The Orphan's Tales : In the night garden By Catherynne Valente

What a piece of work In the night garden turned out to be.

A sultan boy walks into a garden, finds a strange girl who tells him a tale and what a tale it turns out to be. Stories lead to stories and weave into each other forming an impossible loop all to be resolved by the end. It seems everyone you encounter in this book has a story to tell and even more surprisingly all of them are great ones.

Of course there is a part two out there and after a long time I am glad that there is one. It also has illustrations, not many but just enough to tease your imagination and help you keep a tab on myriad number of creatures that come and go as they share their stories. The number of cultures and myths that are present and linked is mind boggling. Of course its only later that I realized this. While reading I was totally engrossed. I think I read the entire work in around 2 sittings in 2 days even though I was desperately tired after getting back from work.

You can buy the Orphan Tales here.

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