The Wild Girl
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Average rating4.5
One of six sisters, Dortchen Wild lives in the small German kingdom of Hesse-Cassel in the early 19th century. She finds herself irresistibly drawn to the boy next door, the handsome but very poor fairy tale scholar Wilhelm Grimm. It is a time of tyranny and terror. Napoleon Bonaparte wants to conquer all of Europe, and Hesse-Cassel is one of the first kingdoms to fall. Forced to live under oppressive French rule, Wilhelm and his brothers quietly rebel by preserving old half-forgotten tales that had once been told by the firesides of houses grand and small over the land. As Dortchen tells Wilhelm some of the most powerful and compelling stories in what will one day become his and Jacob's famous fairy tale collection, their love blossoms. But Dortchen's father will not give his consent for them to marry and war, death, and poverty also conspire to keep the lovers apart. Yet Dortchen is determined to find a way. Evocative and richly-detailed, Kate Forsyth's The Wild Girl masterfully captures one young woman's enduring faith in love and the power of storytelling.
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The Wild Girl is the story of Dortchen Wild, the woman who who loved Wilhelm Grimm and contributed countless stories to the Grimm's fairy tale collection.
Like most people, I thought Wilhelm and Jakob had traveled around Europe collecting stories for their collection. I did not know that the majority of their stories came from family and friends. Some of the most beloved stories came from a woman named Dortchen Wild. She was the Grimm's neighbor and close friend growing up. Not much was known about Dortchen. The life of the Grimm family was heavily documented but, only a few pieces of Dortchen's life existed. Instead of going off facts, Kate Forsyth builds Dortchen's life from the tales that she tells this Grimms.
The opening chapter of the book is set in the future. Dortchen runs out into the cold December weather to celebrate the death of her oppressive father. There she is found by Wilhelm Grimm who comforts her. Despite her father's death, Wilhelm is too poor to support a wife. Hope is shattered.
After this opening chapter, Forsyth brings you back to Dortchen's childhood. She focuses on Dortchen's friendship with her sisters and her best friend Lotte Grimm. Lotte is excited for her brother's return from University. Upon meeting Wilhelm, Dortchen is enchanted with him, but he only sees her as a little sister.
As the novel progresses, Dortchen and Wilhelm's discover their feelings for each other. Despite their love, Wilhelm is poor. He has no money to support a wife. He can barely support his own family. Dortchen's father repeatedly tells her that the Grimms are not good enough for her. As the years pass, life grows harder for the Wild family as well. The country is in turmoil. Napoleon is making his way across Europe. As he conquers each nation, he has a relative take over ruling that land. His younger brother Jerome is appointed ruler in Cassel, where the Wilds and Grimms live.
As Dortchen and Wilhelm explore their feelings for one another, the country is at war. The people are often starving. Their young men are threatened with being enlisted and sent off to fight in Russia. Dorthcen's own brother is eventually sent off to fight.
During all these events, Dortchen's mother grows sicker and her father sets his sights on his daughter. He is cruel. He often beats her, and becomes infatuated with her. He drinks, loses his temper and takes it on on the rest of the family.
Despite the dark cloud of her father, Dortchen still tells Wilhelm and Jakob the most beautiful stories. They begin a reading group with friends where they recount classic tales to the brothers. The Wild's housekeeper Marie provides many of the tales, and is a beacon of hope in the Wild household.
The novel, The Wild Girl is not suitable for children. Is it the story of the woman behind the fairy tales. Forsyth focuses on the tales Dortchen tells Wilhelm to build out her life. It is dark and cruel. The love between Wilhelm and Dortchen keeps the hope alive.
It is obvious that Forsyth has done her research on this novel. The novel is filled with historical references. The novel is not just a focus on Wilhelm and Dortchen but of life in 1800s Cassel. She recounts the war, balls, meals they eat. Everything feels well researched. The characters feel authentic. For the length of the novel, they are family.
The only flaw with the novel is the ending. The novel spans years of Dortchen's life. Through all her hardships, the reader never gets the chance to experience their happily ever after. After her father's death, Dortchen spends much of her time crying. It came to a point where every human interaction would cause her to cry. It is clearly meant to show the effect her father's abuse had on her. When finally, readers are presented with the ending the want, it is cut short. There is no wedding, no children. All that time invested in the book and the reader is left with a proposal, a yes, and that's it. There is no mention of the rest of their life. It was a disappointing end to an otherwise fantastic novel.
See my full review at The Emerald City Book Review. Win a copy on my blog (through July 7 2015)! A moving and compelling novel that demonstrates the power of stories to reveal and heal our innermost souls. Highly recommended for fans of fairy-tale fiction.
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