''Troll Mill'' is a children's

fantasy novel Fantasy literature is literature set in an imaginary universe, often but not always without any locations, events, or people from the real world. Magic, the supernatural and magical creatures are common in many of these imaginary worlds. Fa ...

written by

Katherine Langrish Katherine Langrish is a British author of fantasy for children and young adults. She was brought up in Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far ...

, the second in the Troll Trilogy. It follows the events of ''

Troll Fell ''Troll Fell'' is a children's fantasy novel written by Katherine Langrish, the first in the Troll Trilogy which comprises ''Troll Fell'', '' Troll Mill'' and '' Troll Blood''. It is set in Viking Scandinavia and is centred about the eponymous mou ...

'', but takes place three years later.

Synopsis

The hero Peer Ulffson now lives with his friend Hilde and her family. One evening on the beach, having just returned from a fishing trip in stormy weather, he is horrified when a neighbour's young wife, Kersten, pushes her newborn child into his arms before throwing herself into the sea. As he carries the baby home through the windy night, he sees the old deserted mill mysteriously working away ‘all by itself’. Rumours abound in the village that Kersten was a seal woman, and that her husband Bjørn the fisherman, Peer's friend and mentor, is now cursed, doomed to die at sea. As he struggles to understand these mysteries and protect the vulnerable ‘seal-baby’ from the predatory water spirit Granny Greenteeth, Peer must also learn to cope with his feelings for Hilde, and try to carve out a future for himself. As in the first book of the trilogy,

, Langrish uses a variety of folklore motifs such as the

Orkney Orkney (; sco, Orkney; on, Orkneyjar; nrn, Orknøjar), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago in the Northern Isles of Scotland, situated off the north coast of the island of Great Britain. Orkney is 10 miles (16 km) north ...

legends of seal people or

selkie In Celtic and Norse mythology, selkies (also spelled ', ', ') or selkie folk ( sco, selkie fowk) meaning 'seal folk' are mythological beings capable of therianthropy, changing from seal to human form by shedding their skin. They are found ...

s to create an unusual and believable fantasy. {{TrollTrilogy 2005 British novels Children's fantasy novels HarperCollins books