Thirteens

“When you spend all the day wearing armor, standing despite its weight, it is often the moment you remove it that your strength abandons you. For that is the brief moment that you do not need to hold fast to it.” -Kate Alice Marshall, Brackenbeast

It's not easy being a kid. 

Often as adults we romanticize our youth, thinking it was easier when we were a child. We didn't have obligations and we were free to play and explore. 

The reality is that we all have had expectations placed upon us as soon as we’re born. We’re expected to save the world, do better than our parents, become pillars of society, and survive without any struggles outside of simply growing up and becoming an adult. We ignore the inherited trauma of a past we had no control over or how our birth automatically determines aspects of our future. We are ordered to live the “American Dream” despite the various definitions to what exactly that dream entails. And once we become adults, we often have forgotten the struggles of our own youths, forcing the expectation narrative to repeat in an unending cycle. 

For Eleanor, Pip, and Otto in Kate Alice Marshall’s Thirteens, the first in the The Secrets of Eden Eld series, their fate was already determined because of the date they were born. In Eden Eld, the town’s founders made a deal with the strange and mystifying Mr. January. Every thirteen years, there are three children who are born in the town on Halloween. Once they turn thirteen they are given to Mr. January and his sisters as a sacrifice to keep the town a quiet and prosperous place to live. 

Eleanor’s mom, aware of this curse, moved away from Eden Eld to protect her daughter from this horrifying fate. After a mysterious fire separates her from her mother, Eleanor returns to Eden Eld, where she now lives with her very pregnant Aunt Jenny. Eleanor starts school a few days from her thirteenth birthday, unaware of the destiny she is to fulfill. On that fateful first day of school, Eleanor meets Otto and Pip, who are all surprised that they share the same birthday. 

Through Pip and Otto, Eleanor discovers the various secrets of Eden Eld and history behind the secret January Society. They begin to learn of the real danger that they face. Many leaders of their community are eager to sacrifice the three kids, never considering that the decisions made by their ancestors could be changed, that traditions do not have to remain with each new generation. Eleanor, Pip, and Otto are forced to only trust each other, never knowing if the people they love are really the people who would destroy their future. As the story moves to the sequel, Brackenbeast, Eleanor, Pip, and Otto are constantly faced with the consequences of previous generations’ choices. The trio are determined to end the cycle of sacrifice, despite the potential horrific cost. 

By mixing the larger themes of generational trauma and societal expectations with folk horror, Kate Alice Marshall has woven a thoughtful, suspenseful, and engaging story that on the surface is a fun, spooky story but is actually a great conversation starter about what it means to rectify with your parents’ choices. Like the plight of this strong trio, we don’t always have ready answers for how to solve the sins of the past; we just have to acknowledge and start the work for a better tomorrow so the darkness is never repeated. 

(Thirteens cover art by Sara Kipin)