When author James Bow offered me a copy of The Night Girl, he described it as a “story about a young woman who comes to the big city looking for work, and finds it as an admin assistant at an employment agency that finds work for goblins and trolls.” Little did the author know that I’ve got an employment history that resonates with hers. One boss in particular could have been mistaken for a troll even in broad daylight, but I digress. Suffice it to say I was keenly interested in the concept.
 
Feeling a sense of sisterhood with Perpetua Collins, I dove into her story. I was pleased to see that the challenges she faces in her new job ring true to me, even though her clients are vastly different from who I worked with. Perpetua is innovative and confident, even though she has very little experience in the working world.
 
I won’t go into plot details, as it’s so much fun experiencing the twists and turns of this story right along with Perpetua. I will say that there’s a good balance between lighthearted situational comedy and taking a hard look through a new lens at discrimination, racism, and intolerance. An ancient rift – a veil, really – placed by faeries thousands of years ago between the humans and the faeries, goblins, and trolls has rendered the non-human creatures virtually invisible to humans. There are the rare humans who can see through the veil, but they are few. Luckily, Perpetua is one of them.
 
Since this is a realistic modern-day Toronto setting, the trolls and goblins need to somehow make a living. That’s where Perpetua’s place of employment comes in. She helps place them in jobs they can do well; construction workers, club bouncers, and my favorite, as ‘art installations’. Trolls are perched on building ledges and posed in the center of fountains, and all the humans see are gargoyles and statues.
 
This is a story about equal rights. It’s a story about taking a leap of faith into a new environment, hoping to find a home and a future. It’s a romance – you didn’t see that coming! It’s a story filled with magic. And for those who crave action and adventure, it’s got an eye-popping battle worthy of the cinematic big screen. What more could you ask for?
 
I enjoyed exploring this version of Toronto through Perpetua’s adventures. Until reading The Night Girl, I wasn’t aware of Toronto’s extensive underground. After finishing the book, I spent an interesting evening searching out information on the underground on the internet. What fun! I love a city with an underground – after all, I call Seattle my home. Now that I think about it, Seattle has a large troll “art installation” under the Aurora bridge. It’s large enough to clutch a Volkswagen Bug in one hand. I wonder… do you think…? Nah. Couldn’t be. Could it?
 
An interesting side-note about the author: he’s the current owner and chief content editor of the Transit Toronto website, a fan-run site dedicated to the history of public transportation in the Greater Toronto Area. It’s a topic dear to James Bow’s heart, and I can certainly understand his inclusion of the subway system in his fictional Toronto’s reality.
 
The Night Girl releases on August 25th. Preorder it today at Amazon.