The town of Wall is a night's drive from London. It takes its name from a gray rock wall on its eastern side. There is only one opening in the wall. On the other side are a meadow, a stream, and a forest. Two townsmen always stand guard to prevent entry to the meadow, except for a few days every nine years. That is when there is a fair in the meadow, put on by people who aren't strictly human. At the fair one year, Dunstan Thorn is seduced by one of them. Nine months later, a baby is left on his doorstep with the name Tristran Thorn pinned to its blanket.
When Tristran is 17, he falls in love with the prettiest girl in town and asks her to marry him. She says she will if he brings her the falling star they see streaking through the sky. So Tristran sneaks past the guards, through the opening in the wall, and sets off through Faerie to find the falling star.
The star has fallen in Faerie, and though Tristran soon finds her (for in Faerie a star is not a ball of flaming gas, but a living, breathing woman), he has a hard time holding on to her. The sons of the Lord of Stormhold also seek the star, for it is said that he who finds her can take his father's throne. In addition, the oldest of three evil witches seeks the star, for her heart can grant youth and beauty. They flee from the evil witches, deadly clutching trees, goblin press-gangs, and the scheming sons of the dead Lord of Stormhold, surviving outrageous tests and mishaps, including passage on a “sky-ship'' and Tristrans transformation into a dormouse. Safely returned to Wall, he acquires through a gracious act of renunciation his (long promised) “heart's desire.''
368 pages
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