Gather Her Round

Gather Her Round is an urban fantasy novel by American writer Alex Bledsoe, released in the United States in March 2017 through Tor Books. It is the fifth of six books in Bledsoe’s series about the Tufa, a group descended from Irish fairies who have lived in a secluded Appalachian valley in East Tennessee since before European settlers arrived. The book generally earned positive reviews.

The novel’s title comes from a song by South Carolina singer-songwriter Jennifer Goree, which appeared on her 1996 self-titled album.

Bledsoe has noted that music is central to the Tufa, who “manifest their faerie magic via music, and use its power to influence the world at large.” The song lyrics in *Gather Her Round* draw from traditional ballads such as “Lily of the West” and “The Dead Brother’s Song,” as well as texts Bledsoe wrote himself. While writing, he needed a song he couldn’t find, so he asked musician friends Jen Cass and Eric Janetsky of the Americana band the Lucky Nows. They wrote “Against the Black,” which Bledsoe used in the book; it later became the lead track on the band’s debut album, *Rise*.

The plot begins at a storytelling festival, where a narrator named Janet recounts the story of Kera Rogers, a young Tufa killed in the woods by a huge wild boar. Members of the Tufa community—including Kera’s boyfriend Duncan Gowen and his friend Adam Procure—search for the beast. Duncan discovers that Adam was also Kera’s boyfriend, and his quest for vengeance now includes betrayal. When Adam goes missing, it’s unclear whether the boar or Duncan is responsible. As the hunt continues, the creature takes on supernatural proportions.

In *Fantasy Literature*, Kat Hooper called the novel “gruesome,” “psychologically intense,” and “the darkest and most disturbing TUFA story yet.” She noted that Bledsoe’s use of music is more pronounced here than in earlier Tufa books, adding to the story’s “fear and dread.” Hooper found several new characters “intriguing,” especially the narrator Janet, and gave the book four out of five stars.