Title: The Crane HusbandAuthor: Kelly Barnhill
First Published: February 28, 2023
Publisher: Tordotcom
Pages: 126
Genre: Fantasy, Horror, Magical Realism, Science Fiction
Format: Hardcover
Source: Library
Rating:
Synopsis:
“Mothers fly away like migrating birds. This is why farmers have daughters.”
A fifteen-year-old teenager is the backbone of her small Midwestern family, budgeting the household finances and raising her younger brother while her mom, a talented artist, weaves beautiful tapestries. For six years, it’s been just the three of them—her mom has brought home guests at times, but none have ever stayed.
Yet when her mom brings home a six-foot tall crane with a menacing air, the girl is powerless to prevent her mom letting the intruder into her heart, and her children’s lives. Utterly enchanted and numb to his sharp edges, her mom abandons the world around her to weave the masterpiece the crane demands.
In this stunning contemporary retelling of “The Crane Wife” by the Newbery Medal-winning author of The Girl Who Drank the Moon, one fiercely pragmatic teen forced to grow up faster than was fair will do whatever it takes to protect her family—and change the story.
Get the Book: AmazonReview
The Crane Husband is a dark and lyrical reimagining of the Japanese folktale, The Crane Wife, in which a man marries a crane disguised as a woman. The crane plucks her own feathers to provide for them, a symbol of sacrifice for love. Barnhill subverts the original folktale, presenting a story of love to the point of obsession, love as a form of abuse, an unraveling of home and family.
The Crane Husband is told from the point of view of a teenager forced to grow up much too fast, managing the home and caring for her young brother and troubled artist mother. Their quiet existence is upended when her mother brings home a new lover, large and menacing crane. Her mother becomes absorbed in her new relationship and the masterpiece he has her weave, becoming a shadow of herself as the crane rules the house.
The book handles themes of domestic abuse with tenderness, the use of birds as both a predator and as a symbol of freedom is potent. The ending left a bit to be desired for me, but the strength of the story and its message make the story a worthwhile read.
Quote
“On the farm, mothers fly away like migrating birds. And fathers die too young. This is why farmers have daughters. To keep things going in the meantime, until it’s our time to grow wings. Go soaring across the sky.”
Content Warnings
View Spoiler »About the Author
About Kelly Barnhill
Kelly Barnhill is an author and teacher. She won the World Fantasy Award for her novella The Unlicensed Magician, a Parents Choice Gold Award for Iron Hearted Violet, the Charlotte Huck Honor for The Girl Who Drank the Moon, and has been a finalist for the Minnesota Book Award, the Andre Norton award, and the PEN/USA literary prize. She was also a McKnight Artist’s Fellowship recipient in Children’s Literature. She lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota with her three children and husband.
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