Hiddensee

We spent another relaxed evening chatting about the book Hiddensee by Gregory Maquire (and often many other life topics!), with our favourite drink(s) in hand.

“Enchanting, mystical and filled with wonder – the perfect holiday fairytale for grown-ups”  is how People magazine described this month’s book club choice. From the opening of our discussion, it was clear that this is not quite how our TiC readers would describe it.

The Book

Hiddensee imagines the backstory of the Nutcracker, tracing the story of the toymaker Drosselmeier from his challenging childhood through to his later years and his friendship with Felix and his daughter Klara.

At times quite a dark tale, the group had found it difficult to relate to the central character, who did not really show much of his inner life or emotions until near the end of the book. We felt that parts of the storyline were left hanging, needing imagination to fill the gaps. However, all agreed that it was a well-written and many-layered book which revealed much more of itself during our discussions.  Overall, definitely worth a read, but possibly better on the second reading, and it certainly made us want to have a group night watching the Nutcracker!