Alas! In a garden I lost it, let
It go to the ground on a grassy plot.
Bereft of love, I am racked by regret
For Pearl, my own Pearl without a spot.
— from Pearl, translated by Brian Stone
(the Pearl Poet is unknown)
—
Recap
Luc, a third-grade teacher, lives alone with his younger sister Cora, who is constantly tired, despite most of her days spent sleeping. Commuting to work on the bus every day, he passes by an empty bus station in a green hill. At night, he, a chronic sleepwalker, often finds himself waking at this same green hill. Once, he runs into a strange man who can slip into the hill.
On the bus, Luc meets a fellow commuter, Emma, with whom he strikes up a friendship that eventually leads to Emma becoming Cora's caretaker. One day, Luc comes home to find Cora missing, and Emma isn't picking up her phone. With no other clues, Luc goes back to the hill, once again finding the strange man, and Luc follows him into the hill.
Inside is Under-The-Green-Hill, a place without time, where every service must be repaid, or a debt will be held. The man, Kay, is a knight of Under-The-Green-Hill, and as it is his duty to help the people of the land, agrees to help Luc find Cora, who they learn is being held captive at the kingdom of the Yew. Although Luc trusts Kay to take him to the Yew, Kay instead leads him to the Sycamore, where he reunites with Emma, who is also from Under-The-Green-Hill.
The Sycamore King is seeing Emma because he has lost his son on a quest to the Yew, and the King wants him back. Luc joins Emma on the journey to the Yew along with Annabel, who was abandoned as a child and brought to Under-The-Green-Hill to be raised, and now returns the debt by collecting such lost children. On their way, they stop at the town of By-The-Well, built around a well named for the Hen-Wife, an outside woman whose son was mistakenly taken by the Collector of Lost Children. She has been in Under-The-Green-Hill for decades.
Meanwhile, at the Yew, Cora is kept in the labyrinth by the queen, Symphora, who has Cora run odd errands in the Yew's garden to prepare for Midsummer. Tristan, the prince of Sycamore, arrives to help get Cora out. Cora learns that she is a princess of the Yew, but that her memories of her time in Under-The-Green-Hill have all faded.
Key parts/parts to reread:
2.1. The Station in the Greenwood: first chapter, sets up everything after
2.2.1. A Stranger at the Green Hill: Kay's first appearance
3.2.1. A Gift of Warm Bread: the conversation between Luc and Kay
3.3.2. Greetings Along the Path: worldbuilding
3.3.3. Greetings Along the Path: Tristan's first appearance
3.4. The Light of a False Moon: Luc and Kay's relationship, Luc's memories
4.2.4. Infants in Their Cradles: the King of the Sycamore cries a lot
4.6.2-3. The Hen-Wife of By-The-Well: the Hen-Wife's story
If you pay attention to anything Kay has said and will say, you will know pretty much everything.
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Midnight Wonders
FantasyFor Luc, life began seven years ago. It began on a bus, by the hills, beneath a black sky, with no one at his side but his sister, Cora. His world is mundane, routine, and perfectly adequate. At work, he teaches, and at home, he takes care of Cora...
