Spindlefish and stars / Christiane M. Andrews.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

This spellbinding fantasy about a girl from the shadows and a boy from the sea is perfect for fans of The Girl Who Drank the Moon and The Book of Boy .

In which a story is spun.

And unspun.



Clothilde has lived her whole life in the shadows with her (sometimes) thieving and (always) ailing father. But when he fails to meet her one morning, sending her instead a mysterious ticket of half-paffage , Clo finds herself journeying across the sea to reunite with him. The ticket, however, leaves her on a sunless island inhabited only by creaking fishermen, a rumpled old woman, a piggish cat, and a moon-cheeked boy named Cary.



Clo is quickly locked away and made to spend her days in unnerving chores with the island's extraordinary fish, while the old woman sits nearby weaving an endless gray tapestry. Frustrated and aching with the loss of her father, Clo must unravel the mysteries of the island and all that's hidden in the vast tapestry's threads--secrets both exquisite and terrible. And she must decide how much of herself to give up in order to save those she thought she'd lost forever.



Inspired by Greek mythology, this spellbinding fantasy invites readers to seek connections, to forge their own paths, and to explore the power of storytelling in our interwoven histories.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Publishers Weekly Review

Drawing from Greek mythology, Andrews constructs a leisurely, lyrical debut exploring the nature of destiny and sacrifice. After her father, an art restorer and sometimes thief, is detained, young Clothilde, "wall-jumper, turnip-grower, corner-skulker," takes his last gifts to her--his precious leather notebook, a stolen painting, a wheel of foul-smelling cheese--and follows his instructions. She arrives first at a mysterious ship on which he has booked her "half passage," and then to an isolated gray island where an old woman, who addresses Clo as "rethguaddnarg," takes her in. Fearful about her father's fate, Clo refuses to settle in on the inscrutable island, with its perpetually gray sky and its inhabitants' obsession with small silvery fish. Soon Clo learns that she's expected to spin these fish into threads, which in turn become part of a magical tapestry that leads her to understand her family's star-crossed history en route to rewriting her own destiny. Her only ally on the island is Cary, a boy her own age who came to the island after his own tragic experience. Though the narrative voice can occasionally seem distant, the timelessness it grants makes this enchanting story feel like an all-new myth built from classic material. Ages 8--12. Agent: Sara Crowe, Pippin Properties. (Sept.)

School Library Journal Review

Gr 5 Up--For as long as Clothilde could remember, she has lived her life in the shadows. Traveling from town to town with her father, Clo never gets close to the townsfolk, preferring either her own company or that of her father's. One day, her father does not return home from work and Clo is left to follow the mysterious clues he sends in order to find him. With a ticket for a "half-passage," Clo embarks on a journey to find her father and ends up on a strange island where it is always gray and the villagers speak a language she doesn't understand. On the island, Clo meets an apple-faced woman with an unexpected connection to Clo, a boy who fell from the sky, and a piggish cat that loves creating mischief. Unbeknownst to Clo, each character will play a role in the search for her father--a search that ultimately will give her a deeper understanding of the world. Clo's tale is expertly written, full of beautiful imagery and elements of Greek mythology. Clo's dynamic character growth is one to be applauded. She is thrust into a journey of self-discovery, learning not only about herself, but also her parents: the father she thought she knew and the mother she never met. Over time, Clo's enlightening adventure teaches her to find beauty in tragedy, to help those in need, and to accept what cannot be changed while having the courage to change what she can. These timeless lessons alone make this title worth the read. VERDICT Drawing on elements of Greek mythology, this is an engaging and inventive novel that middle grade readers will enjoy.--Myiesha Speight, Towson Univ., Baltimore

Booklist Review

Young Clo is used to the routine of her and her father's precarious existence: they arrive in a new town, he finds work at a local manor, he pilfers a few unremarkable items from his wealthy employer, and they meet up again and move on. When one day he doesn't make their rendezvous, the usually calm Clo fears the worst. After an unlikely messenger appears with a smeared letter from her father containing cryptic instructions, Clo sets out after him with everything he's left her: a cloak-wrapped wheel of cheese, his private notebook, an unexceptional painting, and a ticket for "half passage" to a mysterious destination. As her journey takes her to a curious island of unchanging days, unintelligible ancient inhabitants, and one baffling boy who claims to have been saved from the sea, Clo struggles to unravel the mystery of her own murky origins and plot a way back to her faraway father. Andrews' stunning debut, based loosely on Greek mythology, is bewitching, beautiful, and bewildering, akin to being submerged in an eerie dream. The somewhat slower pace may appeal more to older middle-grade readers, and it's immensely satisfying to absorb the delicious descriptions and gradual revelations along with the appealing protagonist. We may be just a single shining thread in a tapestry, as Clo learns, but what a glorious whole it creates.

Horn Book Review

"Once, on the far end of the village in the last of the crumbling homes, lived a girl." Andrews's novel begins as a fairy tale and quasi-medieval quest story but soon veers into the mythic and supernatural with imagery that is both mysterious and evocative. Clo and her father never stay in one place for long, and Clo is used to the nights they flit, taking with them a few pilfered pastries and stolen works of art. One night, her father doesn't show; instead, he sends her a ticket for "half passage" for a sea voyage. Dropped at a gray, remote island halfway between the world of the living and that of the dead, the miserable Clo lands up in the sparse hut of an old woman whose language is incomprehensible but whose orders are clear: Clo is to card and spin baskets of glittering fish into yarn. Andrews draws on the Greek tale of Icarus and the imagery of the three Fates, the Ship of the Dead, and the tools of spinning and weaving for a dreamy, immersive story that raises questions about the power of art and the value of human suffering. Deirdre F. Baker November/December 2020 p.93(c) Copyright 2020. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Kirkus Book Review

An epic tale of abandonment, travel, secrets, family, and the meaning of art. Clo and her father, art restorer and small-time thief, never live for long in one village; when it's time to move on, he signals her, she meets him at the forest's edge, and they walk through the night to someplace new. One day, he doesn't show. A swineherd delivers a half-legible note: Clo must take this paper ticket of "half passage" to someone named Haros, near "th' water…full o' salt." So Clo, "wall-jumper, turnip-picker," embarks on a lonely journey halfway across a raging sea to an island where people and skies are gray, time doesn't pass, a dried-apple--faced old woman inexplicably knows her, and fish can be carded and spun into shimmering yarn. Exquisite in detail, Andrews' stunning novel gives careful importance to objects; even a simple shawl holds revelations. Chapter titles sparkle and tantalize ("In Which Our Hero Dies"), and prose sings. Tropes of sacrifice and Greek mythology serve as scaffoldings. There must be a way for Clo to escape her repulsive fate of carding and spinning silver fishes' guts into yarn and maybe even to help a vulnerable, always-damp, flute-playing boy who was scooped from the ocean--but that path must allow for the literal, physical, yarn-based weaving of "humid forests and gleaming deserts, rimy fields and green valleys"--and human lives. Characters seem white. A tapestry, both humble and rich. (Fantasy. 10-14) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Christiane Andrews grew up in rural New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine, on the edges of mountains and woods and fields and sometimes even the sea. A writing and literature instructor, she lives with her husband and son and a small clutch of animals on an old New Hampshire hilltop farm. Spindlefish and Stars is her first novel. Visit Christiane online at cmandrews.com.