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Damar

A Knot in the Grain and Other Stories

robin mckinley

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1 Lily. She has the power to heal, but no speech - until a mage hears words from her mind.

2 Ruen. The princess was abandoned by her uncle deep in a cave to die at the hands of a stagman - who will surprise fate.

3 Erana. Given as a babe to a witch, raised beside the witch's troll son, she learns love comes in many forms.

4 Coral. The lovely newcomer consents to marry an older widower who soon wonders why she wants to live at Butter Hill Farm.

5 Annabelle. In the attic of their new house, the teen finds a knot that leads her on a magical mission.

192 pages, Paperback

First published May 1,1994
Series
Damar
Literary awards
mythopoeic fantasy award, 

This edition

Format
192 pages, Paperback
Published
January 1, 1995 by Trophy Pr
ISBN
9780064406048
ASIN
0064406040
Language

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About the author

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robin mckinley

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Born in her mother's hometown of Warren, Ohio, Robin McKinley grew up an only child with a father in the United States Navy. She moved around frequently as a child and read copiously; she credits this background with the inspiration for her stories.

Her passion for reading was one of the most constant things in her childhood, so she began to remember events, places, and time periods by what books she read where. For example, she read Andrew Lang's Blue Fairy Book for the first time in California; The Chronicles of Narnia for the first time in New York; The Lord of the Rings for the first time in Japan; The Once and Future King for the first time in Maine. She still uses books to keep track of her life.

McKinley attended Gould Academy, a preparatory school in Bethel, Maine, and Dickinson College in 1970-1972. In 1975, she was graduated summa cum laude from Bowdoin College. In 1978, her first novel, Beauty, was accepted by the first publisher she sent it to, and she began her writing career, at age 26. At the time she was living in Brunswick, Maine. Since then she has lived in Boston, on a horse farm in Eastern Massachusetts, in New York City, in Blue Hill, Maine, and now in Hampshire, England, with her husband Peter Dickinson (also a writer, and with whom she co-wrote Water: Tales of Elemental Spirits in 2001) and two lurchers (crossbred sighthounds).

Over the years she has worked as an editor and transcriber (1972-73), research assistant (1976-77), bookstore clerk (1978), teacher and counselor (1978-79), editorial assistant (1979-81), barn manager (1981-82), free-lance editor (1982-85), and full-time writer. Other than writing and reading books, she divides her time mainly between walking her "hellhounds," gardening, cooking, playing the piano, homeopathy, change ringing, and keeping her blog.

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Community Reviews

Rating(4.1 / 5.0, 100 votes)
5 stars
34(34%)
4 stars
37(37%)
3 stars
29(29%)
2 stars
0(0%)
1 stars
0(0%)
100 reviews All reviews
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Usuiko
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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Collection of short stories.
While I was reading them I had a vague feeling I’ve read this book before. The stories were nice but nothing that really popped enough to stick in my memory. I loved the Damar books and wanted a bit of a revisit but Lethe was the only character to appear and he was great but not what I was hoping for.
Violence, no sex, mild language.
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Arashi_Tempesta
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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Oh, Robin McKinley, how so awesome?

Hadn’t read this in aeons when it showed up on Kindle Unlimited. Now can’t think why I don’t reread it every year or so, when my belief in magic’s at a lowish ebb and I need reminding that everyday lives can still involve marvels.
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tomoyohime
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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Almost four stars. I preferred the first few stories, but I would enjoy reading them all again.
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anyexreita
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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Short stories aren't my thing; I invest too much in the characters, only to have it end too soon. (Plus, they remind me of literature classes.) However, I really like McKinley's other fantasy works, so I picked this up.

It was satisfying and what I expected. Gentle stories of love and relationships, self-growth and learning to understand others. There's sadness but not anguish. I could read an entire story in an evening, and go to bed with the feeling of completeness that the protagonists find at the end.

I really like Robin McKinley; it's a shame I've come to her works largely as an adult, but I like knowing that I've read things recently that I'll be able to introduce to my daughter in a few years. In the last story, teenage Annabelle mentions that her boyfriend never pressures her to have sex as boys are supposed to do, and so I'll save this book until my daughter's 10 and we've had a sex and relationships talk.
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AnimeloverYori
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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Every time I read Robin McKinley I'm delighted all over again like it's the first time--I just like her writing so much.
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Sonidoh
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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Delightful


I was so happy to have the opportunity to return to the world of The Blue Sword. Robin McKinley did not disappoint. Always a master story teller.
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FuegoFrioST
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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3.5 stars.

I was worried when I started reading this that one of my favorite authors from my youth would disappoint me with silly fairytales. The verdict? Not my favorite work of hers but not bad. Strong female characters who for the most part got themselves out of situations. Luthe makes a reappearance in some of the tales, and frankly, I think he is creepy.
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NeoAnkara
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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This book is a short story collection of Middle Grade fantasy stories. I enjoyed Robin McKinley's novels set in Damar ("The Blue Sword" and "The Hero and the Crown") so I bought this book hoping to learn more about Damar. Two of the stories were set in Damar, but you won't know it from any other generic fantasy world if Luthe (a character from the novels) didn't briefly appear in them. We don't learn anything new about him, either.

Most of the stories follow the plot line of: a character has a problem, magic help comes along, the problem is fixed. The heroine generally doesn't have a difficult obstacle to overcome so much as a decision to make.

I felt like needed information was missing in some of the stories. The heroine in "The Stagman" was very passive, and the characters' weren't developed (or their motives really explained). "The Healer" was interesting and had a developed setting and characters, but I felt like too many things were left unresolved at the end. I've never really understood the magic part of "The Knot in the Grain."

"Buttercups" started well, but the conflict resolved too quickly and easily. "Touk's House" was the best written of the five: it had some conflict as well as good setting and character development. And it resolved everything at the end.

There was a minor amount of explicit bad language. There were no sex scenes. Overall, the stories were a mixed bag. Robin McKinley's fans might enjoy reading these stories, but I wouldn't recommend buying the book.
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