The May Queen
A Novel by Michelle Tocher
Molly Underwood’s Auntie May can’t divulge the family secret, so she tells Molly fairy tales. When the truth comes out, May is dying, and the grief rips the family apart. Is it too late to heal?
An IndieReader-approved sensation, The May Queen has been called “an artfully woven grief narrative that works its magic by seeing grief in the family from many different perspectives. While some are locked out, others are locked in, and the walls are dissolved in tears.”
When The May Queen was launched, Michelle took her readers for a sail on a tall ship, and wrote lines from the book onto ribbons. Everybody chose their own line. Here are some of their favorites:
“It’s easy to die, of course. One simply falls backwards into the arms of love.”
“Fairy tales are the wings we were born with, wings we hide, wings we put on when the atmosphere becomes thick with lies and the feathers need to fly.”
“Learn to read the dream of your life.”
~ Rave Reviews ~
“The May Queen is not a lighthearted or easy read; it will plunge straight into the heart of any reader in mourning. For the observer coming to terms with their own faith and loss, it can be a breathless and difficult experience. But this, again, is by design—and, again, goes to show what an artful book this is. Michelle Tocher has spun a tale that skillfully mirrors human fears, especially women’s fears: what does it mean to be the heroine, the victim, or the evil queen of one’s own story? Can one be all three at different times? Is being any of these things really so wrong? The May Queen interrogates all this and more, and in a way that both stirs and calms the heart.”
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— Kara Dennison, IndieReader
“If a May were a crystal, we saw all of her, inside and out, and better yet, if the reader is open, we felt May, inside and out. So great to see those familiar stories like Goose Girl, Baba Yaga, Befana, etc. being referred to… it was cool to actually have a bit of an understanding of who these people are, and why these parallels were so intriguing. I loved May and Gerald’s complicated relationship, complicated by taboo, by marriage, by lust. And of course, I am hopelessly in love with May—just say it, Frank, just say it.”
— Andy Frank, Broadcaster
“I’m going to say you’ve got to stop writing books because I started reading your book yesterday, even though I had my library books to finish up, and I guess I’m about half way through, and I don’t seem to be able to get anything else done in my life! But I’m really fascinated, longing to get back and find out what happens to these characters in the story. I just was drawn into it again, like your other one (The Tower Princess). So I thought I really must tell you, Michelle, not to write any other books until I get other things done first! I’m really enjoying it … I find it very moving too—very very moving …”
— Clare Boyle, Member of the Jungian Foundation of Ontario
“I have read your book and I am very impressed. An incredible achievement. It is remarkable, the way you are able to get into the different people’s way of thinking and feeling, switching from one to the other and then the complex relationships they have to each other … the journey of consciousness and self discovery … thank you for your book!”
— Erika Baempfer Deery, Artist
“I so enjoyed reading The May Queen—I hope that many others do too—For me it took form subtly as the story unfolded. I didn’t realize how much I’d invested in its reading at first till I found I looked forward to returning to the last pages I’d read and felt like I was meeting my friends—the characters and the ideas. That to me is what a well-crafted piece of writing does for its readers.”
— Jennifer Butson, Author, Out of Paper Blog