The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

September, terribly bored of her mundane life in Omaha, is delighted when she's visited by the Green Wind and the Leopard of Little Breezes, who spirit her away to Fairyland. There, she takes on a quest for a witch to take her magical spoon back from the terrible Marquess, ruler of Fairyland. She gains great friends and allies in A-Through-L, a half-wyvern half-library crossbreed, a blue marid named Saturday, and many other residents of the land, both friendly and dangerous.

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making is a children's and young adult fantasy novel by Catherynne M. Valente, with illustrations by Ana Juan. It was originally published for free online, but was finally put onto paper in May 2011. It deals with the adventures a young girl called September has in Fairyland. That Sounds Familiar, but the book provides a broad knowledge on folklore, and reads like a love letter to those odd Victorian classics with a twist of sardonic humor to them (such as Alice in Wonderland). It was followed by a prequel and five sequels:

  1. The Girl Who Ruled Fairyland—For a Little While, a prequel that tells the story of the young girl who became Fairyland's evil Marquess (and is full of spoilers for the first book, so be careful).
  2. The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There (October 2012), has September return to Fairyland and set off to stop her shadow, Halloween, from stealing other shadows to the mysterious Fairyland Below.
  3. The Girl Who Soared Over Fairyland and Cut the Moon in Two (October 2013), has September travel to Fairyland's moon with her friends and investigate strange Yeti behavior.
  4. The Boy Who Lost Fairyland (March 2015), has two changeling children, Hawthorne and Tamberline, return to Fairyland from the human world, only to find the newly-restored fairies have it in an uproar.
  5. The Girl Who Raced Fairyland All The Way Home (March 2016), has September, all her friends, and many previous rulers of Fairyland take part in a derby to find the heart of Fairyland and win the crown.
Tropes used in The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making include:
  • All Just a Dream: Averted. Everything that happened to September in Fairyland really did happen, although many characters say it feels like having been in a dream in the end. But September still knows it all really happened when she returns.
  • Authority Equals Asskicking: The central conflict of The Girl Who Raced Fairyland All The Way Home involves contestants entering a derby (which includes periodic one-on-one duels between the teams) for the right to rule Fairyland. When the objective of the race - to find the heart of Fairyland - isn't fulfilled by anyone, all remaining contestants are ordered to engage in a mass brawl with the winner getting the crown.
  • Creepy Child: The Marquess, who has no problems killing and threatening others and is physically twelve.
  • Dark and Troubled Past: The Marquess's Backstory is awfully sad and touching. In her life in the human world, her mother died when she was eight and she was abused by her alcoholic father. Then she stumbled into Fairyland, lived there for many years, fell in love and became a queen, and not by marriage, and became pregnant. And then she was snatched back into her dull world, all the ones she loved and who loved her in Fairyland gone, stuck with her abusive father and in a twelve year old's body, no husband, no child, nothing. Doesn't really surprise one that she became so bitter and full of hatred for Fairyland, first giving her so much love, and then taking it away again.
  • Forceful Kiss: In the second book, a running issue is that September's shadow kisses September without her permission and it upsets her. She finally loses her temper and snaps at him not to kiss her (or do anything else to her, for that matter) without her permission.
  • Food Chains: September is warned not to eat any of the food in Fairyland, or else she risks becoming like Persephone. She fails to properly heed this warning, but it ends up working out for the best.
  • Gender Blender Name: The Marquess, which is a masculine title (the feminine versions being either marchioness or marquise). Lampshaded in the final book, when the other former rulers of Fairyland mock the Marquess for choosing a male title for herself, although it's also shown that when it comes to titles for the ruler of Fairyland, things are pretty flexible. It's justified later, when it's revealed that the Marquess chose the title from her favorite Agatha Christie story.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: September sacrifices her shadow to save a Pooka girl's life.
  • I Know Your True Name: Knowing someone's true name gives you power over that person. September wasn't suppose to tell anyone her true name, though she never lied about her name when in Fairyland, until she finds out that the true name is actually a person's full name, which in her case would be September Morning Bell. She also finds out the Marquess's true name.
  • Interspecies Romance: The Good Queen Mallow (human) and Mr. Map (who has wolf ears), September (human) and Saturday (a Marid), and Ell's parents (as he is supposedly a Wyvern/library hybrid).
  • Kaleidoscope Hair: The Marquess uses magic to change her hair color at will.
  • Kid From the Future: This is how Marids figure out their future spouses. They come across their future children and then look for someone who has similar features. Because time works differently for Marids than humans, they think this is completely normal.
  • Parents as People: September loves her parents, but the presence of World War II in their lives causes them to not always be present. In the first book, September's mother is constantly busy repairing airplane engines while her father is serving in the war. While her father returns by the end of the second book, the rest of the series has him in pain from a leg injury and the strong implication he suffers from PTSD.
  • Rightful King Returns: One of many tropes deconstructed:
    • In the second book, the citizens of Fairyland Below wish for their rightful ruler, Prince Myrrh, to return and remove Halloween from power. When September finds and awakens him, he has no desire at all to be king and points out that he only just woke up and wants time to sort his life out. Not only that, but circumstance are arranged that allow for Halloween to be a good ruler who stays on the job.
    • In the fourth book, the newly-returned fairies eagerly hope for King Goldmouth to return and make life the way it used to be for them. Since King Goldmouth is portrayed as a monster and the fairies as arrogant and selfish, this is not treated as a good thing. The book also ends with September being declared the next ruler of Fairyland upon a mass reset being done for her and several other characters, however the next book almost immediately begins with everyone deciding instead to hold a derby to see who the rightful ruler should actually be.
  • Taking the Bullet: In the final book, September does this for the Green Wind, causing her to become the next Green Wind.
  • Time Travel Tense Trouble: When September hears how Marids often meet their past or future selves, she thinks it sounds incredibly confusing. In the last book, when Saturday has his continuity so ruined that he can't remember September at all, she gets him to trust her by pretending that she knows him because she met his future self. At one point, she stumbles because she has difficulty working out which tense to use.
  • Twist Ending: And a really good one. It turns out that the Marquess wants September to lock the portal which connects the human world to Fairyland, supposely so that no child can get lost again. To pursuade September, she shows her a watch with September's name on it, which determines the time she stays in Fairyland. Then it turns out that it's the Marquess's watch, whose true name is Maud Elizabeth Smythe, and that it's she who doesn't want to return or let any other child come. Then she reveals her backstory, which is really interesting and touching.
  • Working Class People Are Morons: Subverted with September's family, who are shown to be quite smart and resourceful while living in a rural Nebraska town. Her aunt has been visiting Fairyland regularly since childhood and her parents take things in stride when they follow along to save their daughter. The narrator even notes that her parents aren't slack-jawed rubes.
  • Wrench Wench: September's mother fixes airplane engines for a living. Inspired by her, September chooses "Engineer" as her official title in the final book. This allows her to instinctively understand the inner workings of everything she comes across, making repairs very easy.
  • Youkai: Fairyland residents include Tanuki, as well as tsukumogami, who have their own island.
  • You Kill It, You Bought It: How a new person takes up the mantle of the Red Wind. Inverted with the Green Wind, as someone takes up that mantle by protecting the current one from death.
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