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“She hated this place. Nothing made sense. Nothing worked as it was supposed to. She was supposed to be learning things as she went along, gaining strength for her final battle. All she was doing was losing things, one thing at a time.”
This one should probably go under Honorable Mentions too, but it deserves its own post just because it was such an excellently-written book. Breadcrumbs by Anna Ursu takes its inspiration from the Snow Queen fairytale written by Hans Christian Anderson, but truly stands out as its own story.
Hazel, 11, has been best friends with next door neighbor Jack since she was six; no one else understands her. But one day, Jack suddenly pulls away from her for no apparent reason . Hazel has been raised on fantasy books and wants to believe there is some exotic cause for Jack’s behavior, but fears he has just become one more person who rejects her. Ursu takes a long time (about half the book) building up your empathy for Hazel and her situation, before the adventure part of the story begins. Her attention to detail, making the “real” world so real, makes it that much more exciting and strange when things suddenly become otherworldly.
Because Jack hasn’t just changed his mind about Hazel. In fact, the cause is a tiny shard of demon-made mirror that has fallen into his eye and turned his heart cold. Going out sledding, he meets a white witch and quickly agrees to go off with her. Hazel discovers the truth of his disappearance from one of the boys who always taunts her, but who is terrified by what he secretly witnessed and knows only Hazel will believe him. She decides to go off and rescue Jack, even though he’s turned against her, because that’s what friends do. She crosses the threshold of the woods where Jack was last seen, and immediately enters a different world.
There are wolf sentries and magical swanskins and unhelpful Fates and dangerous denizens in this wood. There are markets where you can buy potions of forgetfulness, and adults who seem helpful and kind but will trap you forever. What’s interesting is that Hazel, so familiar with fantasy stories, recognizes the storyline she’s a part of, the mythical journey she’s on. She often refers to books like Narnia and Wrinkle in Time and Coraline. In fact, she even notices that unlike most girls on such an adventure, she doesn’t have any friendly companions to help her.
The lack of companions, and the lack of much interaction with the adversary (or even a final showdown, since it turns out that the witch wants nothing, and will not fight her, and she needs to get through to Jack’s heart if she wants to save him), means this isn’t quite a Girls Underground story. But her quest to rescue her friend, her entry into the otherworld, and her keen awareness of her own archetype makes up for it.
“Hazel had read enough books to know that a line like this one is the line down which your life breaks in two. And you have to think very carefully about whether you want to cross it, because once you do it’s very hard to get back to the world you left behind. And sometimes you break a barrier that no one knew existed, and then everything you knew before crossing the line is gone. But sometimes you have a friend to rescue. And so you take a deep breath and then step over the line and into the darkness ahead.”
A few more books that fit the tone of Girls Underground but are missing some crucial elements.
Riddle of the Wren by Charles de Lint
Minda, 17, lives a mundane life, her mother dead, her father no comfort. But she is haunted in her dreams by an evil creature named Ildran. One night, in the dreamworld, she meets Jan, who both initiates her into this new life by giving her special tools and protective talismans, and asks for her help.
Minda sets out on her journey and immediately loses her way, ending up in a different world. She finds companions, including an animal, and fights the minions of the adversary. Going from world to world, she does battle, manages to rescue Jan, and learns she is More than she knew. She faces the adversary alone, and reveals the fraud behind his power.
Under the Green Hill by Laura L. Sullivan
Meg, a teenager, is sent with her siblings to live with old relatives in England when an illness sweeps through her own country. Strange rules are in set down for them immediately, which they mostly ignore. But the danger is real, for faeries are abroad and it is time for a battle in which humans must fight.
Guided by a boy named Gul, the children meet the Seelie Queen and quickly become entangled in faerie business. Meg’s brother volunteers to fight in the battle, and she must rescue him from this fate. But the situation is complicated, and there is no single clear adversary. Still, in the end, Meg understands she is More than she thought, and finds a courage she never expected.
Runemarks by Joanne Harris
Maddy, 14, lives in a world where magic is feared and reviled, but she has had certain abilities since she can remember. Her only companion and confidante is a traveller named One-Eye who comes to her village every year and teaches her to use her powers. One day he asks her to retrieve a special item for him in the world below, and opens a door for her to go underground, past the realm of goblins (where she temporarily receives some assistance from a reluctant goblin). She finds the object but cannot get it yet, and in the meantime befriends a man named Lucky who turns out to be more than he appears to be.
Maddy ends up on an epic journey, meeting gods and goblins and men, all in an attempt to save her friend One-Eye from a prophesied doom. Her adversary is unclear at first, but is eventually revealed to be the Nameless, a god who wants to destroy all the worlds. She must go to Hel to fight him – but she doesn’t really end up defeating him personally. She does, however, discover she is More than she ever imagined.
Considering the season, it seems appropriate to touch upon The Nutcracker, that ubiquitous Christmas ballet, which was actually based on a 19th century story by E.T.A. Hoffman. I haven’t seen this since childhood, however, so this will be a brief entry.
The Nutcracker probably only qualifies as an Honorable Mention as a Girls Underground story, but there are some definite elements present. Clara is initiated into the otherworld via a toy given to her by her strange godfather. When the toy is broken by her brother, she cares for it. That night, another world grows up around her, and in the midst of a battle between gingerbread men and mice soldiers, her beloved Nutcracker (now life size) is threatened by the adversary, the Mouse King. Clara intervenes and saves the Nutcracker, who becomes a handsome prince. She eventually becomes the Queen of a fabulous kingdom of sweets.
For a more thorough investigation of The Nutcracker as an archetypal katabasis story, and Clara’s relation to several other GU heroines from Alice and Dorothy all the way back to Persephone and Inanna, see Catherynne Valente’s essay “Follow the Yellow Brick Road: Katabasis and the Female Hero in Alice in Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz, and The Nutcracker Ballet” [Word doc from her website].
“All this time I’d been afraid of leaving home. Now I saw that my talents could rip me from it while I stood in my very own bedroom.”
In The Keening by A. LaFaye, Lyza is a teenager living in rural Maine during the flu epidemic of 1918. Her mother dies and her father retreats into his own mental illness, carving ghostly faces in wood all day and waiting for his wife’s spirit to visit him. Lyza must rescue him from relatives who want to lock him up in a sanitarium, and find a way for both of them to live without her mother’s assistance. With her friend Jake as a companion, she travels to the “big city” of Portland to search for her mother’s friend who might help her – but when she discovers a secret about Jake, her whole world changes and she comes to accept the truth about what she really is.
There is not enough of a solid adversary or otherworldly journey to quite qualify this as Girls Underground, but the theme of discovering her unusual abilities and the eerie atmosphere make it a worthwhile Honorable Mention.
“And so we met, my spirit guide to this new and awful Eden, and Miss Jamie Oldcourse became the first of my Helpers. For in this new world, one cannot navigate without them; the rules are particular, so peculiar and so dissimilar to the fey’s.”
It’s not a precise example, but I just finished Except the Queen by Midori Snyder and Jane Yolen, and it was interesting enough that I decided it at least deserved a mention here.
Serana and Meteora are fey sisters, banished by the Queen from their home in the Greenwood to separate cities in the mortal world, and immediately thrust into a dangerous situation (unbeknownst to them, initially) – on top of the confusion and danger of trying to adjust to human life. This is both an example of the “reverse Girls Underground” story (where the protagonist starts in what we’d consider the “otherworld” and comes to the mundane, human world), and the rare double-protagonist.
The sisters have companions, including animal ones, and what seems to be an Adversary (though there may be a more threatening one). They have a goal – each to save a wayward young person who ends up in their care. While they have not forgotten themselves, they have lost their former selves in new, very changed bodies. They must expose the truth of the situation and fight the forces that wish to take even more from them.
Even so, it does not quite hit enough points to make it a solid GU example. Nonetheless, it is a great read, an interesting format (with point of view shifting between the sisters, with occasional glimpses into the lives of the other players), and delightful in the details of fey creatures adapting to our world.
I mentioned in a previous post how a certain book (Fablehaven) would have been a better example of a Girls Underground story if the girl had been the main protagonist, instead of sharing that with her brother. In fact, there are several stories which would be GU if only the girl in them were the primary protagonist. Here are just a few, briefly:
Peter Pan. When looked at from Wendy’s perspective, it really fits. She is whisked away to another world because she chooses to follow a mysterious boy for the sake of adventure. She confronts an evil pirate king and his minions. Her companions are the lost boys. There is even an interesting side note that correlates with the “returns to home or encounters things from home” aspect – in the stage play, it is traditional for the same actor to play Wendy’s father as plays Captain Hook.
Hansel and Gretel. Like Fablehaven, the spotlight is shared by both a brother and sister. But it is Gretel who eventually faces off against the witch adversary and defeats her, alone. If she were the star, one could view Hansel as her companion.
The Chronicles of Narnia. Lucy is the first one to discover the portal to the otherworld in the first book, and she is just about the right age too. She befriends the faun immediately. Her siblings become her companions, as well as other creatures of Narnia. The White Witch is the adversary (although Lucy does not defeat her alone). Her goal, along with the others, is to save the whole land.
In an earlier post covering the Hellraiser and Nightmare on Elm Street movies, I mentioned that horror seems to be the most common film genre in which to find Girls Underground examples. These movies capture the darker side of the stories that literature tends to view through a lens of fantasy. A few are profiled briefly below.
The Woods
Heather, a teenager, is banished to an ominous boarding school by her uncaring parents, where she butts heads with the headmistress (adversary) and her subordinates. Girls are disappearing, and things clearly aren’t right at the school. She has a friend who acts as companion but does not see her through to the end. She spends time forgetting herself. Her visions and dreams are her key to unraveling the mysteries there. But she really just wants to get back home.
The Dark
A little known and disturbing gem, rich in folklore. Ada is a rare adult “girl underground” and like most of those her main objective is to rescue her child. On a visit to her ex’s house in Wales, her daughter appears to drown. Ada learns of the terrifying history of the place related to a strange cult leader and his followers, especially his daughter Ebrill who also drowned and now seems to be haunting Ada. She makes the ultimate sacrifice and delves into the Welsh underworld Annwn (not underground, per se, but under the waves), to confront the evil dead man and win back her daughter.
Poltergeist
Carol Anne is the essence of the creepy-little-girl archetype in modern horror movies, and she is also (at least to a degree) a girl underground. Her ability to hear spirits gets her sucked into the otherworld. She is held there by the “Beast,” the main adversary. She is helped by the spirit medium. However, perhaps due to her very young age, she doesn’t have much volition – she is captured and rescued by others.
Silent Hill
Like The Dark, this features an adult GU who must rescue her child, another mysterious girl who resembles the protagonist’s daughter, and a scary religious cult, as well as a disturbing ending where two worlds don’t quite match up like they should (strangely, they both also star Sean Bean as the father). After her daughter Sharon’s nightmares drive Rose to seek out a mysterious abandoned town, Sharon vanishes into the mist there. Rose wanders the monster-filled town searching for her, losing some companions to the monsters, and eventually must confront the cult leader and make a sacrifice in order to save her child.
Friday the 13th and Halloween
Like Nightmare on Elm Street, these both feature several teenagers being murdered throughout the movies, but end up focusing on one girl in particular, who faces off against the adversary. In Friday the 13th, it is Alice versus Mrs. Voorhees. In Halloween, it is Laurie versus Michael Myers.
A fresh list of “honorable mentions” – stories that almost fit the archetype, but are missing crucial elements that prevent me from listing them as full GU examples.
Libyrinth by Pearl North
Haly, 15, is a clerk at a massive library on another planet in the future. She has a secret ability to hear the books speak in their own words. When the book-burning Eradicants threaten her home and the existence of all books, Haly travels with her companions (friend, mentor and little imp) on a quest to find a special, fabled book that might save them all. She is quickly captured, however, separated from her companions, and declared by the enemy to be something greater than she ever imagined. While Haly does solve the puzzle and stands up to her enemies, there is no clear adversary and she doesn’t rely much on her companions in any direct way until the end.
The Secret of Moonacre (film)
Newly orphaned, Maria goes to live with her prickly uncle at a distant estate, holding tight to a special book that was her only inheritance from her father. It tells the history of Moonacre, a place that seems like an otherworld but turns out to be woven into the land she now lives on. She must repair feuding families and claim her heritage. While Maria doesn’t always have clear companions, and doesn’t spend much time directly interacting with the main adversary (after it becomes clear that her uncle is hurt but not ultimately a bad person), I give this bonus points for her actually descending underground at one point, and for her final sacrifice. I also like that her companion later in the movie is a defector from the adversary’s side. This is based on the book The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge, which I haven’t read.
Fablehaven by Brandon Mull
Siblings Kendra (13) and Seth spend two weeks with their grandparents, who are secretly caretakers of Fablehaven, a sanctuary for mythical creatures. Their grandmother is missing, and danger abounds. Seth’s curiosity constantly gets him in trouble, while Kendra spends her time unraveling the clues her grandfather leaves for her. Would be more of a GU story if Kendra was the sole protagonist, but it is actually her brother who makes the mistake. Though Kendra does have to rescue her family from an evil, and petitions a fairy queen for help. Beginning of a series, though I’ve only read the first book.
The Riddles of Epsilon by Christine Morton-Shaw
Jessica, 14, has just moved to a distant island in England and discovers century-old cryptic letters and a ghostly entity named Epsilon. She must solve clues to discover the source of her mother’s mental illness and save her, getting drawn into a classic battle of good versus evil.
A College of Magics by Caroline Stevermer
Faris is sent to Greenlaw college, a sort of finishing school with magic. She is expelled, along with her best friend and her enemy, for practicing magic on campus, which is forbidden. Faris soon discovers she is more than she ever imagined. She must repair the magical rift caused by her grandmother and assume her place as a guardian.
The Blue Mirror by Kathe Koja
Maggy, 16, spends most of her days sketching the city’s inhabitants and watching life pass by, avoiding her drunken mother. Her only friend (and companion) is her cat Paz. One day she meets Cole, and quickly becomes obsessed with him, spending all her time with him even through cold nights on the street. But she eventually realizes that he is a creature beyond what she could have imagined.
Mazemaker by Catherine Dexter
Winnie makes the (understandable) mistake of navigating through a maze which is spray-painted on a city playground, but at the center she finds herself suddenly 100 years in the past (and now in a hedge maze). She must get back home while under the watchful eye of her caretakers’ housekeeper, who believes Winnie knows more than she is saying. (On a side note, I recently wrote about another of Dexter’s books, The Oracle Doll, on my religious blog.)
“She knew the truly dangerous part was beginning now, and whether she survived or not….she would never again be the same. Tonight would change her forever.” (The Valley of the Wolves)
In my extensive research over the years, I’ve found several books and films that have almost enough elements to make them Girls Underground stories, but not quite. I’ve always referred to these as my “honorable mentions.” Often the overall arc of the storyline fits, but there aren’t enough pertinent details. Or some of the details click, but the story goes in a different direction. Anyway, I thought I’d mention a few of these here…
The Compass Rose by Gail Dayton
Kallista is an adult protagonist who already lives in an otherworld, but she does have special powers, a host of companions (some reluctant), and an adversary. On a separate note, I happen to love the interesting web of relationships the author creates for her world, where people have group marriages with both sexes and a wide range of potential connections within these; it’s handled very well.
The Valley of the Wolves by Laura Gallego Garcia
Dana, 10 at the beginning of the story, has one male companion, Kai, that only she can see. She is sent away to learn sorcery from a strange man. She faces a few trials, and is revealed as something greater. But she doesn’t choose her own fate, the story drags out too long, and the adversary only comes in at the end, and isn’t defeated by her directly.
Forests of the Heart by Charles de Lint
Again, an older protagonist, Bettina, and there’s so much going on in this story, especially with other characters, that I’m not sure it’s “pure” enough to be seen as solely her journey, nor are there enough of the other marks of a GU plot. However, the overall feeling of the book somehow clicks regardless… and, it’s just a fantastic novel by one of my favorite authors ever.
War for the Oaks by Emma Bull
Another urban fantasy novel like de Lint’s work, but with its own unique flavor, this again has an older protagonist, Eddi – but she does have a few solid companions, and must journey into the faerie realm and get involved in a war between rival courts.
The Hob’s Bargain by Patricia Briggs
Funny, I just looked at the Amazon page for this one and there’s a note by the author mentioning that she was reading de Lint and Bull when writing this…In any case, it’s more of a classic otherworld-fantasy than those authors write, but with a strong relationship between the main character, Aren, and her companion, Caefawn the hob, who teaches her how to control her magic in preparation for a fight with the adversary.
The Folk Keeper by Franny Billingsley
15-year-old Corinna, an orphan, is charged with living in the cellar and constantly appeasing the “folk,” which are like goblins, so that they won’t harm her village. Then she is taken away to a new estate and learns more about who and what she really is. Promising premise, but just lacks most of the salient plot points to be fully a Girls Underground story… however, she is literally underground for much of it.
I will probably make more “honorable mentions” posts in the future, as there are a lot of wonderful books that have the spirit of the archetype if not quite the full story.
