A Deeply Nested Delight

[bibliogramma]

Think of a matroyoshka doll, but with multiple dolls within the first one, nested two or three to a level. Or one of those computer programs with so many nested subroutines you need the flowchart to follow the logic.

That's the structure of the enthralling The Orphan’s Tales: In The Night Garden, by Catherynne M. Valente. A child prince listens to the stories told by a young girl who lives in one of his father's gardens, sotires that tell of people who listen to stories told by the people they meet about the stories that they have heard... and on and on. As the stories move from one protagonist to another, it becomes, slowly, clear that all the various tales are interwoven accounts of different elements and times and places of one larger story.

Not only is it fascinating to see the threads coming together as one person's tale links to that of another's, but the source material Valente draws on in crafting the individual stories come from a myriad times and places - I think I recognised themes and styles from cultures as far apart as Saami and Dravidian.

It's like putting together a literary jigsaw puzzle. I suspect this book or its sequel, In the Cities of Coin and Spice might not be for everyone, but I was delighted by it and I recommend it to those who enjoy threading their way through the labyrinth and putting the pieces together.