Someplace To Be Flying Charles de Lint
Macmillan hardback, 465 pages, £16.99
Published March 1999
ISBN 0333732804
Pan paperback, 620 pages, £6.99
Published March 1999
ISBN 0330368702
Review by Mel Williams-Manton (1999)
Charles de Lint writes from that place where music, myth and subculture fuse, a place where magic, insight and epiphany are all possible, and often the same thing.
There is more than a taste of Native American creation myths in this book, with animal people emerging from all quarters of the city of Newford, talk of medicine lands and the long ago. There are crow girls, ageless and childlike, ancient and steely at the same time. There is Jack Daw, a rakish figure in his hat and duster coat, a storyteller whose tales are always true, in a sense, and occupy a realm where time is fluid. Did they happen yesterday or at the beginning of time? There is also Raven, with his mythical pot, from which he stirred the first people into being, and Cody who always wants the pot so he can set a wrong right. But the wrongs are never set right and this struggle could lead to war. The Cuckoos are in town, a race with a mean streak a mile wide and a lust for crow blood that is insatiable.
Among these strange characters are the befuddled folk of Newford who get caught up in the escalating conflict, people from both sides of the tracks. There is Lily, a photographer; one night, she is attacked in an alley, while out looking for animal people. A gypsy cab driver called Hank comes to her rescue, a man from the Tombs, Newford’s ghetto and home of the lost. Both of them are changed irrevocably by meeting the crow girls and find themselves drawn into a world of mystery and seeming impossibilities.
De Lint paints a startlingly strong image of the city, especially its ghettos and back alleys, where it’s hard to sort friend from foe. The characters are convincingly drawn. Even the smallest bit part player is three-dimensional and there are no stereotypes. De Lint knows these people, their stories and their world, which is what makes Someplace To Be Flying such a compelling read. It is mostly about the nature of change, of people finding themselves and opening their eyes a little, of letting things take their course. It is so well-plotted that it is virtually impossible to guess what will happen next; the story never flags. It makes sure you don’t leave till the last page is turned.
Like the best storytellers, de Lint creates a sense that if the skin of the world is lifted for a moment, strange and wonderful things will come out and walk among us. It’s hard not to believe him, he makes it seem so natural.