A Knot in the Grain: And Other Stories

Written by Robin McKinley

Narrated by Laura Knight Keating and Liz Pearce

Stories from the world of The Hero and the Crown and other magical places by a New York Times–bestselling Newbery Medal winner.

Robin McKinley returns to the mythical setting of The Hero and the Crown and The Blue Sword in this “thrilling, satisfying, and thought-provoking collection” featuring two stories set in the world of Damar, plus three other fantasy tales featuring adventurous, pragmatic, and heroic young women (Publishers Weekly).

There’s mute Lily, in “The Healer,” who has the power to help others, and receives a startling opportunity to find her voice when a mysterious mage stumbles into town. And Queen Ruen, who is at the mercy of a power-hungry uncle until she encounters a shape-changer in “The Stagman.” In “Touk’s House,” a maiden who has grown up with a witch and a troll has a chance to become a princess, but she must decide whether she would really live happily ever after. When a curse follows Coral to her new husband’s farm in “Buttercups,” the pair has a choice: Succumb to defeat or find a way to turn a disastrous enchantment into a fruitful new venture.

Finally, travel to upstate New York with Annabelle. In the title story, her family moves shortly after her sixteenth birthday, and just as she starts to adjust to her new life in a small town, a plan to build a superhighway threatens her new home.

But a strange box hidden in a secret attic in the new house may be the answer.

This is a delightful assortment of tales from an author with “a remarkable talent for melding the real and the magical into a single, believable whole” (Booklist).

• Language: English
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Release date: Apr 20, 2021
• ISBN: 9781705031766

Robin McKinley

Robin McKinley has won various awards and citations for her writing, including the Newbery Medal for The Hero and the Crown, a Newbery Honor for The Blue Sword, and the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature for Sunshine. Her other books include the New York Times bestseller Spindle’s End; two novel-length retellings of the fairy tale Beauty and the Beast, Beauty and Rose Daughter; Deerskin, another novel-length fairy-tale retelling, of Charles Perrault’s Donkeyskin; and a retelling of the Robin Hood legend, The Outlaws of Sherwood. She lives with her husband, the English writer Peter Dickinson; three dogs (two hellhounds and one hell terror); an 1897 Steinway upright; and far too many rosebushes.

Reviews for A Knot in the Grain

[phyllis2779 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

These stories were just OK. To me they felt very YA. Very little suspense or action. The emphasis was on the fairy tale style. I've already forgotten the first stories I read in the book. The last three, Buttercups, Touk, and a Knot in the Grain, I probably remember because it was the last ones I read. I like other things I've read by this author so this was very disappointing. Well-written but ephemeral. Actually, now that I've read a precis of each of the stories, the one I liked best was The Healer because it was set in Damar.

[herenya_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

It was interesting reading reviews of this and comparing my reactions. It was an important reminder that readers can have completely opposing views, and that I should be careful about letting negative reviews dissuade me from reading something I otherwise think looks interesting. "The Healer" is possibly a Damar story. I had a very subjective reaction to it - I just didn't warm to it, and I don't think there's any objective reason why.I really enjoyed "The Stagman" for its prose. The characters are types more than complex personalities, unnamed for much of the story and identified instead by their role or relationship. If it were a longer story, I would want complex personalities, but in a short story - especially a short story that reads like a fairytale - there's something appealing about that, about the way you are left to fill in the blanks yourself. Both "Touk's House" and "Buttercups" are similar, in so far as that the characters' names aren't revealed until well into the story and there is a fairytale feel about them. Neither of them unfold as I expected them to. There is something lovely and gentle about the romance in "Buttercups", partly because of the way the story captures the way the farmer has not questioned his loneliness and his utter delight at unexpectedly discovering someone he wants to spend his life with. However, "A Knot in the Grain" is my favourite, about a teenager who (reluctantly) moves house with her parents and the summer she spends borrowing books from the library, writing letters to her friends back home and slowly adjusting to her new life. It's not an almost fairytale, and it is much more about Annabelle as a person - her thoughts, feelings and relationships - than it is about what happens. What I loved most about it, apart from Annabelle's reading habits, was the way it captured being 16 and dealing with change - and the bittersweetness of change.

[leelynn_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I really liked the first four short stories in this book. The last one though, I have to admit, is my least favorite and to me personally could do without. (Just my personal opinion) Other than that, I had a great time reading this book and always am looking for it on the shelf when I am at the library. These stories never get old to me and I love it when a book can do that without having to be the size of a dictionary!

[jjmcgaffey · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Five stories, of varying interest. The Healer, about a mute girl and an injured mage - a Luthe story, though not, as far as I can tell, a Damar one. The Stagman, which annoys me - it's written fairy-tale style, with very little personality to any of the characters, and it's too similar to Luthe & Aerin. The princess marries for the good of the land then runs away to her true love when her duty's done...don't know, it bothers me. Touk's House - an interesting variant on Rapunzel (and a couple other fairy tales), with a touch of the same marrying-for-duty thing but it goes away and she makes her choice. Buttercups, which I like - it follows patterns of several fairy tales, but does it with plenty of personality involved. Pos and Coral are very real; so is Buttercup Hill, and the way they paid and how the cost was not destructive. I wonder what would have happened if they hadn't confessed to each other? Nothing good, I suspect. Finally, the title story. Very different in setting and somewhat in flavor; rather than fairy story set in unspecified lands, a teenager in modern America dealing with moving to a new home and a highway coming through...with just a bit of some old magic sticking its nose into matters. I like that one, too.

[tjsjohanna_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Though Ms. McKinley says she has a hard time with short stories, these five are satisfying. With the exception of "A Knot in the Grain", they are all set in a fantasy world. The first two, "The Healer" and "The Stagman" are certainly set in McKinley's world, Damar. Both feature the character of Luthe. I found "The Healer" satisfying and "The Stagman" a little depressing. Why Ruen has to give up happiness for most of her life is beyond me! "Erana" was a unique twist on the fairytale Rapunzel, though there is no tower or long hair and Erana is free to go when she grows up. "Buttercups" was probably my favorite. I loved how Coral and Pos are both beset by doubts and worries, but they learn to turn to each other. "A Knot in the Grain" has fantasy elements, but I liked it most for how Ms. McKinley captures those feelings I had each time I moved as a child. I could relate completely to Annabelle's experiences.

[phoebesmum · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A collection of five short fantasies, lightweight but sweet; an enjoyable quick read.

[ceridwynr · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Interesting collection of short stories for young adults. Five different stories, four of which have a distinctly fairy tale flavour and (I think) are set in the Damar of McKinlay's Blue Sword books. I really loved Buttercups - the subversion of the expected was beautifully done and I liked the way hard work and acceptance were the important aspects of success.My main issue with the collection was the last (title) story really didn't fit with the other tales. Set in the modern world with a magic realism tinge it clashed with the style of the others for me.

[bluesalamanders · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I like this better than Door in the Hedge (another anthology of Mckinley's short stories) - the stories here are more concrete, the characters are more realistic and easier to relate to.