Truth Sayer

[bibliogramma]

Thomas the Rhymer, by Ellen Kushner

Ellen Kushner’s retelling of the Scottish legend of True Thomas, a man gifted – or cursed - with truthtelling and prophesy by the Queen of Elfland (with a touch of Tam Lin thrown in for good measure) won both the World Fantasy Award and the Mythopoeic Award for best novel of 1990. It’s not difficult to see why. The characters live and breathe, the story – rounded out and given beginnings, ends, and meanings – rings true, and it’s a pleasure to read.

Thomas is a wandering harper, a carrier of news and gossip and tales of love and adventure, and a bit of a rogue, especially as regards his dalliances with women, both high-born and low-born. In the book, his tale in the world of men is told through the eyes of others – an older crofter couple, Gavin and Meg, with whom the wandering harper visits when he is in the neighbourhood, or fallen upon hard times, and their neighbour, the young and beautiful Elspeth. It is only during his seven years in Elfland – where Thomas himself cannot speak save to the Queen of Elfland herself – that the book gives us his point of view.

The strength of the novel is the depth and honesty of its characterisation, and the simplicity of its unfolding. There is no complex plot – although there are a few unexpected turns – and only in the Elfland section do we see anything like the complicated motives and interactions that are such a important and well-crafted part of some of Kushner’s other novels. What there is, is truth.