In the novel I’m trying to finish now, a girl is wrecking havoc on her sister’s life. It amazes me how many characters I find to help her in this endeavor. Where do these people come from? An unoriginal question, but it’s hard not to ask it when these vindictive, cruel, thoughtless people come out of your own head–like exposing that side of your life that you spend so much time to make nice with.
Then again, fiction is fiction and I’m not my characters any more than JK Rowling is Voldemort, Stephen King is a rabid dog, or Breton Ellis is a serial killer. Imagination is a amazing and beautiful thing. And plenty of amazing and beautiful things can scare the hell out of us.
I think I’m rambling. Too much time in the woods of Lake Belle, which have taken a life of their own, manipulating events, an evil character in its own right. Oh, the history of the dark and wicked woods in literature…perhaps I read too many fairy tales as a child. But the first book that I read where the woods made a lasting impression on me was this now out-of-print novel by Bonnie Jones Reynolds. I’ve never met another person who’s read The Truth about Unicorns, but it was my favorite book when I was sixteen. I read it ten times before I left for college and I had to check it out of the library. That book may very well be the root of my writing now.
A mysterious wood, foolish young people, mental illness, and a touch of magic…perfect.
Marta Bacon 
I read The Truth About Unicorns when I was in high school in the 70’s. I loved it. I’ve been trying to find another copy of it. I couldn’t remember the author’s name…
Interesting! I also read this book when I was 15 or 16, and it was also a huge influence on my research and writing. It’s one of my top five favorites.
I live in Western NY, about 4 hours from the actual Spring Farm where the story took place. This weekend, I had business at Hamilton College (the ‘Franklin College’) in the book, so I decided to drive by the farm. It was kind of a pilgrimage. I was kind of maybe hoping to see a unicorn (I spent years after I read the book hoping to catch a glimpse of one).
I didn’t. But bits of the woods described in the book are still there. They really are oddly dense and spooky.
Hello again, Guys. The next time you are passing the farm, please come in and say hello. I’m almost always there, they don’t let me off my chain too often. Check out springfarmcares.org to find out what I am up to nowadays. And by the way, I bought the hardcover remainder of The Truth About Unicorns and we sell it here at the farm. I don’t have copies of my second novel, The Confetti Man. I had bought that remainder, too, but it all went up in flames in the fire chronicled in my latest book, If Only They Could Talk, The Miracles of Spring Farm.
I too have loved this book. I read it MANY times from 1979-1983 – 9th – 12th grades – I am quite sure the librarian at the high school was unaware of its more scintillating sections. As an adult, I was able to get a copy of it through an internet site in the mid 1990’s – signed by the author! I am almost done reading it yet again. My husband (of 20 years) said – you are reading that again? Oh, my yes. I cannot tell anyone why it resonates so. I love the time period, I love how Lilith maintains her poise. I only wish it had been made into a movie! But, as with many a literary joy, my imagination is probably so much more vivid than a film could ever convey. My 15 year old daughter has asked about it several times recently – I won’t mind having her reading it since the 1974 risque sections are so much more tame than 2009. BUT I would be so sad if she didn’t like it! If Ms. Reynolds reads this – please know that I have loved this book for more than 25 years!
Thank you, Lisa, for your comment. Until I wrote this post, I’d never met anyone else who’d read the novel. I can’t explain why it means so much to me either, but I love it to this day–even 20 years later when I read it again.
And I understand what you mean about having your daughter read it. I hesitate to tell anyone else a bout the novel, lest they read it and think I’m crazy. Have you read her other book–The Confetti Man? I love that one too.
Thanks again for stopping by.
Hello,
You and your readers may like to know that Felony & Mayhem Press is reissuing The Truth About Unicorns, which will be available next month (October 2010). I, too, read it some 30 years ago and never forgot it, and I’m delighted to make this wonderful, unusual book available for a new generation of readers.
October is my birthday month and a reissue of The Truth About Unicorns is a totally awesome present! Thank you for reissuing the book and for letting us know!