Wendy, Darling

"There is a boy outside her daughter’s window.Wendy feels it, like a trickle of starlight whispering in through a gap, a change in the very pressure and composition of the air. She knows, as sure as her own blood and bones, and the knowledge sends her running. Her hairbrush clatters to the floor in her wake; her bare feet fly over carpeted runners and slap wooden floorboards, past her husband’s room and to her daughter’s door.It is not just any boy, it’s the boy. Peter."A.C. Wise’s debut novel instantly pulled me in with these evocative first lines. “The horror-tinged feminist Peter Pan retelling I never knew I needed,” says one of the blurbs on the back of this book (by writer Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam), and that is an apt description indeed. This is a fabulously dark and gorgeous reimagining of the Peter Pan story, one that goes to surprising places. And though Neverland, in Wise’s telling, is indeed magical, Wendy’s life as an adult in the real world of post-World War I London is just as compelling as starry night flights and battles with monsters—if not more so.Wendy, Darling picks up where J.M. Barrie’s novel ended: with Peter entering the room of Wendy’s daughter, Jane, and taking her to Neverland in Wendy’s stead. But Wise’s novel also goes back into the past, reimagining the Darling siblings’ stay in Neverland, and detailing the fallout of that stay in Wendy’s life when she comes back to London. Her parents do not believe her story of Neverland, and succeed in convincing her brothers to not believe, as well. As the siblings grow up, only Wendy remembers and believes, and this has devastating results in the years to come, when her refusal to deny Neverland results in her commitment to an abusive mental asylum.Wendy, Darling takes on a number of complex and weighty issues, both in and out of Neverland. The book sensitively examines the extremely limited options available to a single woman in Wendy’s world, in England during this era. Wendy’s brother thinks he is caring for her (or claims that he is) when he commits her to the asylum, but the novel shows his condescension and self-serving motivations, particularly when he takes her out of the asylum only so that he can press her into an arranged marriage (Wendy forgives him far more easily than I). And though the sexism and misogyny of the era are foregrounded, the book also examines other marginalizations and oppressions. It also shows different kinds of love. Wendy finds an unexpected love with the husband who is arranged for her, and who has also been trapped by the conventional expectations of their world. She finds love with Mary, an indigenous woman of Canada who came to England as a child and who was abandoned at the mental asylum by her stepfather. She finds love with and for her daughter, Jane, and it is this love that propels the second major storyline of the novel, which impels Wendy to leap from a window and fly again, to risk everything to save her daughter and to face her past and the truth of Peter and Neverland.Peter is the boy who doesn’t grow up, who refuses to grow up, and this novel addresses the darkness of that. He’s someone who refuses to change, and who won’t let others change; who took Wendy with him so he could have a mother-figure who could always care for him, and who kidnaps Jane to be a second mother. As Wendy muses at one point: "What can a mother be to a boy determined to remain perpetually young? Only a shadow, forever chained to him and trailing in his wake, bearing all his hurts so he doesn’t have to."The scenes which take place in London, in the mundane world, are rich and complex and beautifully written. The scenes in Neverland are tinged with a wonderful, creeping horror. When Jane wakes in Neverland, she finds that her name has been taken away. Peter addresses her as “Wendy,” and she doesn’t know another name to respond to. Peter holds court over the Lost Boys, tyrant of the island; he can reshape the reality of Neverland to his whims. This is compelling dark magic and slowly escalating horror. The tension pulses, and worlds collide when Wendy appears, a fierce and determined woman, a figure who is mother, savior, comforter, and avenging angel all at once.Wendy grows up, and Peter never did, and this is one of the central themes of the book. Wendy survives her time in an asylum; she survives and overcomes abuse greater than anything Peter ever gave her. She built a real life for herself, on real foundations. There is mourning for the fairyland of her childhood, but Wendy, Darling offers a compelling and persuasive argument that most portal fantasy novels don’t (or at least are not successful in arguing): that the real world is indeed worth it. That growing up is worth it. Wendy’s growth and courage are underpinned by love, and the discoveries and depictions of love (in its many different forms) are beautifully done. Jane’s viewpoint chapters, and the depiction of her relationship with her mother from her viewpoint, are also beautifully done. This is a book that’s aching and heart-wrenching at times, complicated, triumphant, and bittersweet. It’s tender at its heart. And it’s magical.

✨ B O O K • R E V I E W ✨•Title: Wendy, DarlingAuthor: A. C. WiseRating: 4/5 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️•I have absolutely no idea why I waited so long to read this, it was so so good!•Definitely my favorite dark retelling of Peter Pan. I loved so much about this book. This one is told in the points of view of Wendy and her daughter Jane. When we read through Wendy’s portion it is told in the past and in the present. I loved this aspect because you truly learn what happened to Wendy post Neverland the first time and it is truly heartbreaking.•I loved the dark twist that was put on this story. I like how it was more geared toward one of my favorite theories about the beloved fairy tale. This was definitely dark and sinister and once again instead of Peter Pan being a kid who never wanted to grow up, he was portrayed as more of a villain. I love how this story was portrayed.•A. C. Wise has a way of writing that is truly magical. She uses such profound ways to depict Neverland and it is so detailed that you literally feel like you dive into the pages headfirst and land right there in with the characters.•A truly captivating read that is thrilling, suspenseful and heartbreaking all at the same time. I really enjoyed this one and definitely recommend it to anyone who loves retellings of favorite fairy tales. I cannot wait to start Hooked.•#bookreviewbyaccioliteraryescape #bookreviewsbysteph #bookreview #fourstarbookreview #fairytellretelling #darkandtwisted #peterpan #wendy #willyoubeourmother #aboywholosthisshadow #wendydarling #acwise

I hadn’t heard of A. C. Wise before a few months ago, when I read her story, “The Amazing Exploding Women of the Early Twentieth Century” in issue 122 of Apex Magazine. I loved it and started following her on Twitter, where I found out she would soon be releasing her first novel. I preordered it on a whim and I’m so glad I did.Wendy, Darling brings us back into the life of Wendy, from J. M. Barrie’s Peter Pan, just has Peter has returned many years later to steal away her daughter, Jane. From there, the novel follows three lines: Wendy searching for her daughter in 1931; Jane, trapped in a darker Neverland with an ominous Peter Pan; and Wendy in 1917-1920, trapped in an institution by John and Michael, after refusing to give up her belief in the flying boy and his magic island.The novel is well-paced and immediately gripping, but the thing I applaud the most is how Wise has made Barrie’s characters her own. She managed it beautifully, making Wendy, Peter, and the rest familiar, yet darkly different. Peter is both the boy we remember, and something shadowy and sharp-toothed, with danger lurking just behind his glinting eyes. And anyone who wanted to believe in fairytales as a child (or adult), whose imagination has ever run wholly wild, will empathize with this Wendy, unable to let Neverland go, even at the cost of hospitalization and a strained relationship with her brothers. The soft Wendy we knew becomes fierce and motherly, but in a real and raw way, not the playful pretend of her childhood. There a few other familiar characters prancing through the pages of Wendy, Darling (and some new ones to fall in love with), but I’ll leave you to discover them, yourself.Not only is this new Neverland cast in sinister shadow and dark magic in a way that draws the reader in and brings them into its mythology and magic, but Wise also skillfully brings the reader into the adult lives and relationships back in London in a way that is heartfelt, deep and true. I’m not much of a crier, but a few of the scenes between Wendy and Michael brought me to the edge of tears.If you’re hoping for a wonderful fantasy in A. C. Wise’s Wendy, Darling you’ll get it. You’ll also get a touch of horror and a bit of romance. It’s a story of siblings, a mother-daughter tale, and also a retelling of the dark side of fairy tales, of the terrible things that can happen when we let childhood go…or the things that happen when we don’t. This book has something for everyone who ever believed in magic, in monsters in the closet, or anyone who has longed for love and childhood lost.

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I loved everything about this book, it had me hooked from start to finish. I have too much I want to say, so I will just say read it, you won't be disappointed

Thoroughly enjoyed this book, I finished it within 2 days! Such a good take on what happened after Wendy left Neverland. It jumps back and forth in time, between Neverland and London. It is also sometimes told from Wendy's pov and sometimes Wendy's daughter Jane. I wish there was an epilogue at the end but overall a great read!

From the get go I was intrigued by this book, a Wendy centric retelling of Peter Pan and the lost boys that was a dark and difficult story.The starting was slow paced and I was confused with Wendy’s age and the timeline but that may have just been me not paying enough attention 🤣I started to love the different timelines and Wendy’s struggles and the middle was fab and more fast paced, learning more about Peter and his manipulate ways made me want to know more about his story rather than Wendy’s.For me Jane (wendys daughter) acted too much of a grown up I would have loved to have seen this more from a child perspective.The ending was disappointing for me and brought this from a 4 to a 3I didn’t really think the story wrapped up as well as it could have and it just lacked something, overall not a bad read but not a book I’ll be picking up to re read.

Happy daughter!