2022/24: The Wren Hunt -- Mary Watson

I knew magic, and it wasn’t ghost stories about a tree girl in a ruined cottage. [p. 14]

From the sample chapters -- including an unsettling scene in which Wren Silke is pursued through the woods, just after Christmas, by a band of teenage boys -- I'd expected a story rooted in traditional British folklore, the hunting of the wren and the pagan rituals of the year's end. That expectation wasn't wholly fulfilled, though there are allusions to druids, bards and sacred groves. Instead, this is a YA fantasy novel, with echoes of Celtic folklore (nemeds, druids, a girl made of flowers) and a strong romantic plot of love across the divide. Wren, the narrator, is an augur, with the rare ability to 'perceive patterns in random things'. Sometimes her visions foretell the future, but she is forbidden from seeking patterns in 'body fluids', especially blood. Between augurs and judges lie hundreds of years of hostility: the boys who pursue Wren every Boxing Day are judges, though they may not know she's an augur.

At the behest of her family, Wren undertakes a secret mission to locate and retrieve a lost treasure from Harkness House, the stronghold of Cassa Harkness, leader of the judges. She has to deal every day with David, who's led the eponymous Hunt for years; and she has to hide her growing feelings for Tarc, David's boss and, despite his youth, head of Cassa's security. Tarc seems to know something about magic, but he can't be allowed to find out Wren's secret. And meanwhile, Wren's nearest and dearest -- her sister Aisling, her friend Sibéal, her grandfather Smith -- seem to be hiding secrets of their own.

There were some interesting themes here, and some good descriptions, but overall this wasn't a satisfying read for me. I felt there were a lot of unfinished plot threads: Wren's vanished mother, the actual Wren Hunt, the rituals ... And while it's set in modern Ireland, with cellphones and computers, there doesn't seem to be any of the political or religious tension of the 'real' Ireland. I note that the author is South African, now living in Galway: I wonder what drew her to Ireland?