February 2026
I had an amazing time just recently discovering Fae Rap, Lydia the Bard, Paris Paloma, and–shiver–Sofia Isella. Bold beyond imagining! These women are carrying a blazing torch for all of us, and I recommend you explore their expanding body of work. Helaine would feel at home with these extraordinary writers and singers and fairy tale re-enactors!
Independent Book Review August 2025
A visceral historical fantasy that interrogates the violence and wonder of coming into womanhood Wild Girl bears the trappings of historical fiction and fairy tales, but it is a thoroughly modern story at heart. Examining issues of women’s autonomy, sexual maturing, religious faith, and intimate violence, the novel, despite featuring fairy tale creatures, is not escapist at heart. It’s real. It confronts the reader to deal not only with some age-old issues regarding women’s place in the world, but also the ways in which we imagine escape from such issues. In its final act, it confronts the lasting mark violence and betrayal of trust leave on girls and women. Even if escape is possible, one cannot accomplish it unchanged.
Wild Girl is an honest, moving work about the traumas and tragedies of coming into womanhood, but it’s also about the beauty of it. A passionate, wild, sometimes chaotic story, it bears the same spirit of maturing of its main character. Like a young girl’s dreams meeting the reality of adulthood, there is much promise in it. I will be keeping an eye on the author’s future works in the series and recommend you do the same.
Kirkus Review August 2025
Spicer’s novel is a captivating, folkloric tale about freedom, loyalty, betrayal, trauma, and religious zealotry. Over the course of the story, Helaine proves to be a compelling protagonist who reclaims her agency.
Many readers are sure to enjoy Spicer’s dreamy, evocative prose: “The unicorn appeared to glide along, at one moment part of the darkness, the next a pale wraith, blending against the silvered tree trunks.” A captivating and evocative tale of fantasy adventure.
Review by Feathered Quill, July 17 2025
Wild Girl is a historical fantasy that wrestles with themes of power, corruption, and the price of breaking cycles of abuse. Spicer’s prose is lush, creating a world that feels both historically grounded and magically alive. But the novel’s greatest strength lies in its complex moral landscape. Spicer forces readers to grapple with impossible choices alongside her protagonist. Helaine’s journey from sheltered nobility to exiled “Wild Girl” is not just a coming-of-age arc, but a reckoning with inherited trauma and systemic corruption. Helaine emerges as a compelling protagonist whose growth from passive victim to active agent drives the narrative forward. The author also handles mature themes with literary depth, never sensationalizing the abuse while depicting its lasting psychological impact. The villain is a compelling antagonist as he was not a simple villain, but a man whose genuine faith has been warped by unchecked power and hidden shame.
The dual timeline structure, anchored by Abigail Rockefeller’s 1929 framing story, adds another layer of meaning as it connects medieval struggles with modern ones. The famous Hunt of the Unicorn tapestries serve as both framing devices and central metaphors through every layer of the story. The book will particularly appeal to readers who enjoy character-driven fantasy with historical depth, though its mature themes and complex moral questions make it clearly adult fiction. I highly recommend this to readers who appreciate nuanced exploration of power, trauma, and personal agency.
Quill says: Wild Girl: Hunting the Unicorn is a haunting blend of historical fiction and fantasy that examines the price of power and the courage required to forge your own path.
Readers’ Favorite by Asher Sayed June 19 2025
I like how Jehane Spicer starts with tapestries owned by the Rockefeller family, which then segues into an actual representation of the pieces in her novel Wild Girl: Hunting the Unicorn. This is a fantasy set in a medieval world filled with everything we want both within the court, its feasts and power finagling, and in the forest, at sacred fountains, and in the presence of unicorns. There is plenty of suspense and intrigue. I most enjoyed the scenes where we are in the company of women, and in Helaine’s secret meetings with the Wild Boy, both of which reveal a growing relationship, for better or for worse, marked by trust and caution. Overall, this is a thoughtful and well-paced story with a treasure trove of characters.
A time of chaos, and the making and unmaking of worlds. Jehane’s watercolor from the James Webb photograph of the spiral galaxies feels curiously fitting both for medieval times and
Members of the household at the Valentine’s Day feast in the great Banqueting Hall. Notice the splendid hammer beams in the great ceiling…
On the evening of St Valentine’s Day, the Seigneur arranges an entertainment for Helaine and the rest of the household–a welcome break from worry about the growing threat of Ivo
Maiden taming a unicorn for two hunters, miniature painting in a manuscript bestiary, about 1170, New York, Pierpoint Morgan Library. The early date illustrates how profoundly the legend of the
Abigail Aldrich Rockefeller (1874-1948) Abby married John Jr, in 1901 after a five year courtship. She helped finance the Red Cross when the US entered the first World War, founded
Antoine Le grand batard (1421–1504) Antoine was brought up with his younger half-brother, later Charles the Bold, the last Duke of Burgundy; he was a favorite among the many natural
