Lavender and Hemlock by Lili Wilkinson

Title: Lavender and Hemlock

Author: Lili Wilkinson

Genre: Fantasy

Publisher: Allen and Unwin

Published: 3rd November 2026

Format: Paperback

Pages: 384

Price: $24.99

Synopsis: A housemaid’s quiet life is disrupted when the arrival of a mysterious stranger makes her question everything about her peaceful existence and her charming seaside home in this enticing fantasy YA novel from the award-winning author of A Hunger of Thorns and Unhallowed Halls.

A COSY SAPPHIC ROMANTASY WITH A DARK HEART.

Once upon a time, there were three: a maid, a knight and a monster. But which was which?

Housemaid Tansy’s only duties are to tend to old Lady Aster and care for their quaint, peaceful, isolated seaside cottage – the Oubliette. Tansy can’t remember the last time she left…or when she arrived.

Merit is a Carrion Knight. A servant of the dark entity the Unmaker, she has been raised to be a monster. But when she’s wounded during a routine raid, she stumbles through a mysterious door… and finds herself tumbling into the Oubliette.

When the two meet, an instant connection forms, and a crack appears in the Oubliette’s perfect facade. As the bond between Merit and Tansy grows and powerful feelings rise to the surface, Tansy must question not only what she wants, but who she is. Because the origins of this charming world are darker than she could imagine – and the key to uncovering them might lie with Tansy herself.

Tropes include:

– Mysterious stranger

– Overcoming amnesia

– Raised a monster

– Queer romance

– Wounded Knight

– Cosy with a dark heart

~*~

For Tansy, her whole life has been the Oubliette. She’s lived there for as long as she can remember, serving Lady Aster. It’s quaint, peaceful and isolated by the sea, and Tansy feels safe. Every day is the same routine, the same things, and filled with Lady Aster’s desire to keep her safe. After all, Tansy has been told it isn’t safe for her to leave the Oubliette. She has never been told why, and she seems to be able to think of things and they appear. But Tansy can’t remember arriving or leaving.

This peace is shattered when Merit, a Carrion Knight appears. She’s a servant of the Unmaker, and has been raised to be a monster. The why isn’t really important, and she’s determined to follow orders. But an injury sees her fall through a mysterious door that leads to the Oubliette. And Tansy. They meet and connect, an instant friendship, or whatever it could be, and this is where the cracks start to show. The perfection Tansy once knew is being shattered and she is starting to feel things she’s never felt before, that she can’t name. Being with Merit excites her, she’s never seen another person before so at first it feels like a novelty to Tansy. And as a reader, we get to experience her innocence of getting to know someone else and wanting more whilst being tied to the Oubliette and caught in a loop of loyalty to Lady Aster.

So what’s going on, and what are the strange numbered glass domes in the room that Tansy has never been allowed in before? How did Merit find the door she came through that is not in the cottage? Everything is definitely not as it seems, especially as Lady Aster loosens her grip on Tansy and allows her to explore the worlds. Especially as Tansy and Merit’s connection grows.

But it’s not all roses and picnics, raspberries and puppies, blueberries and sun. There is something more sinister going on, something that will take all of their strength and courage to solve. As Tansy and Merit explore worlds looking for answers, things get dark and complex, much like Lili Wilkinson’s other dark fantasy novels. The sinister undertones are there from the beginning, yet I felt like the reader will be unpacking these as they read. Clues appear here and there some things feel unsettling, and the perfection we meet at the start is a facade, intended to lull people into feeling like things are going to be gentle and fun.

Not so! Things build slowly, and as things get darker, the reader is drawn into a story that could be different to what they expected. If you go into this expecting a rollicking sapphic romance, think again. Yes, the romance is there, but the darker aspects of the quest are what I felt truly made this book. They gave it a gravitas that made the impending relationship more meaningful to me, as it gave the characters something to fight for, to work towards. At the same time, I felt like it toyed with ideas of what love and loyalty mean in different ways as well. It asked why are people loyal to certain people, what drives our feelings and how do humans navigate these complicated feelings that can change and emerge at any time in our lives.

I felt that all these elements worked well together, toying with the characters and the readers, and shaping what kind of story this was. It really showed that there are so many ways to tell a compelling story, to get that balance of all the elements right so that nothing is overdone. And the dark side is something that Lili Wilkinson’s young adult books often have in them, because humanity has darkness, a dark side and a light side, and a spectrum of everything in between. I loved that she allows her characters to be flawed, to not really know what they want or how to express it at times. She also does twists and turns very well, ensuring that the story moves along well to its delightful conclusion.

A wonderful book filled with layers that fans of dark fantasy will enjoy.