Drowned Country is the second novella in the Greenhollow duology by Emily Tesh.
Finished on: 11.11.2023
[Here’s my review of the first book.]

Plot:
When Adela Silver calls, it is hard not to obey. Especially when you’re Henry Silver, her son. It doesn’t matter that Henry is now the Wild Man of Greenhollow. Or that he is in what can be rightly described as a funk. He travels to the seaside where Adela is trying to solve a mystery together with Tobias Finch. Henry dreads seeing Tobias again most of all.

Drowned Country is a beautiful sequel to the haunting Silver in The Wood (that I re-read before diving into this one and still loved). It manages the difficult balance of feeling like a natural continuation of the story and completely new, and the prose is just dazzling. Amazing.

Drowned Country is still being told from the point of view of the Wild Man of Greenhollow, but this time, the Wild Man is Henry, not Tobias. And Henry has a hard time adjusting to his existence, and to Tobias’ absence. Being who he is, he turns to drama to process his feelings. Usually, that really isn’t my type of character, but it works absolutely beautifully here. With a sly sense of humor, Tesh manages to acknowledge that Henry might be a tad overdramatic, but she does take the very real pain beneath the drama as seriously as he deserves.

Given the sweet ending of the first novella, finding Tobias and Henry separated at the start of this one is a bit of a gut-punch, but fortunately things are heading for a happy end, so rest assured on that front. And the way to said happy end is again filled with so much for such a slim volume, introducing a new favorite character in Maud and expanding an old favorite character in Adela. Apart from the faves Tobias and Henry, of course.

The world Tesh created here is full of intrigue, mystery and promise and the atmosphere she manages to create is simply beautiful. It leaves one wanting more, but I am pretty sure that part of the magic is that we get all these tantalizing glimpses that hint at something bigger without actually getting like a 1000 page novel about it. In any case, I wouldn’t want to change this duology.

Summarizing: magical.