Aurelie: A Faerie Tale by Heather Tomlinson

Aurelie is the Princess of a land known as Jocondaigne, and when she was a child, she and her friends Netta, daughter of a seamstress and Garin, a boy from the neighboring islands of Skoerin, met and befriended a young fairy known as a Drac. Not only did all four become friends, but Loic shared with them the ointment his nurse would rub into his eyes to give him fairy sight. They rubbed it on one eye each, and would ever after be able to see fairies in their real form out of that eye.

Unfortunately, Netta had the misfortune to see an adult Drac, who realized that she saw him. In response, he plunged his claws into her eyes, blinding her for the rest of her days. In shock, the four of them no longer met, but none of the humans told Loic what had happened, so he thought they'd simply abandoned them.

Now, years later, Aurelie's mother has been dead for a year. She and Netta keep in touch by writing letters, which Netta has read to her and written for her. But Aurelie is travelling to Skoerin to help hammer out a diplomatic agreement between her people and theirs. But no one tells her that the Skoerins measure a person's worth by the richness of their dress, so when Aurelie wears a plain but elegant dress to an informal party, she looks like a sore thumb standing out.

Nonetheless, the son of the leader of the Skoerans, the first captain Inglis' son Hui takes an interest in Aurelie, but Aurelie finds him both arrogant and annoying, and his mother seems little better, but she doesn't say anything, and agrees to be escorted by Hui at the request of the chief diplomat in order to help better their bargaining position.

Also at the party is her old friend Garin, who is looking for dirt on Captain Inglis, who is bankrupting his family and seems to be responsible for their recent run of bad luck. Aurelie is glad to see him again, but he ducks out of the party before she can actually greet him. The next day, when Aurelie is shown around town by Hui, she finds that Garin is working for Captain Inglis, but he asks her to pretend she doesn't know him.

She wonders what he is doing, but complies, and later, there is a fire in one of the warehouses, supposedly set off by one of the people of Jocondaigne. But Aurelie and her maid helped fight the fire along with the rest of the people. Unfortunately, sentiment turns against them and they are forced to flee Skoera. Garin remains behind, still working to find out the truth about Captain Inglis.

Back at home, Aurelie encounters Loic, who has grown and matured with the rest of them. Not understanding why the humans stopped coming to play with them, he attributes it to their malice and changeability. He invites her to come and dance with his people, and decides to romance her and bring her away to his people in retaliation.

But she isn't the one he really loves. He wants to see Netta again, but she refuses to come with the fairies, saying that time of her life is over. Meanwhile, relations between Aurelie's people and the Skoerans worsen, and Garin is now blamed for the fire and sought for his crime. While he was working for Captain Inglis, he discovers that she has a faerie, a vargouille, working for her as a ship navigator. But why?

When invasion seems imminent, he makes his way back to Jocondaigne to warn Aurelie and her father. He's angry that she seems to prefer Loic to her, but she reveals that while Loic's kisses are nice, he's not the one she prefers. But will they get time to explore their feelings, and Loic's for Netta, before Skoera invades? And can they discover the source of Captain Inglis's power and deprive her of it before she can complete the conquest of Jocondaigne? And will the fairies help Captain Inglis, Aurelie and her people, or will they stay aloof?

This is a short book whose story develops gradually, but packs a lot of interesting stuff within its pages. The entire story takes place in less than 200 pages. and is written from the viewpoints of all four major characters. And what a story! Love, war, faeries, Faerie sight, revenge and loss all play out on the pages. The four friends, whose friendship only seemed to cause them pain after Netta was blinded, discover that their friendship had worth after all, and find love where there once was only friendship.

The faeries make up a goodly part of this novel, as it is their meddling in human affairs that sets the seeds for the invasion, and the reasons for it, and it is only with their help that Captain Inglis' invasion is turned back. However, none of them but Loic will admit that they had anything to do with it.

This was a great book that really held my interest. The writing is crisp and clean, but also holds something of a mythic quality, and the idea behind the story of Captain Inglis is definitely something I've read before in fairy tales. Well done and recommended.