"The Door on Half-Bald Hill" by Helena Sorensen

When you begin reading The Door on Half-Bald Hill, the wonderful fantasy story by Helena Sorensen, you find yourself thrown into the ongoing story, without much explanation or back story. It’s not unlike being pitched into a fast-moving river; you bob and weave as the current carries you along. You think you might be drowning, and then you’re not. You’re swimming. 

This s a tale of the land called Bailelean, a place not unlike Ireland. It’s the twilight of the time of the Druids; each community once had its own Druid, Bard, and Ovate or Healer. But the number of Druids is dwindling; since the last Bloodmoon, something has been going very wrong. The River Adder is increasingly poisoned, the land is dying, people are getting sick, and food is becoming scarcer. 

 

In the community of Blackthorn, the Druid Corann is facing a new reality: his powers are diminishing, and his magic doesn’t work as before. The new ovate, a young woman named Zinerva, is encouraging the people to embrace death. The Bard, a young man named Idris, has previously had one primary responsibility – to keep and tell the Word, the collection of stories, epics, and beliefs that have nurtured the people for generations. But at times Idris finds himself unable to speak – and unable to stop what is clearly the growing menace of death.

 

Helena Sorensen

A handful of people realize that their Druid is unable to help and their Ovate not only won’t heal but has embraced darkness. Their hope centers on Idris, but first Idris must understand what it is he must do. Because something must be done, or they will all die. 

 

You flow with the river of this story, thinking initially you’re going to drown. But you surface with a sputter, tread water, hang onto a passing branch, and then you swim. And you swim into what is a marvelous story, filled with so much imagined and created detail that you think you’re part of the Blackthorn community. And when you finish the tale, you discover that you are. It’s that powerful of a story.

 

Sorensen has also published a trilogy, under the heading of The Shiloh Series, which includes Shiloh, Seeker, and Songbird. She’s a frequent contribution to the online sites The Rabbit Room and Story Warren. A speaker on writers and writing, she lives in Nashville. 

 

I’m not a heavy reader of fantasy stories, but The Door in Half-Bald Hill is not a typical fantasy story. It is a finely wrought, and finely written, story of peril and redemption.