Interested in my personal thoughts about Gallant? Check out my review!

Author: V. E. Scwab
Title: Gallant

Category/Type: Young Adult

Genre: Fantasy

Subgenre: Legends/Myths/Fairy Tales

Publication Date: March 1, 2022

Number of Pages: 335 pages of story text; 2 pages of acknowledgements; includes full page images and a "diary" section.

Geographical Setting: Merilance School for Girls, a boarding school in the British countryside; the estate of Gallant in the British countryside; the other Gallant on the other side of the garden wall.

Time Period: Not specified but early 20th century based on the fact that cars exist but not computers.

Series (if applicable): This book is not a part of a series

Plot Summary: Olivia Prior is an outcast at Merilance School for Girls. She can see ghouls, she cannot speak though she has a lot to say. The other girls at the school and the teachers make her life difficult or act as if she doesn't exist. All that Olivia knows of her family is from the strange journal her mother left when Olivia was dropped on the Merilance doorstep as an infant. Olivia's life might just change for the better when a letter arrives from an uncle she didn't know she had inviting her to live at the Prior family estate, Gallant. Eager for a home and a family, Olivia is about to discover that secrets and darkness abound in her past and in her blood. But she should be OK, just as long as she doesn't go to the other side of the garden wall... With echoes of Persephone and Hades and Through the Looking Glass and what Alice Found There, author V.E. Schwab weaves a wholly original fairy tale that reads like a lullaby tinged with horror. This is a tale that ponders how what we think we lack might turn out to be our greatest strength and leaves readers questioning the choices we all must make about creating home and happiness.

Content warnings: Parental death, death of loved ones, child abuse and neglect, discrimination towards disabled people and people with learning challenges, gore.

Subject Headings: Orphans-- Juvenile Fiction, Family Secrets-- Juvenile Fiction, Boarding Schools-- Juvenile Fiction, Schools-- Juvenile Fiction, Young Adult Fiction, Fantasy Fiction, Horror tales.

Appeal/Characteristics of Young Adult Fiction:

Published by Children's and Young Adult publishers- Gallant was published by Greenwillow Books which is a children's and young adult imprint of HarperCollins.
Features teenaged protagontists- Olivia Prior is around 14 in the story.
Aimed at middle school and high school students- This book is at the younger end of the YA spectrum, while it deals with heavy emotional topics the language used is easy to understand for a younger reader.
The heart of YA is the coming-of-age story about a teen's first step towards deciding who they are and what they want to become- Olivia is faced with challenging decisions about where she will call home and whom, if anyone, she will call her family and must make a decision in order to resolve the fantastical and horrific events that take place in the story.

Appeal/Characteristics of Fantasy and the Legends/Myths/Fairy Tales subgenre present in this book (SLIGHT SPOILERS IN THE LAST TWO BULLET POINTS):

Detailed settings depict another world, often located on Earth, but almost always set out-of-time, in past times, or invisible to most people. Magic frames the story- Gallant is rooted in the British countryside of Earth but a doorway takes characters to an eerie mirror-esque version of the world where nothing is as it seems and dark magic reigns.
Story lines feature good versus evil, as protagonists battle and ultimately conquer malevolent forces-- although victory does not come easily or cheaply. Story lines also explore ways to discover one's own potential, magical or otherwise. Titles are frequently part of a series with a continuing story told over multiple books- There is a very clear good and evil battle with either side of the garden gate clearing standing in for each. Olivia is a forgotten child until brought to Gallant where she realizes she might be stronger than she first thought.

Gallant is not part of a series.

Despite the genre's ultimately optimistic outlook, a note of melancholy pervades even when a victory is achieved- Aided by the black and white imagery persistent throughout the book, the overall tone is melancholy, even when things are looking hopefully. There is ultimately a resolution to the events that take place but it is just that, a resolution. Calling them happy would be misrepresenting the story.
Characters, clearly defined as good or bad, often attain specially magical gifts. Even good characters will find themselves challenged, both physically and ethically. Characters may include mythical creatures-- dragons, unicorns, elves, wizards-- it is very clear who/what is good and who/what is evil. A mythical creature rules the world on the other side of the garden wall.
A great deal of the Fantasy genre concerns itself with retelling old stories- while this is an entirely original tale, Schwab includes elements that are common in fairy tales to base the story upon. There's another, mirror world where things are not what they seem on the other side of a door in a garden, some plants have personality, and fans of Greek myth and/or Lore Olympus will recognize the allusion to Persephone and Hades when it arrives.

3 terms that best describe this book:

Melancholic
Powerful
Dark yet lyrical
Relevant Non-Fiction Works and Authors

Bad Behaviour: A Memoir of Bullying and Boarding School by Rebecca Starford- a recounting of an extreme girls' boarding school in the Australian bush where the author had to overcome isolation and neglect on the path to adulthood. Olivia Prior faced a similarly harsh boarding school experience in Gallant.

3 Relevant Fiction Works and Authors

A Lesson in Vengeance by Victoria Lee- This book would qualify as Upper YA but could be good for readers looking to grow with stories that have similar elements. Protagonist Felicity returns to Dalloway boarding school to finish her senior year after her girlfriend died tragically the year before. This book is dark and creepy, confuses the boundaries of reality and magic, and questions who to trust. The ending is similarly resolved but not necessary happy, like Gallant.
What Big Teeth by Rose Szabo- Eleanor is from a family of monsters that she barely remembers because she's been separated from them for years while attending boarding school. When she returns from school she must figure out how to deal with and decide what home is and who is family with help from beyond the grave. Eleanor's adventures and trials will sound instantly familiar to anyone who has read Gallant.
Winterwood by Shea Ernshaw- The women in Nora Walker's family have magic, except it doesn't appear that she does. She's an outcast at school and a loner since the recent death of a family member. But then events happen that change things for Nora and those around her as family secrets are revealed. The story is told partially through journal entries. Though an Upper YA read, the family secrets, loner protagonist, and different storytelling elements like journal entries are all reminiscent of Gallant.

Reading the Whole Collection

Lore Olympus by Rachel Smythe- Older readers may enjoy this romance graphic novel/web comic series that uses an original approach to reclaim the Persephone and Hades myth.
Alice in Wonderland- For those that enjoyed the alternate reality on the other side of the wall, this film version of Lewis Carroll's classic might spark excitement as viewers discover the magic and unsettling things that can come to life when opening a simple door.

Citations

Characteristics of YA fiction taken from

Brookover, S., Burns, E., Jensen, K. (2014). What's new about New Adult?. The Horn Book Magazine. January/February 2014.

Characteristics of Fantasy novels taken from

Wyatt, N. and Saricks, J. (2019). The readers' advisory guide to genre fiction. Third edition. ALA Editions.