A prose re-telling of the famous traditional ballad of Thomas the Rhymer. Thomas bargains away seven years of his life inadvertantly for a kiss form the Queen of the Fairies who takes him to her fair realm. She was attracted to him for his harping and bardic skills. The time passes in days and Thomas asks to live out the full seven years in the fairy land as her lover and harper. He can stay as long as he only speaks to her (apart from when he is performing of course) and is careful to eat only the human food she provides for him. At the end of the seven years when he returns to the mortal realm, she makes him True Thomas and he can never tell a lie.

The story is fleshed out further with the relationhips Thomas has with elderly, childless couple Gavin and Meg before he is taken away as well as his mortal love Elspeth amongst his many other conquests. The tale is told in four sections starting with Gavin's tale, then Thomas Meg and finally Elspeth. There were also two beautiful stories within the main text in the fairy realm about a white dove who cries tears of blood and Thomas' invisible servant.

I really enjoyed this tale. A mixture of fantasy, romance and fairy tale it was everything I enjoy in a novel. There are two previews of some of Kushner's other novels which I will read at a later date and I do hope to read more of her tales in the future. ( )

A retelling of the folk ballad in which a harper spends seven years in Elfland.

While I can't say I enjoyed Thomas the Rhymer as much as Kushner's Riverside books, it does have some notable strengths. The author uses an unconventional narrative structure; the book is essentially four longer stories/short novels, each narrated by a different character, that come together to tell the tale. Each narrator has their own distinct voice and speaks in a way that fits with their social station. The reader gets a real feel for who these people are and how they view their world. It's an approach that compliments this character-based story very nicely, at least on an intellectual level.

On an emotional level, though, I found it difficult to commit to this book. There are some moments of rare beauty, but for the most part I found that Kushner's normally irresistible style faded into the background. I had trouble really sinking into the story. I think that I might have found it a stronger read had the narratives been woven together instead of segmented. I wonder, too, if the book wouldn't have impacted me more if Kushner had stuck to just one or two first person POVs, or perhaps integrated Thomas's first person with everyone else's third person.

But regardless, it was an enjoyable read and is certainly worth your time. I particularly recommend it to those with an interest in old ballads and folk stories. ( )

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