Lud-in-the-Mist by Hope Mirrlees
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is one of those books you don’t hear about unless you have a friend who is very devoted to reading, or unless you are one of those people yourself. The novel tells the story of a quiet village that lies very close to magical territory, with items crossing into the real world from the other. The problem becomes acute and requires action by the mayor. This description is prosaic; the book itself is full of magic, not simply embodied in the story but present in the writing as well. Its quiet, mistressly sentences build the world one jewel at a time. I am forever grateful to the friend who offered this book to me. It is deft, quick, precise, and remarkable. What takes Tolkien page upon page to achieve comes so easily in Mirrlees that you will be left wanting more. I am learning that this is part of a trilogy she wrote; so I have two more books to find and read. The other novels are apparently less in the realm of fantasy than this one. But with writing as fine as this, one should led the author do as she will.