January 24 - "Chivalry"

“Chivalry”
by Neil Gaiman
Smoke and Mirrors (1998)

* * * * (Great) Fantasy

Mrs. Whitaker, in her weekly visit to the secondhand shop near the post office where she collects her pension check, discovers the Holy Grail among the multitude of used objects. Taking it home, cleaning the age from the cup, she then places the Grail on her mantelpiece between a small china basset hound and a photo of her late husband. One day not long after she brings the Grail home, a mysterious visitor on a quest arrives at her front door.

Once again Gaiman does not disappoint. It doesn’t take much effort to imagine Mrs. Whitaker and her weekly routines. This allows the reader to feel an active part of the story as it unfolds. The fantastical elements of the tale aren’t heavy-handed – they seamlessly blend into the ordinary world, feeling only slightly off, slightly magical. Not a huge fan of fantasy fiction, I prefer when the rudiments of fantasy appear unobtrusively in the real world, such as they do here in this bittersweet story.