Peter Pan is a character/story that every child loves growing up. However, as we actually grow up, not only do we see the tragedy of the character, but you also realize he’s kind of creepy. I mean, he hides outside a window to listen to a girl tell her brothers stories. And in the books, he’s a tyrant who kills the Lost Boys when they get too old, among other things. It’s not surprising that, as the years have gone by, more and more stories have delved into the dark side of Peter Pan.
In Cynthia Pelayo’s take on a dark Peter Pan story, It Came From Neverland, we meet a very different Wendy from the one who appears in J.M. Barrie’s book.* Now in her twenties, the adult Wendy is scarred from her experiences with Peter. She tries her best to move on, teaching at the children’s home that took her in after she and her brothers returned, and reads to soldiers returning from fighting in WWI. But then strange events happen around London. Children get injured or go missing. Mysterious fogs and crows feathers appear all over the place. And Wendy hears a whisper from her past. A whisper belonging to a boy who’s not a boy, whom she thought was dead after he killed so many. And he’s come back for her.
Cynthia Pelayo writes a lot of stories that are reinterpreted fairy tales (I loved her take on the Sleeping Beauty story, Vanishing Daughters), and with It Came From Neverland, that talent is on full display. With strong and concise language, she crafts a suspenseful tale that really lets us get into the head of Wendy Darling, aged into adulthood long before she hit her teen years and trying to survive when the past haunts her everyday. You really get to know her as we see her deal with the return of Peter Pan.
Speaking of which, the relationship between her and Peter was chilling! It’s the definition of an abusive and toxic relationship, with Peter being nice before lying, manipulating, gaslighting, and finding all sorts of ways to belittle Wendy. Just from the short episodes we see, it’s enough to make you shudder from how horrible he is to her.
And like I said, this book is suspenseful. A lot of time is spent showing Peter’s encroachment on Wendy’s life, as well as the life of her brothers. And it is frightening! It reminds me of what Stephen King said about the three types of horror, and how terror is the one that’s hardest to do, because it leaves you with that sense of unease that refuses to go. That terror is put on full display here, creating a frightening atmosphere that lingers long after you put the book down.
My only major criticism is that the parts exploring Wendy’s past with Peter are too short. I didn’t mind that they were out of order, but for a book that was marketed as Peter Pan meets IT, I expected more time spent in the past. To really feel like I was in Neverland with those characters when they were children. What we got was more like short vignettes, and while those were great, I felt like they weren’t enough for me.
However, on the whole, it is a great novel that I practically flew through each time I picked it up. On a scale of 1 to 5, I give It Came From Neverland by Cynthia Pelayo a 4.8 out of 5. This is definitely one to settle down with. Just be careful, though. You might end up hooked!
*By the way, Barrie’s mentioned in the book as someone who heard Wendy’s story and twisted it into the child-friendly version we know today. And can I just say, I love that he’s as much a hack in the book as I’ve always thought he was? I got a laugh out of that.
Rami Ungar The Writer 