This is a tale that will stay with me and ensures Abbott is a writer to watch.’
Cat Hellisen, Nommo and BFS Awards Shortlist
‘A weaving of moonlight and spite, of love held and lost, of terrible sins unforgiven. Knicky L. Abbott’s Tanglewood is something new and rare. Riveting.’
Angela Slatter, award-winning author of The Path of Thorns
‘Tanglewood is a lush and evocative tale of pride and punishment set in the years following the abolition of slavery in 1840s Barbados. In this gothic, postcolonial twist on Beauty and the Beast, Aoife, an indentured young Irishwoman, is transformed into the monstrous Steel Donkey of Barbadian legend, until she can learn to love what she hates. Told in gorgeous prose and ripe with brooding magic, Abbott’s otherworldly fable charms and startles in equal measure.’
Nikki Marmery, author, LILITH
‘Utterly bewitching, utterly immersive. I was swept away by this stunning gothic tale that reimagines Barbadian folklore and history. The language is richly lyrical and often startling, while never flinching away from the darkness at the story’s heart. A powerful tale in which Abbott’s connection to her island emerges in a sensuous love letter to nature. A lush and distinctive new voice.’
Karen Ginnane, Time Catchers series
“Tanglewood is an intricate and fascinating examination of desire, betrayal, hope and bitterness. Beautifully told, it captivated me from beginning to end.”
Shauna Lawless, author of Children Of Gods And Fighting Men
‘A lush fable of romance and heartbreak. Abbott’s vivid reimagining of this Bajan folktale is brimming with poetry and empathy.’
Rhiannon Ghrist, BFS Award Winner
‘Abbott’s prose is magnetic, effortlessly drawing you into a poignant, vividly realized origins story of Barbados’ mythological Steel Donkey. Tanglewood is a darkly mesmerizing tale of choice and consequence.’
C L Farley, The Invisible Girl
Luna Press Publishing Authorial Acquisition
Luna Novella 2024
Track of Words Interview
Insta Book Tours Reviews
✨🌙Luna Novella Event!🌙✨ @lunapresspublishing @instabooktours 💫 #adprproduct
“‘Tanglewood’ by @darkdreamything (Knicky L. Abbott) is a post colonial gothic romance set in a fictional 1840s Barbados.
A fable about the folkloric legend ‘The Steel Donkey’, with two POVs (Aoife and John). A lesson in pride, bigotry and the consequences of a cursed life as a result of a hateful decision.
I really enjoy gothic stories, the descriptions of the sublime beauty of nature versus the horror of the transformation (courtesy of African ancestral spirit Belloko, and Irish phantom faerie Pouq) cursing Aoife as a punishment for her own prejudices. I did have a lot of empathy for Aoife as she described her previous life/what had happened to her prior… I also thought the inclusion of the curse over the narrative, as paragraphs like micro poems was a good way to separate the parts of the tale. Overall a really engaging and different style of read!
Thanks to @instabooktours@lunapresspublishing and @darkdreamything for including me on the tour!” 📖💝
Amy B. Garratt
“Thank you to @instabooktours for having me on this @lunapresspublishing event 🥰
Wow, wow, wow. This book was just a DREAM to read. It was poetically written, with such beautiful descriptions and intriguing characters. The plot itself was fast paced and intriguing, which only made it that more joyful to read. Also, you’re definitely going to need tissues for that ending😭
Perfect for those who are wanting a gothic historical romance, which is also a delightfully short and easy read.” 🥰
Robynn Reads
“As soon as I saw that this was a Gothic-esque style novella I was like YES PLEASE! I love moralistic stories, but also stories that have that eerie feel to it, and leaves you wondering what is going on. This is a story that needs to be read for you to truly experience what is being conveyed. But I have taken away the clear message that women are scorned by the hands of men. My interpretation is that love ruined Aoife, and men ruined her with her wants to be loved.
It is quite a sad story really when you put it that way.
The writing was amazing, and I really found out a lot about the Irish slaves during the Slave Trade and that there weren’t many stories about those. So it was great to have another perspective on a piece of history!
Thank you so much to @lunapresspublishing, @darkdreamything and to @instabooktours for having me read and review this novella!”
Library of Hannah
“I love books that educate me, giving me windows into new perspectives or historical events that I knew nothing about, and this fits that bill.
You might think this is a lovely little romance about how love conquers all and you can look like an actual donkey but still be loved. But the ending had my jaw dropping. I was so frustrated with Aoife – I loved it.
The author weaves magic among the few pages to give immersive settings and characters you can root for. There’s sublime nuggets of phrasing like “It was as if the forest of my humanity had been slashed and burnt, so that the fields of my penitence could be cultivated.” Chef’s kiss.
Steel yourself.”
Jess Hides in Books
I really enjoyed Tanglewood and thought it was a good novella. The plot is fast paced and very intriguing at the same time. I’ve never heard of the Steel Donkey legend before, so this novella was really fascinating and definitely made me want to look it up.
The writing style is amazing and so descriptive. I found the main Characters, Aoife and John, are weirdly likeable given the subject matter. Their romance was also quite interesting as I loved the gothic vibes.
In all I did enjoy this novella and oh my did the ending make me sad a little. It was a quick read as it’s only 90 pages.
Thanks to @instabooktours, @lunapresspublishing and @darkdreamything for including me on the tour!
Jemmy’s Bookshelf
“Abbott is a skilled writer creating scenes of lush tropical beauty that make us feel the joy and love of certain scenes but alongside this – under dark trees, leaves and night skies – there lurks a world of ancient powers, magic and dark deeds. That lack of simplicity pulls us into multiple directions and what we’d like to happen may not be possible. Tanglewood is an appropriate title for this story. Nothing and no one is really simple to define. Fairytales do not often exist in real life and neither does everyone deserve a happy ending even when we feel they have suffered enough. Our bad choices can often shape our entire future lives. A hugely impressive story and highly recommended!”
Runalong The Shelves
“This is a short compelling read which weaves the Steel Donkey folktale from Barbados, with the historical events surrounding the 1834 Abolition of Slavery Act being introduced. While the Act was flawed and the way freed slaves were managed was equally inadequate (because if you release thousands of people who have been kept deliberately uneducated, unable to move through society and access the socio-economic and legal structures currently in place and leave them to their own devices, you’re going to have serious problems), the friction it caused with still indentured ‘servants’ was a huge deal in terms of the social organisation of the new hierarchies. For context, there were almost as many indentured ‘servants’ on Barbados as there were black slaves who had originated in various parts of Africa.
The indentured were made up of Indian and Irish people – and often the poor and criminal street sweepings from large cities in England and elsewhere in Europe. (Basically, anyone thought to be trouble or of little alternative value.) In theory, being indentured should have entitled the individuals to better treatment but in practice, this was rarely the case. Most were indentured involuntarily – they were sold by the government of their counties or the courts. Those who did agree to voluntary indenture were often deceived about the conditions they were agreeing to, and many could not read so they hardly had the ability to check the terms of their contracts. (Which is how you end up with a ratio of 10k – 40k indentured Irish ‘servants’ compared to only 1k ‘freed Irish’ who had ‘completed their terms’.) Indenture wasn’t abolished until 1917 – more than 100yrs after the Abolition Act.
Why the history lesson? Well, one of the things this novella does, is compare the situations of a freed black slave (and his kin) and a still indentured (although banished) Irish woman. This is no mere reckoning over who has the greatest grievances either. Between the freed black slaves and the still indentured ‘servants’ there is friction, resentment and even enmity. What Abbott does extremely well is not to play favourites over who is in the wrong. At different points during the story, everyone is in the wrong and everyone is capable of being generous. This serves to highlight the fact that by this point, the struggle for identity which has essentially been stolen and the jostling for personhood in societal hierarchy, obscures the fundamental truths: that we are all people who have suffered, regardless of our origins or ethnicities, and that in order to really be able to show kindness, most of us need to experience it directed at ourselves.
But while the themes are emotionally wrought and heavy, the doomed love story plays out almost as light as a jig. When the failure that leads to tragedy occurs, it’s a failure of self on the part of one character. An understandable failure too after her experiences but still a moral choice – to believe that your own suffering is unique and awful and that no one else can understand because they have it so much easier. All mixed in with attitudes about race which the lower echelons cling to more desperately in some ways than those in power, because you might be the lowest of the low but at least you’re not ‘one of those’. The fact that Abbott makes these observations without judgment and gently leading the reader towards understanding, does not lessen their impact. Nor does it exonerate those who fail in the face of embracing their own humanity.
The main Characters, Aoife and John, are oddly likeable given the subject matter. Perhaps it’s the way Aoife struggles to be better almost in spite of herself. John is all things strong and sweet, and somewhat foolish, but he’s honest in his affections too. The prose is lush and immersive, conjuring up 19th C Barbados effortlessly. And the denouement which gives the reader the origin story of a folkloric monster is both tragic and satisfying. Too much grief, too much punishment and the oppressed will turn vicious.
Overall this was emotionally resonant and compelling. Beautifully written and a testament to the redemptive power of love and forgiveness, and the results of failing to apply those qualities to yourself. Highly recommend.”
J. A. Ironside
knickylaurelle.com 