Product Description

A Book of Wonders for Grown-Up Readers

Every once in a great while a book comes along that reminds us of the magic spell that stories can
cast over us–to dazzle, entertain, and enlighten. Welcome to the Arabian Nights for our time–a lush and fantastical epic guaranteed to spirit you away from the very first page….

Secreted away in a garden, a lonely girl spins stories to warm a curious prince: peculiar feats and unspeakable fates that loop through each other and back again to meet in the tapestry of her voice. Inked on her eyelids, each twisting, tattooed tale is a piece in the puzzle of the girl’s own hidden history. And what tales she tells! Tales of shape-shifting witches and wild horsewomen, heron kings and beast princesses, snake gods, dog monks, and living stars–each story more strange and fantastic than the one that came before. From ill-tempered “mermaid” to fastidious Beast, nothing is ever quite what it seems in these ever-shifting tales–even, and especially, their teller. Adorned with illustrations by the legendary Michael Kaluta, Valente’s enchanting lyrical fantasy offers a breathtaking reinvention of the untold myths and dark fairy tales that shape our dreams. And just when you think you’ve come to the end, you realize the adventure has only begun….

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #38553 in Books
• Published on: 2006-10-31
• Released on: 2006-10-31
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 496 pages

From Publishers Weekly
A lonely girl with a dark tattoo across her eyelids made up of words spelling out countless tales unfolds a fabulous, recursive Arabian Nights-style narrative of stories within stories in this first of a new fantasy series from Valente (The Grass-Cutting Sword). The fantastic tales involve creation myths, shape-changing creatures, true love sought and thwarted, theorems of princely behavior, patricide, sea monsters, kindness and cruelty. As a sainted priestess explains, stories "are like prayers. It does not matter when you begin, or when you end, only that you bend a knee and say the words," and this volume does not so much arrive at a conclusion but stops abruptly, leaving room for endless sequels. Each descriptive phrase and story blossoms into another, creating a lush, hallucinogenic effect.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
*Starred Review* The opening volume of the Orphan's Tales begins in a palace garden, where a girl has been abandoned because of the strange, ink-black stain around her eyes and over her eyelids. Because the sultan and his nobles wish to avoid the problem she presents, she is left to wander the gardens, alone until another child, a boy, comes and speaks to her. She reveals the secret of her ink-stained eyes, that they contain many tales. In return for the boy's company, she tells him stories, beginning with the tale of the prince Leander. Each succeeding story grows from the one before it, characters recounting tales they were told and even weaving them back together. There is an entire mythology in this book, in which the themes of familiar fairy tales are picked apart and rearranged into a new and wonderful whole. The narrative is a nested, many-faceted thing, ever circling back to the girl in the palace garden and the prince she is telling the tales to in a wonderful interpretation of what fairy tales ought to be. The illustrations, by Michael Kaluta, constitute an excellent supplement, reminiscent of illustrations of such fairy-tale books as Andrew Lang's, though Kaluta does no toning down for Victorian sensibilities. Regina Schroeder
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
"Cathrynne Valente weaves layer upon layer of marvels in her debut novel. In the Night Garden is a treat for all who love puzzle stories and the mystical language of talespinners."—Carol Berg, author of Daughter of Ancients

"Fabulous talespinning in the tradition of story cycles such as The Arabian Nights. Lyrical, wildly imaginative and slyly humorous, Valente's prose possesses an irrepressible spirit."—K. J. Bishop, author of The Etched City

“Astonishing work! Valente’s endless invention and mythic range are breathtaking. It’s as if she’s gone night-wandering, and plucked a hundred distant cultures out of the air to deliver their stories to us.” –Ellen Kushner, author of Thomas the Rhymer

“Refreshingly original in both style and form, In the Night Garden should delight lovers of myth and folklore.”–Juliet Marillier, author of the Sevenwaters trilogy

"While the obvious comparison is to One Thousand and One Nights.... These are fairy tales that bite and bleed. Every moment of lyricism is countered by one of clear-eyed honesty, and sometimes the moments combine.... Valente weaves an intricate, exquisite web that ultimately binds each story to the other."—Washington Post Book World


From the Trade Paperback edition.

Customer Reviews

Rich and haunting
Wow. I adored reading this book. The stories within stories within stories made me want to giggle with delight. I was astounded at the way Catherynne Valente nested one tale inside another and back around again. I've never read anything quite like this and it was challenging to keep track of each thread, but in a good way. It's a clever, rich, and unique read. A mysterious young girl tells a royal son stories each night secretly in a beautiful garden. Stories that are written on her eyelids in minute script. The book is about the girl and the boy, the tales she tells, the boy's life and his thirst for more. Who is she? Her story is last and she discovers it as she reads her stories out loud in the garden.

I've read some of the other reviews that mentioned the writing style, but I must say that given the "Once upon a time" style, I expected a bit of repetitiveness, ie: The first son went to the mountain, met with failure...so the second son went to the mountain, met with failure...so the third son went to the mountain, etc. You get the picture. I personally didn't find any fault with the writing style at all and was so taken with the story I forgave the occasional repetitive devices.

I read this book many months ago, yet I find that the stories really are haunting my mind. I'll catch a snatch of story in my head, triggered by something that reminds me of it, and it'll take me a few moments to realize I'm remembering a story out of The Orphan's Tales. To find out the tale of the storyteller herself, you must also buy The Orphan's Tales: In The Cities of Coin and Spice, also fabulous. I was heartbroken that the book had to end.

This book, and it's sister, are living on my treasure shelves, reserved for only my favorites. I highly recommend it to anyone who loves beautiful, magical, fantastic Tales, not just stories.

Over Rated
I gave the book three stars. I found it just OK. I purchased the book due to the excellent reviews on this site. It was not as if I didn't enjoy the book but I found it far from the five star reviews that it is getting here. It didn't make me want to buy the sequel and I did find all the different stories a little confusing but I'm not sorry that I purchased it.

Intricately woven fantasy tales
A girl lives in the garden of a Sultan and is seen by others to be a demon, because she has dark eyelids and surrounding areas. However, as we find out when a boy stumbles upon her, they are really minutely tattooed stories. She relieves them night by night to this noble boy, and each story is interwoven within others much like how Scheherazade spun her tales, about monsters, creatures, Stars (we might use the term "Gods" and "Goddesses" instead, though these are not like the ones we have in our world), vengeance, love, among other things.

The world of her stories have their own mythology and societal norms that can be quite different from ours which I find commendable for creativity and making sure it is logical. It leaves on quite a cliffhanger. We also have interspersing narartives of the world the girl and the boy live in, and the obstacles they face trying to keep their nightly encounters. At times I would prefer the noble boy's behavior to be expanded upon, but I did appreciate how Valente mentioned his eagerness to hear the girl's stories overpowering his politeness.

I found it difficult to begin because I felt it jumped so easily among stories and I was never a good head with names and non-linear story lines, but over time it became easier and a very addictive book. Even before I was finished with the book I ordered the second and concluding book.

If fantasy isn't your genre, this book may not be one to read. It might require one to severely suspend reality and disbelief, but I find it easier to do so among straight fantasy than among some science fiction writing where I sometimes feel they take themselves far too seriously. Her writing style may be overly cliche or too poetic/lyrical so a little cynicism may be expected upon the reader's reaction (I know I did), but I began to see the vivid imagery and almost had the other senses affected as well.