Kirkus Reviewed Novelist and Poet
Creating works for adults, young adults, creatives, and literary explorers.
"Alicia Cahalane Lewis lives within questions and beyond answers; this requires unassuming elegance of mind."
– Joseph Braun, editor of The Lune –
The Faeries Of Fable Island
April 23 2024
-
“Alicia Lewis is a poetic writer who uses simple themes to disentangle us from the complexities we’ve built into our everyday lives. In The Faeries of Fable Island, she uses the adventures of a 5th-generation Wendy Darling to reintroduce us to the universal themes in the original Peter Pan: memory, courage, joy, sadness, love, and the uplifting influence of believing in magic. James Barrie would be proud—an amazing evocation of a magical place where spirits are free and dreams come true.”
- Pam Webber, Bestselling Author of The Wiregrass, Moon Water, and Life Dust.
-
“This fantasy novel from Alicia Cahalane Lewis is a deeply philosophical and contemplative reimagining of Scottish novelist J. M. Barrie’s classic Peter Pan narrative.
In 2024, Megan Elida Fay, 16, lives in a dilapidated house on the Maine coast with her aunt. The remote stretch of coastline is a tourist hotspot, as it has been rumored for decades to be the place where believers can sometimes see an imaginary island, allegedly inhabited by Peter Pan himself. Meg’s family has been believers for generations; her great-great-grandmother (named Wendy Darling) apparently visited the island, which featured golden rainbows and fields of transparent poppies. Meg’s mother was a believer as well, but when she died after a battle with cancer, and Meg’s alcoholic father abandoned her, she feels “trapped in a story someone else wrote for [her].”
With the weight of her family’s generational secrets and expectations (as well as her still unprocessed grief) weighing heavily on her, Meg must decide between solving the mystery of the island or walking away from it all to begin her own story.
One of the novel’s strengths is its audacious unpredictability; the narrative doesn’t go where readers will expect it to. There’s also an impressive focus on rich, immersive description, as well as thematically powerful statements: “I look around the room crowded with fading antique books, dark dusty Victorian furniture, chipped glass vases, an umbrella stand filled with rotting silk umbrellas, a carriage wheel, a green parrot feather under glass, and a couple of dried moth carcasses pinned to a board. I wheeze, “We’re collectors of dead things...”
Readers expecting a whimsical story about fairies and the faerie realm will be disappointed. This is a much deeper novel, exploring complex issues like children struggling with loss, dealing with grief, environmental stewardship, the power of belief, and the magic created by embracing wonder.
Deep readers will find this novel unconventional, perceptive, and profoundly moving.”
-Blue Ink Review
-
“An intriguing premise and one that made me jump at the chance to read this. With the promise of magic, adventure and Faerie Tales, we follow Meg, the great, great granddaughter of Wendy Darling as she seeks to discover if Fable Island is real after all. I adored the way this was written, the author's ability to blend modern times with the magic of a fabled book, a hidden Island, Peter Pan and the possibility of magic and Faeries. Well written, I was instantly drawn to Meg who is dealing with the grief of the death of her mother when she was six, her fathers leaving shortly after and her troublesome relationship with her Aunt. This book as well as all the elements of magic and fantasy realms deals with some other heavier subjects like grief, the death of a child and finding out who you are. I loved the idea of what the Island actually represents in the end, the sense of wonder and mystery surrounding Peter, Faeries and the island. Throughout, the real backstory of Meg's ancestors is slowly revealed and we learn the importance of belief and hope through Meg and her best friend. The ending of this one was perfectly in line with the whole vibe of the book, and leaves the reader wondering at what happens next. Belief and hope to the end. This is a quick read, and one that is perfect as either a standalone read or one I'd love to see a sequel too. Perfect for fantasy fans who believe in magic and possibilities!”
-Cathryn Melani, A LoveReading ambassador
-
“On her 16th birthday, Megan Elida Fay, descended from a long line of Wendy Darlings, is still haunted by her mother’s tragic death 10 years earlier.
Abandoned by her father after her mother’s death, Megan moved in with her maternal aunt, the cryptic Georgia, in a clapboard cottage perched on the Maine coast, where she spends her time desperate to decipher whether her parents’ stories of Fable Island and Peter Pan were true. When Georgia informs her the magic is real—and that Meg’s expected to find the bridge to cross over to Fable Island—Meg feels trapped in someone else’s story.
Lewis (author of Restless) engraves this modern-day fairy tale with a deep sense of regret, from Meg’s debilitating grief to her aunt’s weariness at how to help to her father’s downward spiral when the magic feels impossible. Meg’s teen angst is palpable, as is her internal struggle between what she sees in the world around her and the mystery she senses hovering just out of her reach. Too practical and too wracked by grief, Meg works hard to convince herself that her mother can’t have transcended death to live on Fable Island, despite the glimmering signs that she is part of something much, much bigger than herself.
Part coming-of-age journey and part lesson in grief, Lewis’s tale encourages readers to let go while moving forward. Meg’s relationship with her father—and his failed attempt at reconciliation—is painful to watch, as is her best friend Theo’s quicker grasp of magical thinking, despite Meg’s legacy. After much effort, Meg eventually concedes: “Fable Island may not be real but it exists… It is in the hearts and minds of those who believe.” Lewis delivers a delicate balance between real life and the whisper of magic throughout, building moments of drama and whimsy that will stick with readers long after the last page.”
Comparable Titles: Liz Michalski’s Darling Girl, Alex Flinn’s Beastly.
-BookLife Reviews by Publishers Weekly
-
“A thought provoking interpretation of a coming of age fantasy adventure. Megan is the great-great-granddaughter of Wendy Darling, struggling to cope after her mother’s death and her father’s disappearance, living with her aunt surrounded by family heirlooms. Connected to her family’s story is the one of Fable Island, a lost magical island where Peter Pan and the Faerie Queen reside. Will Meg be able to overcome her grief and discover this elusive island as her family thinks she would, and will she be able to discover a free-spirited self and open herself up to the possibility of magic? I thought that ‘The Faeries of Fable Island’ is an interesting take on a coming-of-age fantasy adventure. The use of a more literary style keeps the reader grounded mostly in reality, we follow Meg as she simultaneously clings to her past and connection to Fable Island while also rejecting the notion it exists. It’s like this rejection prevents Meg from seeing the magic and hope in the world around which would allow her to move through the darker parts of her grief. This is a thought-provoking, character driven novel with a dash of magical realism about trying to find hope and belief in your darkest moments.”
-Charlotte Walker, A LoveReading Ambassador
Set on a forgotten stretch of Maine coast where tourists from all over the world once traveled in the hope of finding a hidden faerie land, The Faeries of Fable Island tells the remarkable story of sixteen-year-old Megan Elida Fay, the great-great-granddaughter of the only Wendy Darling to meet the real Peter Pan on the roving magical island.
Meg, who has been “banished to the attic,” in her words, by her aunt Georgia to sleep with the nursery toys and the memories of her ancestor’s past, grieves for her mother who died when she was a child, and for her father who ran away shortly thereafter. Haunted by grief, Meg has thrown herself into forgetting her true self.
What was once the truth, Fable Island has now become a storybook land, but was this truth obscured when someone else rewrote the Faerie Queen and Peter Pan into their own story? Perhaps the lost boys are simply analogous to the lost souls who wish to find their true selves.
With the help of faerie magic, will it be possible for Meg to trust her truth? Will she be able to bend time and find the mysterious island, as her mother once promised her she would, and discover her free-spirited youthful self once more?
When truth and storytelling collide in this modern-day adventure, Meg sets out on a quest to find the real Faerie Queen.
The Faeries of Fable Island promises the possibility of magic, storytelling, and the lure of a kindred land where dreams come true when one believes.
RESTLESS
-
"This novella is comprised of many poetic vignettes that come together for a tantalizing whole that still somehow feels incomplete, as if the reader is searching, and failing, to find Emilie. The chapters are told in a series of intimate stream-of-consciousness first-person perspectives, as in this narration from Guy: 'I construct a play without words because I have said nothing to you, and you, in turn, have said nothing to me. Where in this universe are you that I should know your lost language?' All the characters feel like brief sketches except for Emilie herself...Indeed, the story circles her like a haunting dream, with imagery taking precedence over plot…A lyrical historical novella about an elusive young Parisian woman who flees from her family and romantic relationships…A brief but memorable tale with prose that sings.”
-
“…a beautifully written novel told from the points of view of its main characters…I felt like I was floating over the characters as I followed them on their journeys.”
In 1903, eighteen-year-old Emilie lives on the streets of Paris. She ran away from home at the age of eleven, leaving behind a wealthy life, but now she must sell discarded flowers to survive. When she meets Guy, a well-heeled gentleman, they form a restless bond, one of expectation and uncertainty. They share a love and a genuine desire to improve their lives. Will they be able to help one another, or will the grief each experienced in the past upend their love?
Written in poetic prose, Restless unfurls as various people who know Emilie share their version of her story. The narration circles into and around each of these characters, leading the reader to a more complete understanding of Emilie and her true self.
Room Service Please
-
“In Room Service Please by Alicia Cahalane Lewis, delivers a spellbinding, twisty tale that features not only strong plot points but unforgettable, richly imagined, and sophisticated characters.
“This evocative, deeply immersive tale is character-driven, a tale about taking impossible chances. Fans of beautifully wrought and suspenseful coming-of-age stories will not be able to resist the spell in Room Service Please…I loved everything about this book — the powerful premise, the compelling characters, the unexpected twist, and the gorgeous writing. You won't be able to put it down.”
- Christian Fernandez, The Book Commentary
-
"A coming of age story wonderfully spun through the eyes of a sixteen-year-old from a different era. With vivid characters and a rich storyline, Edith shows us that growing up and away from expectations is as complicated and confusing now as it was a hundred years ago. Room Service, Please, is an easy read that will have you wanting to know how it ends from the first page."
- Grace Derickson, San Francisco Book Review
In ROOM SERVICE PLEASE, Edie May, a budding dance protégé, has lost her virginity on the night of her sixteenth birthday, June 17, 1922, in New York City’s Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. Unprepared for this turn of events, Edie is nonetheless determined to confront the man who seduced her and demand he make things right. However, Edie has been mistaken for Agnes Ayres, the famous Hollywood motion picture actress.
As much as she tries to convince everyone that she is not the rising starlet, Edie is whisked into a role she is not prepared to play. Using her wits and ingenuity, Edie transforms herself from the daughter of a washerwoman living on the Lower East Side into a shining star of her own making, a true Modern, and one of the first flappers of her era.
Room Service Please is awarded first place in photography and second place in overall cover design by The Book Fest.
The Intrepid Meditator
In The Intrepid Meditator, poet and Reiki Master of Masters, Alicia Cahalane Lewis, shares her spiritual journey by unpacking what it means to live in balance. To Alicia, Earth is advanced energy and a matrix of potential. We can either choose to fight or cooperate with the planet’s polarity.
By incorporating her techniques for attaining harmony, Alicia offers experience, compassion, and heartfelt strategies to help readers find grace while navigating the deep highs and lows of grief and fear.
Hers is a balanced earth, but she fully recognize the frustration, disappointment, and longing we create. By acknowledging the difficulty of finding balance on the planet that continually shifts, Alicia takes her a message one step further by offering guided, annotated meditations to help advance greater self-awareness and Reiki inspired healing.
The Intrepid Meditator explores my Reiki inspired healing modality. My year of meditations is designed as a companion to this work.
Should you, or your meditation group, find yourself needing additional support getting started, or are seeking more individualized care, please reach out for details and how to schedule.
AN ARTS EDUCATION
Arrival Spring : The Show At Long Branch
The four works originally displayed at Arrival Spring : The Show At Long Branch include a prose poem, a story, an essay, and a collaborative poem.
“Language through sound is word. Language through brush is still. Language. Bold innovation. Bolder still, the innovator.”
Marrow Music
The Loon
by Nicholas Hranilovich et al.
“A bicameral re-sounding of twenty-nine short collections by thirty poets orbiting Colorado’s Front Range from 2015 to 2017.
Comprised of the eponymous, stitch bound cento by Nick Hranilovich (part one) and twenty-nine looseleaf broadsides (part two), Marrow Music invokes The Lune’s original sense of “poetry as correspondence” in order to celebrate what David Mutschlecner refers to as ‘sublime community.’ “
If There Are Parallel Dimensions Let This One Be A Reminder
Poets’ Cooperative
This online chapbook is a collection of 19 prose poems that build sequentially so that the multiple pieces essentially become one. Framed to appear divided, as we seem to like to think we are, the poems come together to remind us we’re one.
Alicia Cahalane Lewis is a poet who sees to the vibrational spirit of things.
- The Poets’ Cooperative -
Nebulous Beginnings and Strings
Tattered Pages No. 1
Cover Art: And the Gods Made Love, oil on canvas, 2012 by Winslow McCagg.
A Coffee Table Book Collaboration
Oil Paintings by Winslow McCagg
Words by Alicia Cahalane Lewis
Although their work is not necessarily a planned collaboration, the spontaneity of Winslow’s art renders the poetry complete. The space a poem holds on the page in alignment with the art renders the form in a dialogue with the energies of the Universe. One can not be just anything, because everything is in relation to something, and in this way language becomes another layer of paint for the canvas.
“Alicia Cahalane Lewis is an accomplished poet who sees to the vibrational spirit of things. Winslow himself remarked that his paintings and her poetry are conversations. They are about the ultimate predicament: mankind and this planet, the only rock we will ever know, or live on in any vibrant way.”
- Winchester Book Gallery -
nebulous beginnings and strings is an artist’s lament. It is the song, long ago sung, of an artist’s relationship to earth. Asking us to grieve for a planet that recoils in today’s knowledge, the poetry and paintings return us to our place on an earth teaming with potential, direction, and compositional construction. The earth is stardust. And the burden of her grief is the weight of thousands of years of neglect.
How do we create and envision a new earth? How do we return to her nebulous beginning?
The Fish Turned The Waters Over
The Lune
The Lune's third quarterly issue features three short collections of new, expansive lyric poetry: Laura Chalar's Our Lady of Obligations, Ginger Teppner's I Should Have Been Linen, and Alicia Cahalane Lewis's The Fish Turned the Waters Over so the Birds Would Have a Sky. Ranging in style from metrical stanzas to American haiku to prose fragments (whose original bodies exist sonically online), each collection deftly recasts the passing colloquial gesture—a memory, a sensation, a reflex, a guess—as a living piece of narrative moment. As a triune entity, Summer 2017 is persevering and patient, unafraid of distance, enlivened by spontaneity, and full of assurance.
Whereas the cumulative details of experience might lay prostrate in certain patterns—loss unto grief, belief unto doubt—Chalar, Teppner, and Lewis show us how to turn the mind over (like soil) and let light shine through shards of language.
- The Lune -
The Fish Turned the Waters Over so the Birds Would Have a Sky is a collection of 32 poems, presented digitally as text and audio with the link below. Lines from each poem come together as a poetic mother to the work as a whole. Please follow the link embedded in each line to listen to each complete poem as you explore the entire compilation.
