Fire and Hemlock

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

**Title** **Fire and Hemlock**
Cover from the American edition.
Author	Diana Wynne Jones
Country	Great Britain
Language	English
Genre(s)	Fantasy
Publisher	Harper Collins
Released	1985
Media type	Print

Fire and Hemlock is a modern retelling by Diana Wynne Jones of the Scottish legend of Tam Lin and the Ballad of Thomas the Rhymer. It was first published in 1985.

This story mirrors the story of Tam Lin. For instance, the funeral building represents Carterhaugh. Tam is Tom, who is being used as a tithe to Hell. His ex-wife Laurel clearly represents the Queen of the Faeries.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Looking at a picture in her room at her grandmother's house before leaving for university Polly is hit by a cascade of forgotten memories that go on from when she was ten and onwards. She recalls stumbling into the funeral in an old mansion, Hundson House, and being approached by a man named Thomas Lynn who takes her back outside and keeps her company.

Over the subsequent months and years Tom and Polly create a fantastic relationship that endures many hardships. Tom sends her books and letters with stories in them, he supports her through her parents divorce and her mother's subsequent disfunctional behavior. Together, the two come up with stories about a hero named Tan Coul and his assistant Hero, who are Mr. Lynn's and Polly's alter egos, respectively. These stories all eventually come true, after a fashion. For instance, at one point they were discussing Tan Coul having a horse and then they found a horse disrupting traffic in the street. All the while Polly encounters members of Tom's ex-wife's family who seem to be threatening her and trying to break off her relationship with Tom. Polly explains this to herself as though Tom's ex-wife - Laurel - still "owns" him in some way. As Polly turns sixteen she develops a crush on Tom and when she feels rejected by him she sets out to discover the dark secret of his relationship with the sinister Laurel that is somehow connected to all the supernatural events that happen to Tom and her. After she performs her voodoo-like ceremony she is summoned to Hundson House where Laurel tells her Tom is dying of cancer and wants to be left alone by her, mortified, Polly agrees to forget him.

Three years later, sitting in front of the picture she now realizes was in fact a gift from Tom, Polly starts investigating and finds out that all memory of Tom has been erased from her life and eradicated from the memories of anyone who should have known about him. She tries to solve the mystery of this man she knew and obviously still loves. In this she is aided by reading the two ballads - Tam Lin and Thomas the Rhymer - which help her figure out what is in fact going on. She realizes Tom has entered into a deal with the so-called queen of the fairies - Laurel - and that the time has come when he must give his life to prolong hers. Using the information in the ballads as instructions she arrives at the setting of the ceremony Laurel is presiding over, and manages to outwit her and secure Tom's life, and, depending on the way you interpret the strange happenings of the ending, his love.