Owen Marchfield remembers Dun. He remembers its rioting woods, its abandoned farms, its tunnelling wells. He remembers children vanishing in the night, replaced by smiling, uncanny things. He remembers what it means to live there, in a place where names weigh more than gold.
He remembers why he left, and why he never wants to go back.
But Dun has a way of getting its claws into people. Owen's sister is missing, the flowers are following him, and somebody has written a message on his mother's headstone. There are answers in the forest, and he knows he can't avoid them forever. The truth waits down Foxglove Road.
And now for a more rambling synopsis:
So, enter my second LMS novel. Foxglove Road follows Owen - a 20-year-old, partially-deaf history student with a love of Bowie and a real hatred of his hometown. He hails from Dun, the most notorious faerie village in England, the place where his mother worked and died.
Dun is an uneasy place. Situated on the suburbs of the faerlands, the village is ancient, removed, even beautiful - but saturated with mistrust. If a faerie takes your name, your life is over, so everybody is strangers to everyone. People have more pseudonyms than outfits. Children grow up without knowing their parents' real names.
Owen comes back only when he has to. Ever since he left for university, his sister has been alone in their house by the Foxglove Road, tailoring clothes for the faers. Her disappearance is sudden, and Owen knows she will never find her way back alone. But his voyage down the Road brings him face to face with countless unsettling truths - about his mother, about the state of the faerlands, and about himself.
Introducing characters such as:
- Owen Marchfield - Our protagonist. Tired, partially deaf, gay as heck, and far better at running from his responsibilities than dealing with them. Catty, but not out loud. Very, very ginger.
Violet Marchfield - Owen's half sister. Six years older than him and far more responsible. Neglects her own needs to ensure everybody else is okay.
Snapdragon - A.K.A. a flowery, humourless, uptight faer who allies with Owen in his search for Violet, but for a vastly different reason. Not really called Snapdragon. That's just the name Owen has for him, because he wears a crown of them.
I must be absolutely nuts for taking this on but yeeeehaww let's give it a go
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