Duckling - by Sharma Shields (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

From the author of The Cassandra ("Quirky, funny, dark, " Margaret Atwood), a historical reimagining of Hans Christian Andersen's life and a love letter to storytelling as an act of survival

In the early nineteenth century, a boy named Hans--the son of an illiterate washerwoman and a penniless cobbler--navigates an impoverished life in Odense, Denmark. Hans and his father escape to a world of their own making through the magic of storytelling, reading stories and plays aloud in their small home. But when Hans finds himself orphaned, he flees to Copenhagen, where he can finally pursue his dream of being a performer and a writer. His first taste of success, though, is bittersweet; heartbreak inspires him to write a forlorn fairytale called 'The Little Mermaid, ' a story of unrequited love that changes the course of his life.

By 1856, Hans is an internationally renowned storyteller whose many fans include Charles Dickens, who offhandedly invites Hans to visit him and his wife, Catherine, in England. Catherine, an aggrieved mother of ten children, is navigating a humiliating betrayal by her husband when she forms an unlikely friendship with her unruly houseguest, a fellow outsider in Victorian society whose desire for unconditional love appears just out of reach.

A rich retelling of Hans Christian Andersen's life and literary lineage, Duckling is a testament to how imagination lives on even after the story has ended.

Review Quotes

Praise for The Cassandra
"Quirky, funny, dark. Not like anything else."
--Margaret Atwood

"It's difficult to imagine a myth riper for harvest than that of Cassandra, the tragic Greek figure who uttered prophecies no one believed. She was, to begin with, a woman, and that is what Sharma Shields, in her biting second novel, sinks her sharp teeth into the deepest."
--The New York Times Book Review

"Provocative, beautifully rendered . . . A clever, fierce parable."
--Nylon

"This novel is full of magic and hope, even while it brings to light some of our darkest past."
―Ramona Ausubel, author of The Last Animal

Praise for The Sasquatch Hunter's Almanac
"A story that easily qualifies as one of the most wonderfully weird debuts of the new year."
--Entertainment Weekly

"Shields's engaging, surreal tale is equal parts David Lynch and Harry and the Hendersons."
--Marie Claire

"Bizarre, quirky, wonderful."
--San Francisco Chronicle

About the Author

Sharma Shields is the author of the novels The Cassandra (winner of the Pacific Northwest Book Award) and The Sasquatch Hunter's Almanac (winner of the Washington State Book Award), as well as the short story collection Favorite Monster (winner of the 2011 Autumn House Fiction Prize). Her work has appeared in The Kenyon Review, The Iowa Review, Electric Literature, and more. Shields has worked in independent bookstores and public libraries throughout Washington state and is the writing education specialist for Spokane Public Library. In autumn of 2025, Sharma received a Humanities Washington Changemaker Award for her library service and contributions to the Inland Northwest literary community.