Sylvia Barry Reads: February 2025

Peter Darling by S.A. Chant – 5 lost thimbles out of 5

Sylvia Barry read this book in secret, by the light of an oil lamp, hiding under a blanket. The book was spectacular, and the flames even more so. Sylvia’s corporeal representatives are maybe a tiny bit obsessed with this book to a definitely healthy degree.

Peter Pan is back, and Captain Hook couldn’t be happier. Neverland, the Lost Boys, and even the pirates have kept on ticking while Peter was away for ten years –he doesn’t quite remember where or why– but everything’s gone a bit… blah. Even the fairies don’t seem happy to see him, especially now that the little boy who never wanted to grow up, went away and did just that. Peter is grown, neither the fairies nor the Lost Boys want him anymore, and Wendy is…

Wendy is gone.

This book is unironically one of the best pieces of intertextual literature –also known as pastiche or fan-fiction (complimentary)– we’ve seen in a minute, in that it engages with the source material at dizzying depths. Peter Pan isn’t just about being a kid forever, it’s specifically about being a boy forever, and Chant dives headfirst into this discussion of the constructedness of childhood, gender, and queerness. Childhood, like gender, like piracy, can be sources of strength and adventure and self-discovery… but if you let them define you, they can also be traps. 

On top of all of that, prepare for the most impish, most heartbreaking, most delightful enemies-to-lovers that ever there flew. Hook and Peter need each other more than ever, as they both realize that make-believe can only take you so far, and it might just be time for something real.

Highly recommended, and improves on every reread.