Little Darlings: Grimmova pravljica 21. stoletja

Little Darlings je pretresljivo temačna, strašljivo vznemirljiva pripoved o brezpogojni materinski ljubezni in njenem nenadkriljivem šestem čutu.

Knjiga, napisana po vzoru najbolj grozljivih Grimmovih pravljic, bralca povleče vase že v prvih nekaj vrsticah, s pesmijo iz knjige The Changeling:

The child is not mine as the first was,
I cannot sing it to rest,
I cannot lift it up fatherly,
And bliss it upon my breast;
Yet it lies in my little one´s craddle,
And sits in my little one´s chair,
And the light of the heaven she´s gone to
Transfigures it´s golden hair.

Pripoved, ki temelji na legendi zamenjanih otrok, se začne na vroč poletni dan, ko na svet prijokata identična dvojčka Morgan in Riley. Novopečeni mami Lauren, travmatizirani zaradi naporne porodne izkušnje, utrujeni in neprespani, se prvo noč v porodnišnici prikaže strašljiva temnolasa ženska, ki jo zbudi s prepevanjem starodavne keltske pesmi in ji zagrozi, da bo svoja dvojčka, rečni pošasti, ki zlovešče gledata iz košare, zamenjala z njenima čistima, nedolžnima, popolnima fantoma.

The distance between Lauren and the woman was wide as a river. The woman was leaning forward with her elbows on her knees and a large basket between her bare feet, feet dirty enough to stand out black against the floor. Rags from the woman´s dress were long fingers trailing against those feet, against the floor, forming a fringe over the basket.

Čeprav na posnetku z varnostne kamere ni dokazov o nočni obiskovalki, zaradi česar Laurenino strašljivo srečanje zdravniki, policija in celo njen mož pripisujejo utrujenosti in neprištevnosti, Lauren ve …Ve, da sta njena fanta v veliki nevarnosti. Ve, da mora storiti vse, da ju bo zaščitila. In ko dvojčka v trenutku njene nepazljivosti izgineta in ju nedolgo zatem spet vrnejo v njene varne roke, ve, da dva para oči, ki zreta vanjo, nista prava. Njun jok se sliši kot petje, njune kretnje naučene, nerazločljivo žlobudranje enomesečnih dvojčkov pa v njenih ušesih dobi pomen. Stvora v košari, za katera edina vidi, da nista njena mala Morgan in Riley, čeprav sta jima na las podobna, ji prigovarjata, jo nagovarjata, prepričujeta naj ju odnese nazaj domov, tja od koder sta prišla …v reko.

The sound that came out of  Lauren was from a deep place. It burst from the kernel at the centre of her, the place all her desires were kept, all all her drive. It was the vocal incarnation of her darkest heart, no thoughts between it and its forceful projection into the grimacing face of the woman. Asound of horror, and protection, a mother´s instinct, and her love. The shape of the sound was No.

Little Darlings izzove bralčevo domišljijo, ga prisili, da se nenehno sprašuje, kaj je res in kaj ne, briše meje med realnostjo in nočno moro, mu dokaže, da ni meja za odločno mamo, ki bi za svoje otroke storila vse, tudi žrtvovala samo sebe. Je knjiga, zaradi katere se poviša srčni utrip, naježi koža, podobe v knjigi pa preganjajo tudi, ko zapreš oči.

Knjižni prvenec Melanie Golding, po katerem bo posnet tudi film, je popolna srhljivka s pridihom gotske pravljice in romantične pripovedi o materi, ki ruši nepredstavljive zidove za svoja mala zaklada.

She loved them, it was her calling. Every instant was devoted to it, every thought, every action, every reaction. All her plans, all her dreams were about them, through them, for them, because of them, because of this love, that had not been there immediately but came upon her slowly, inexorably, irreversibly.