The Forgotten Fairground by Rachael Farrimond

Just before being asked to review Rachael Farrimond’s new Novella, The Forgotten Fairground, I had coincidentally re-watched Hitchcock’s Strangers on a Train and Jordan Peele’s Us, both of which, as does this story, use a fairground as significant prop in their stories.

This is Rachael’s first foray away from the short story and is, I understand, the first in a series of books featuring the Outsiders and Shadows, and a taster for a forthcoming, long in writing, fantasy novel.

The Novella, to be published on the 19th April on Amazon Kindle, is short and features an interesting twist on the well-worn trope of walking through mirrors to fantasy lands (Alice through the Looking Glass a very early example) and, such as Pratchett and Baxter used in their Long Earth series, the idea of infinite versions of alternative earths.

Nick, an accountant, without a surname (as is the case for all the characters), has a normal humdrum life until he bumps into a young woman (who he is to discover is called Megan) in a disused fairground and, after witnessing her running through a mirror, follows her through.

The mirror takes him to a place called the Rift where he meets fellow ‘Outsiders’ who tell him the mirrors lead to many alternative earths. He discovers that he will not be able to return to his home planet and that the Outsiders are being pursued by Shadow creatures who are trying to kill them.

The story mainly involves the Outsiders attempt to rescue Megan from the Shadows, the result of which I will not divulge.

The Novella is well written, has various themes (Fantasy, cyber punk, science fiction), has the length and feel of a Doctor Who episode but although the ending leaves us with a few unanswered questions, I feel ‘The forgotten Fairground’, would have benefitted from a real cliff hanger ending.