Troll Mill is a children's

Children's literature

Children's literature is for readers and listeners up to about age twelve; it is often defined in four different ways: books written by children, books written for children, books chosen by children, or books chosen for children. It is often illustrated. The term is used in senses which sometimes...

 fantasy novel written by Katherine Langrish

Katherine Langrish

Katherine Langrish is a British author of fantasy for children and young adults. She was brought up in Yorkshire and Herefordshire, and wanted to be a writer from a young age...

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

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...

, 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 child 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 Bjorn 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, Troll Fell

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...

, Langrish uses a variety of folklore motifs such as the Orkney legends of seal people or selkie

Selkie

Selkies are mythological creatures that are found in Faroese, Icelandic, Irish, and Scottish folklore....

s to create an unusual and believable fantasy.