Nettle

Nettle is not her real name, of course, but it’s how she has been known since her grandmother, who is bringing her up, found her completely safe and unstung in a patch of nettles. Fascinated by her gran’s stories of the faeries and their activities, and a misfit in her community, Nettle enjoys sitting in the nettle patch, and it’s from there that she falls into the Faery kingdom, which is dark, and not at all pretty, and is dragged away to face its King. She stands up to him, rashly promising to do anything if she can go home, and if he’ll heal her sick grandmother. The King is impressed by her spirit, and agrees, if she will complete three tasks. Forgetting her grandmother’s warning never to make a deal with the treacherous faeries, she agrees. She has help from Conor, a human kidnapped by the faeries centuries ago who becomes a friend and ally as she works out how to get around the magic tricks that make her tasks almost impossible. She is also drawn to the faery Ellion, dressed magnificently in black and silver, who has to report on her to the King.

There are twists and turns throughout, and it’s not giving too much away to say that all ends happily, though not entirely as we might have anticipated. This should work well with young teens.