A slim volume you can swallow in one melancholy winter afternoon, best with sips of a mellow amber whisky with undertones of peat, Priya Sharm‘s Ormeshadow (Tor.com, 2019) is more about human beasts than the actual dragon that slumbers under the earth. The fraternal archetypes; the civilized and the wild brother, are seen through the eyes of a bewildered child, Gideon, who becomes a man during the course of the story.

The two brothers in question are Gideon’s father and uncle. Gideon’s father, John, is a scholar, happy with books, but also bound to the land (and what lies under it.) Uncle Thomas, first described in a sentence that can be read several ways, is a dark man. When Gideon’s father, John, is forced to bring his family back to the farm where he and Thomas grew up, familial competition raises its ugly head. From a lone mysterious carved chair to John’s beautiful wife, everything seems to be contested ground. John often yields both to his demanding wife and his volatile brother, Thomas. It seems Gideon, who has inherited John’s gentle nature, is fated to be an underdog as well.

But Gideon’s kindness and gentleness have won him protection among forces more powerful than men.

Well, here at STORGY we’ve been following the career of Priya Sharma with great attention and her collection All The Fabulous Beasts was a highlight of our recent reading – which let us just add went on to win the Shirley Jackson Award for singled-authored collection in 2018. So, when we heard that she’d upped the ante and gone and written a novella, we had to get ourselves a copy to review for you fine folks here.

Ormeshadow is quite different from All The Fabulous Beasts, and I mention this because it is different in the best of ways, Sharma appears to flourish with the shackles off and writing free from what is required from a genre book per se. Unshackling her creative juices seems to have had a freeing quality, enabling Sharma to concoct a broiling coming of age tale which loosely but integrally incorporates the myths and legends of dragons – but with a masters touch she subtly lays the lore into the foundations of Ormeshadow which create a beast of a book.

So, if you’re a fan of all things dark and mysterious please take note, this is a writer who is doing something a little different, incorporating a dark undertow to the story which is as deadly as anything that lurks in the dark; and boy does she hit the nail on the head, so much so, that she actually drives that nail and the hammer through the wood until she leaves a splintered wreckage on the floor.

Ormeshadow follows the life of Gideon Belman, a boy who finds himself uprooted from his life in Bath and relocated to Ormeshadow Farm with his mother and father – to join his uncle and auntie and their dysfunctional and overbearing family unit. Gideon doesn’t know what’s happened or why they’ve had to flee, and his learned father keeps hidden the secrets of their escape by regaling his son of the legend of the Orme – of a buried dragon that lays beneath the Orme, encased rock and moss, sleeping or waiting for its time to rise. The dragon waits and dreams of resentment, of revenge and of death. Gideon finds himself in a strange place, a place he doesn’t quite fit, growing up in a house that hates him. So, Gideon finds his comforts and a way to survive, in the Orme and the folklore that enraptures his very heart.

‘There were butterflies skewered in cases, beautiful things the size of a man’s hand, their iridescent wings marked with blind eyes for protection. Gideon had wanted to know why they were so dangerous that, even in death, they had to be contained. His father had laughed.’
Sharma’s prose in Ormeshadow is deep and rich, and at times, all consuming. It’s as if Sharma has created a storm on the page, contained it with words, sentences and paragraphs – you want to pull yourself away but it’s intoxicatingly, you are at her mercy and she doesn’t relent. Her prose is so strong and enrapturing that it’s like being tossed by an angry sea; it will consume you, bury you in a world that there is no escape from – detailing expertly of a time, place and lives that are so delicately examined and nurtured that it is beguiling. Sharma’s writing in Ormeshadow is so precious that you can’t look away for fear of missing the majesty of her work.

‘The fishermen were accustomed to death, it being one of their many bounties from the sea. Death was even in their swollen jumpers, each knitted to their own designs so their widows could identify their remains after a pounding by the waves.’
What makes this book so brilliant is Sharma’s characterisations, every person in this story serves a purpose, there is no room for driftwood. Each character, no matter how small their part, adds to the broiling drama that unfolds on the page, pulling the reader in, forcing us to discover, and dredge up the secrets of the Belman family. Secrets that Sharma delicately weaves throughout Ormeshadow – as if she were a seamstress working on a precious garment, each thread meticulously planned and executed, to give the story beats when it needs them and to stay silent when their is need for reflection, making it the most enchanting of reads. But as we all know… some secrets should remain secrets.

‘He seemed at great pains to be still, but his eyes were churning pools. Gideon expected him to spring up at any second.’
Sharma has created what I can only imagine will be one of the books of the year, it’s a tale that delves into folklore but is grounded in drama, of family circumstance, of loss and love and hope. It is in essence a coming of age tale, masterfully told with a beguiling style and execution that is is priceless. It will bring Sharma to a whole new audience, whilst still enrapturing her existing followers – but Ormeshadow in my opinion showcases a writer at their very best, and I firmly believe that it is Sharma’s magnum opus.

An enchanting magic lives in the pages of Ormeshadow and I urge you to discover this treasure of a book for yourselves – a resonant novella that is unforgettably brilliant and deeply moving.

Any vague hints that make it seem like ybis will be vaguely fantastical are lyyiiiing. It’s a depressing look at a dysfunctional poor family working a farm. Pretty pointless and dreary.

Priya Sharma’s Ormeshadow is of that particular type of fantasy wherein the reader wonders if the fantasy aspect actually exists at all or is completely in the characters’ minds. It’s hard to walk that “is it real or isn’t it” line without confirming one way or the other and still satisfy the reader; Priya Sharma pulls it off magnificently, putting me often in mind of one of my favorite fantasy novels (and possibly one of my favorite novels of any genre), Ellen Kushner and Delia Sherman’s The Fall of the Kings. Even after two re-readings of Ormeshadow, I find myself happily vacillating as to whether the fantasy element, especially the story’s denouement, is real or the product of the main character’s fevered and wishing mind.

There is no doubt in my mind that main character Gideon Belman truly believes his father John’s stories of how the Orme Valley was formed and what is hidden in the mountain’s depths. His belief, forged in the fire of being young and impressionable, sees him through family tensions and tragedies as he grows up and has immense value in that alone. But many areas of the world have legends of being created by mythical creatures the modern world has no record of every existing, and I think Sharma makes it very clear that no-one else in the story aside from Gideon, John, and one other minor character, believe that dragons ever existed. Gideon’s mother, uncle, and aunt all seem to think John less of a man for telling such stories no matter how hard he works upon his return to the family farm, and Gideon’s cousins seem to have had all sense of wonder in childhood whimsy driven out of them by their stern and often drunken father. Only one or two locals seem to be even passingly aware of the legends John works so hard to keep alive for his son. (The adults’ attitude that a storyteller is less worthy of respect than those who do physical labor is prevalent in our own world. I wish I had a dollar for every time someone said to me, “oh, you’re a writer? So what do you really do to make money?”)

There is one part of the legend that Gideon’s uncle Thomas seems to believe, although he only speaks of it when drunk, and even then obliquely: that great wealth is hidden somewhere in the Orme, and specifically part of the family land bequeathed to Gideon, regardless of how it got there (magical dragon or simply humans skilled at burying things). It’s also clear Thomas thinks Gideon will someday find that treasure. This doesn’t make him treat Gideon any kinder, and in fact makes him even more abusive.

The family dynamic overall is an unhappy and violent one, and so parts of this novella will be difficult for some readers. How Gideon stays so innocent, so caring, in the midst of so much faithlessness, resentment, and anger is a testament to either the positivity instilled by his father or the boy’s own obliviousness to what’s going on around him. As with the overall fantasy elements, Sharma seems to leave it up to the reader as to which option is the more accurate. Ultimately, I came away from the story loving and feeling bad for Gideon and for John, liking one of two of the supporting characters – particularly those introduced in the second half of the story – and disliking/borderline hating the rest of Gideon’s family.

Although Gideon is the focus of the story, I couldn’t help but notice how the author works in a very real assessment of the treatment of women in pre-industrial times. Mistreatment of Gideon’s mother by her husband’s former employer (the exact nature of which is hinted at but never fully explicated) leads to the family’s return from Bath to the farm of John’s birth and childhood, where Clare effectively becomes a weapon between John and his brother Thomas, who fears that John’s return brings problems. There is clearly no love lost between Clare and Thomas’ wife Maud, whose role has been mostly one of brood-mare and servant even before John and his family arrival. When Gideon and his cousin attend school, Gideon cannot help but notice the uncomfortable extra attention the schoolmaster gives certain girls, like the already-downtrodden Eliza Dorcas.

There is about the book a sense of claustrophobia, a sense that Gideon’s world was vaster in the confines of the city of Bath than it is in the rural Orme. Sharma’s descriptions of the hills and valleys are beautiful, especially whenever John relates new aspects of the dragon legend. But those bucolic descriptions are the exception to the rest of the story, brief moments in which Gideon, and the reader, can gulp fresh air and feel relaxed before the claustrophobia and tension of farm and school return.

Weather also plays a part in these alternating feelings of claustrophobia and airiness. Two scenes in particular are so intense that the terror of the events almost becomes beautiful. These second of these scenes is also the closest the author ever comes to telling us whether the dragon legend, and thus the fantasy aspect of the story, is true or not.

Ormeshadow leaves a lot up to the reader to decide, from the truth of the fantasy to what really happened in Bath that precipitate John’s return to his childhood home. And I think that’s what will make this book unforgettable and ultimately re-readable.

I’ve heard wonderful things about Priya Sharma, but this is the first time I’ve read any of her work. Ormeshadow is the story of Gideon Belman and his family. Uprooted from Bath by some inappropriate incident involving his father’s employer, Gideon is transported to the family farm at Ormeshadow, home to the Belman family for generations. The farm is jointly owned by Gideon’s kind and scholarly father, John, and his brutish and bitter uncle, Thomas.
Trapped in a home where he is largely unwanted, Gideon finds solace on the land, beneath which a dragon sleeps, according to stories that his father told him. The Orme settled in the sea to sleep after a dragon battle that killed her family, spouse and son. She has been sleeping ever since, guarded by the Belman family for generations.
This novella is beautifully written, atmospheric and moving. I love the subtlety of it, the way that Sharma has half-hidden conversations, glances and sighs telling the story to the reader over the top of Gideon’s head at times. The characters are distinct and clear, drawn with the same subtlety with which the plot unfolds. Gideon is sympathetic, if a little flawed. A scholarly young boy cast adrift in a world that is not his, with a family that do not particularly want him. I found myself becoming angry with the adults in the story for the pain that they caused, seemingly without regard for others.
A lush, well-written and heart-breaking story, Ormeshadow is a must-read. And don’t stop there – read whatever Priya Sharma publishes. Someone this good will always delight.

Ormeshadow is a beautifully written, atmospheric novella set in rural England in what I'm assuming is the 19th century. Gideon and his family are forced to move from Bath back to his father's family's sheep farm. The land, legend has it, lies atop (or maybe beside) a sleeping dragon (orme) who is hiding untold treasure. Gideon loves the stories his father tells of the orme, but other than that his life is really bleak. His new life is really oppressive and the tension is really thick in the book. But at about halfway through I was tearing through the pages to find out what would happen, and the ending was wonderful. If you like really moody British literature I'd recommend this one.

A moving novella about family, story, and overcoming hardship...

I wasn’t sure what to expect from Ormeshadow when started reading it. I wasn’t familiar with the author’s other work, but the synopsis caught my attention. The fantasy elements are rather more in the background until later, but the thing that stood out to me was Sharma’s writing and characters: both a quite excellent, and I was quickly hooked.

Ormeshadow, for me, was a story about family and overcoming hardship. Gideon’s relationship with his father is touchingly portrayed — clearly, the former is in awe of the latter, but events of the novella test this affection, and when tragedy strikes Gideon must forge ahead in a much harder reality. As we come to know him, we learn that he is somewhat more sensitive than the other kids his age, not having grown up since birth under the hardship of a farmer’s life. He’s an empathetic soul, and rather more innocent than those he encounters. This short exchange with his father illustrates some of this — he’s just been told the myth of the dragon on the backs of which the landscape was formed:

“But surely, if she could survive there must be more out there, somewhere?” Gideon’s sadness was in his voice.

“It troubles you, doesn’t it?”

“When she wakes up, she’ll be all alone.”

“Maybe in some hidden place there’s another sleeping dragon waiting for her.”

“I hope so”

Gideon’s father’s storytelling does a number of things: it brings him closer to his son, but it also shows both the reader and Gideon the power of stories to bring people together, form connections, and also (maybe) impart empathy.

Sharma does an excellent job of evoking the setting: every location of the story is well-realized without being over-described. It’s filled with interesting little details that give us a better understanding of the lives of those living in the community. For example, this sartorial explanation with regards to the fisher community:

“Death was even in their woollen jumpers, each knitted to their own designs so their widows could identify their remains after a pounding by the waves.”

As with many shorter works of fiction, I find reviewing them to be quite a challenge. I don’t want to spoil plot points, and when a book is brief, these moments tend to come rather sooner and more frequently. The story unfolds at a good pace, but is by no means rushed. Unlike many novellas, I also thought it was just the right length — there was no padding, but nor were there moments when I thought the story was rushed or jumped ahead in jarring manner.

Overall, then, I would certainly recommend this novella. Moving, excellent prose, interesting and varied characters, and an engaging story. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this. Pick it up if you’re looking for something a little different.

Ormeshadow is atmospheric and spins a mythology around a sleepy town, but didn't quite hit the spot for me - I wanted more dragons and fantastical elements.

Happy book birthday to this lovely little dark novella!

I had to do a little digging around for clarification about whether this was or was not a debut, and long and the short of it is, this is Priya Sharma's debut standalone novella, although it's certainly not her first book (her collection of short stories, All the Fabulous Beasts has received wide acclaim, as well as individual short pieces collected here and there by Ellen Datlow and others). To put it simply, Sharma's is a name you might have heard rather frequently in the science fiction and fantasy community, and this standalone may indicate that a beloved short story author is now moving into longer works. I think we can expect to see Sharma's name continue to rise in recognition and awareness from here on out, because "Ormeshadow" is quite the book!

Short but potent, this novella tracks the coming of age of Gideon, a city boy from Bath in the time of carriages and marriage scandals who relocates with his parents to the coastal farm on which his father grew up and his uncle's family still resides. After a brief idyllic spell in which Gideon and his father bond over wanderings through the local countryside and stories of fallen dragons, things go sideways, and quickly. Gideon's mother, a self-absorbed beauty, is hungry for something that Gideon's gentle father can't give, and Gideon's uncle, a harsh taskmaster, has raised his family in fear and sullen silences. Gideon survives the mundane cruelties and sorrows of home life by turning to the stories--and the land itself--in which he finds peace, and a little magic.

At its core, "Ormeshadow" is a tale of domestic horror. It's also one I think we need very much right now, in a day and age when our treatment of other people often seems to reflect the worst we have to offer, because this is a book which ultimately plants a kernel of hope. Maybe we can be kind to one another. Maybe something good can ultimately happen. Maybe we'll find a little magic, or maybe we'll just find that one person who will stand beside us in hard times. Maybe there is, after all, sunlight after the smoke clears.

With mention of gallows and dragons you feel the age in this tale, with the transportation to a village in ormeshadow England, Ormesleep farm, from townhouses of Bath,
in days of old, a family of three, with a young boy with aspirations, wonderment, enchantment and mystery, the searchings in a place where peace and solace may or may not be found.

Complexities of new terrain with new behaviors, futures and past boiling in a pot with trouble possibly rising, and one hope, a dragon to whisk the young Gideon away.
Gideon a likable character with a big heart, one empathy carefully crafted for by the capable writing of Priya Sharma and this realm of Orme with tragedy in the village Ormeshadow momentum shifting and terrible truths emerging.

Withholding the right amount of information keeping reader intrigued and then enchanted with mystery, the mythical, and the expectations of what will become of Gideon in this vibrant retelling of a coming of age tale.