You could say that V. E. Schwab has been writing about shadows for her entire career. London and its many shadows explored by Lila and Kell in her Shades of Magic series. Victor and Eli from the Villains series, each struggling to escape the shadow cast by the other. Kate and August from the Monsters of Verity series learning how to embrace the darkness of their lives and come to terms with their monstrous halves. Even Addie la Rue wanders through the long, long shadow that falls on her immortal life and those around, running from it even as it lengthens in the light.
Shadows have always fascinated V. E. Schwab and they have never been more present than in Gallant, her newest young adult novel.
Gallant tells the story of Olivia Prior, a young, mute girl who has been living at a home for young women in England, sometime in the early 20th century. With only faint memories of a mother who loved her but could not provide, and a disdain for those around her, who either harass her for her disability or don’t lift a finger to attempt communication with her, Olivia has not led a happy life. The things that bring her joy are few and simple: flowers and her sketchbook and bright colors glimpsed in gardens, a little music. And her mother’s journal, filled with half-written ramblings that don’t make sense to her and lend no context to her life or why her mother gave her up.
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Gallant
The only thing Olivia is interested in is that she can see the dead who linger after life, half-formed ghouls of vague description. But not even her ability to see the long gone is enough to provide meaning. That comes in the form of a letter from a long-lost uncle, inviting Olivia to come to their family home known as Gallant. It is here that the novel shifts into gear, as Olivia is whisked away to an old, sprawling estate with a surly, older cousin, a legacy she barely understands, and a suspicious stone wall hiding an iron gate, the other side of which cannot be seen.
Schwab continues to delight with her newest novel. If you’ve never read her work before, Gallant is an excellent introduction to those sparks of Schwab’s genius. Her prose is smooth, painting a room or moment or emotion with vivid details and engaging insight. Her characters are complex, and even at their lowest or cruelest, you never lose sight of why you should be rooting for them. And her worlds continue to be places of wonder and danger in equal measures, firmly rooted in the boundary where myth and reality meet, wrestling for dominance. In this one especially, Schwab truly makes the reader feel as though they’re living in a fable that will be passed down as cautionary tale or victory.
Olivia especially is a wonderful protagonist in her journey into the shadow that the world itself casts, going to a place where no one else but Death himself could live. Among a strong cast of supporting characters, Olivia shines. Schwab takes her time as the tale begins, sketching in the depths of Olivia, her myriad struggles as a mute young woman in a home that takes no steps to communicate with her or wants to hear from her, the losses and fears she has, all contrasted with the sudden elation of not only finding out she has a home, but that the answers she’s been looking for her whole life might be there waiting for her. Schwab builds Olivia and her new world of Gallant stone by stone, making every room and hearth feel warm and lived in, inviting the reader in with Olivia.
This works so effectively so that when the threshold is crossed and we find our way into the shadow that the world casts, we know every stone and blade of grass and the alienness of Gallant’s shadow becomes more than a place on the page; it becomes as dangerous and unknowing to us as it does to Olivia. By making Gallant as much of a complex character as Olivia, Schwab endears the reader to both, which she uses to great effect as the novel continues on.
Gallant is a perfect first V. E. Schwab book for anyone looking for an engrossing, beautiful, and gripping story of doors and shadows. Olivia Prior is a hero to root for, no matter which side of the world she stands on, and Schwab’s world of ghouls and grief is lit up by the fire of her determination and drive to know her family, her role, and ultimately her new home. For home is a choice, as she says in the book, and throughout Gallant, watching Olivia make that choice, page by page, is a thrill.
Gallant is published by Greenwillow Books.
Read an excerpt here.
Martin Cahill is a writer living in Queens who works as the Marketing and Publicity Manager for Erewhon Books. He has fiction work forthcoming in 2021 at Serial Box, as well as Beneath Ceaseless Skies and Fireside Fiction. Martin has also written book reviews and essays for Book Riot, Strange Horizons, and the Barnes and Noble SF&F Blog. Follow him online at @mcflycahill90 and his new Substack newsletter, Weathervane, for thoughts on books, gaming, and other wonderfully nerdy whatnots.
