In the Night Garden (The Orphan’s Tales, #1)
by Catherynne M. Valente
What’s it about?
A Book of Wonders for Grown-Up Readers
Every once in a great while a book comes along that reminds us of the magic spell that stories can cast over us to dazzle, entertain, and enlighten. Welcome to the Arabian Nights for our time a lush and fantastical epic guaranteed to spirit you away from the very first page.
Secreted away in a garden, a lonely girl spins stories to warm a curious prince: peculiar feats and unspeakable fates that loop through each other and back again to meet in the tapestry of her voice. Inked on her eyelids, each twisting, tattooed tale is a piece in the puzzle of the girl’s own hidden history.
And what tales she tells! Tales of shape-shifting witches and wild horsewomen, heron kings and beast princesses, snake gods, dog monks, and living stars each story more strange and fantastic than the one that came before. From ill-tempered mermaid to fastidious Beast, nothing is ever quite what it seems in these ever-shifting tales even, and especially, their teller.
Adorned with illustrations by the legendary Michael Kaluta, Valente’s enchanting lyrical fantasy offers a breathtaking reinvention of the untold myths and dark fairy tales that shape our dreams. And just when you think you’ve come to the end, you realize the adventure has only begun.
Why would it look good on film?
If Disney ever leveled up and gave us adult fairytales, adding the macabre, and the slightly sinister to their fantastic tales, then Valente’s In the Night Garden would serve as a perfect plot to guide a series. Lush, lyrical prose, unbelievable world-building, these phenomenal stories are transcendent, unearthly, and highly imaginative – a perfect combination for an ambitious, fearless filmmaker.
