Hilda and the Fairy Village is the ninth book in the Hilda Tie-In Series of children's novels, based on the Hilda animated series. The book was released on November 7, 2023.
Synopsis[]
Based on the hit Netflix series, join Hilda as she visits Tofoten, a fairy village, and uncovers the truth behind her families past.
Join our beloved heroine as she visits her Great Aunt Astrid in Tofoten. Hilda is surprised to discover that it’s a fairy village…her mother had never mentioned that. Hilda becomes troubled by a crackly radio presenter, ominous dreams and soon finds herself in peril. Fantastic creatures and daring adventures are all just part of another average day for Hilda… but will her questions be answered?
Summary[]
Hilda and Johanna are on their way to Tofoten for a short vacation to visit Hilda’s great-aunt Astrid. For Hilda it is her first visit to the town. Frida, David and Tontu have come along for the ride. Hilda is still concerned about her dad ever since he mysteriously vanished at the castle ruins. When David tries to pass time by listening to a pocket radio, he briefly picks up a radio broadcast that he is sure came from Victoria Van Gale, whom they last saw when she vanished into Nowhere Space following her failed experiment.
When they arrive in Tofoten, Hilda notices the town is called a “fairy village”, but Johanna assures her that is just a tourist gimmick. They are greeted at the station by Astrid and her pet Loam. She takes them to her house and gives the kids some good luck charms she made herself. That night Hilda finds a new book by Emil Gammelplassen about fairy’s called "Fairy Mounds and Their Unfriendly Occupants" at her aunt’s house.
The following morning Hilda and friends meet a shape-shifting creature named the Pooka, and along with Johanna and Astrid go camping near a river. That night, as they sleep in the tent, Hilda catches her aunt sneaking off with a cassette tape and tape player. Hilda follows her. The following morning she wakes David and Frida, claiming that they must come for what is likely their biggest adventure ever. She takes them to a hill that she claims is a Fairy Mound, and where she saw her aunt perform some strange rituals last night, like placing charms identical to the one that once kept the Spider Frog trapped in a lake.
When Frida removes some of the charms, a green mist appears and the kids suddenly find themselves in a strange place with pink trees and giant, flying, tentacled mushrooms with eyes, that immediately try to grab the kids. They are rescued just in time by Astrid and Johanna, who tell them they had ended up inside the fairy mound. Johanna is furious with Astrid for not telling her that there is a real fairy mound in Tofoten after all, and for endangering Hilda like this. She plans to leave immediately. As they pack up the tent and leave, Hilda briefly spots two hooded figures staring at them from among the trees.
Back at Astrid’s house, Tontu admits that during the camping trip he took David’s radio into Nowhere Space of the tent to listen in private, and picked up a broadcast from Anders while there. From what Tontu describes Hilda concludes her dad is likely in Fairy Country and he needs her. She packs some stuff, including two walkie talkies, and along with her friends goes back to the fairy mound. Frida and David stay on guard to help if needed while Hilda and Twig go back into the fairy mound.
The two make their way through the borderlands of Fairy Country and find a boat that takes them to an island, where they are greeted by both Anders and Victoria van Gale, who ended up here after her Nowhere Space incident and has since managed to build a new radio transmitter in an island she calls Vangalia. Anders has no idea how he ended up here; only that something pulled him to the island while he was down in the hole with an angry troll. Victoria warns Hilda for the mushrooms she saw earlier. Since the boat has no room for all of them, Victoria stays behind while Anders and Hilda try to find their way back.
Unfortunately, they are spotted by one of the eyed mushrooms, who immediately alerts the Fairy Isle and the two hooded figures Hida saw earlier. As Hilda and Anders try to escape the approaching island, Johanna discovers where Hilda has gone to, and hurries to the Fairy Mound with Astrid and Loam. They arrive just in time to hear Hilda call on Frida for help through the walkie talkie. Using her magic, Frida makes an opening in the Fairy Mound through which Twig and Anders escape. When Hilda does not emerge from the mound, and Frida can no longer keep the portal open, Johanna dives in to find Hilda herself.
The reason Hilda did not escape is because the hooded figures captured her. They take her onto Fairy Isle and to a little red cabin. There, the figures reveal themselves to be none other than Hilda’s maternal grandparents; Phinium and Lydia. Lydia explains to Hilda the history of their family; Phinium and his sister Astrid are fairies, but Lydia used to be a human girl. She met the two fairies during her childhood and eventually fell in love with Phinium. Together they had Johanna and moved to Tofoten, but then Johanna got gravely ill and would likely die. Phinium and Lydia asked the Great Fairy Entity for help, and it agreed if they would give Johanna to it after her tenth birthday. They agreed at first, but when Johanna turned ten they had grown to regret the deal and made a new one; to give themselves to the Fairy Entity. Thus, they had to move to Fairy Isle forever, and leave Johanna in the care of Astrid. At their request, Astrid performed a memory spell on Johanna so she would not feel like her parents abandoned her. Hence why Johanna did not remember her encounter with the Spider Frog in the previous book.
With help of a White Woff, Johanna also finds her way to the cabin and reunites with her parents for the first time in years. They spend some time bonding, during which Johanna’s hair begins to turn blue; a sign of her fairy heritage emerging. However, now that Hilda and Johanna are here the bargain her grandparents made with the Fairy Entity has been broken, and the island will now never let them leave. To allow Hilda to say goodbye to her friends, they take her to a watchtower that allows her to glimpse into the human world and even pull people or objects into Fairy Country. They saved Anders from the troll that way. However, it only works in one direction.
At Astrid’s house, Astrid informs Frida that the Fairy Mound has dissolved shortly after the portal closed, meaning they cannot get Hilda back that way. Frida however remembers how Hilda told them about the Deer-foxes using light bridges to reach their home dimension, and figures they could use that ability to reach Fairy Isle. Twig thus calls for the other Deer-foxes. In the watchtower, Hilda sees the whole plan unfold. But as Hilda and Johanna try to escape to the light bridge, the island actively tries to stop them. Thanks to her grandparents, they reach the Lightbridge, where Twig and an adult Deer-Fox guide them out of Fairy Country and back to the human world.
Sadly, no sooner are they back or Johanna’s childhood sickness returns; a result of the bargain that her parents made is now broken. Astrid, who anticipated this, is revealed to have used the same Lightbridge through which Hilda and Johanna escaped to go back to Fairy Country herself, with the plan to offer herself to the Fairy Entity in return for Johanna’s life. It doesn’t get that far since Victoria van Gale interferes and convinces the Fairy Entity to stop holding on to old bargains. She will help him patch up the declining island. The Entity accepts; Johanna is saved and Astrid gets send back to Tofoten.
Three days later, Hilda and Johanna watch the annual Bird Parade. Hilda is reunited with her friend, the Great Raven, while Anders has found a place to stay in Trolberg and is planning to stick around for now.
Featured Characters[]
Humans[]
Creatures[]
Walking Land Creatures[]
Fairies[]
Nisse[]
Deer-foxes[]
Mentioned characters[]
The following characters/creatures are mentioned, but make no appearance:
Analysis[]
The book combines the plots and characters of "Chapter 1: The Train to Tofoten", "Chapter 2: The Fairy Mound", "Chapter 8: The Fairy Isle" and the subplot about the radio messages from "Chapter 7: Strange Frequencies".
- In the animated series, Alfur also goes to Tofoten on the first trip. He’s completely absent in this book.
- In the series, rather than sending Loam to return the Woff egg to the cave, Astrid has Johanna, Hilda and her friends bring it instead. They watch the egg hatch after it is returned and ride on Woffs to leave the cave.
- In the series, the scene where Hilda tricks the Pooka into turning into a snake so she can take the egg back happens not at Astrid’s house, but later when the Pooka makes a second attempt to steal the egg.
- In the series, Hilda’s information about Fairies comes from a different book: Fairies of Tofoten. She also goes around town asking the locals about fairies, thus experiencing first hand that information regarding fairies contains a lot of contradicting facts.
- In the series, Astrid comes with the idea to go camping, not Hilda.
- Since in the series Hilda has not met the Spider Frog yet when she first visits Tofoten, she does not realize how important the charms around the Fairy Mound are and removes one herself. In this book, Frida removes some charms before Hilda can warn her not to.
- In the series, after the first encounter with the real fairy mound, Johanna actually does take Hilda and friends back to Trolberg and they do not return to Tofoten until the end of the season. Since this book adapts all the episodes set in Tofoten into one story, Johanna only tries to return to Trolberg, but doesn’t get the chance before Hilda heads for the Fairy Mound again to find Anders.
- The plot of David and Tontu picking up the radio broadcasts of Victoria van Gale and Anders while in Tofoten does not happen in the series, as the main trip to Tofoten takes place before Anders’ disappearance. Instead, it is Hilda who starts picking up these radio signals when they are back in Trolberg already.
- The plot on Fairy Isle differs significantly from the animated series, with a lot of scenes being left out of the book adaptation. In the series, Hilda does manage to escape through Frida’s portal, but willingly goes back after learning Johanna went to Fairy Country to find her. Johanna has regressed back to her childhood self upon entering Fairy Country and does not recognize Hilda. She instead believes she is looking for her own parents and teams up with Hilda to do so. She stays that way until they find Phinium and Lydia, who here never abduct Hilda from the boat. Hilda and Johanna also encounter multiple other fairies; something that does not happen in the book.
- In the series, Astrid enters Fairy Country immediately after making sure Frida is alright and also reunites with Phinium and Lydia there.
- In the series, rather than just 1 deer-fox, Twig brings the whole herd with him.
- In the series, David plays an active role in rescuing Anders and Hilda; after Frida opens her portal, David, who has secured himself to a treestump with a rope, enters the portal to help pull Hilda and Anders out. In the book, he secures himself to the stump with a belt that leaves him with no room to move, and he trips when he tries to run to Frida.
Trivia[]
- This is the first book in the tie-in series in which Johanna is called by name instead of only referred to as Mom.
- The book says it’s been two years since Hilda and friends first met Victoria Van Gale and six months since the adventure at the windmill. This however contradicts the statement by the shows producers that season 3 of the series takes place a year after the movie, which in turn took place after “Chapter 5: The Windmill”.