The Ogress and the Orphans

The Ogress and the Orphans by Kelly Barnhill (Algonquin Books, 2022) is a children's fantasy story of a town’s journey to discover what truly makes something lovely. The book was a Finalist for the National Book Awards for Young People's Literature (2022) and received starred reviews from Kirkus and Publishers Weekly. Kelly Barnhill is the New York Times bestselling author of the Newbery Medal winner The Girl Who Drank the Moon (2016), among other works of science fiction and fantasy for children and adults. She studied creative writing in college and went on to win the World Fantasy Award and receive a fellowship from the Jerome Foundation, among other honors. She is also a teaching artist with COMPAS, a community arts program in Minnesota, where she lives with her family. This guide follows the 2022 Algonquin Books edition of The Ogress and the Orphans.

Plot Summary

The Ogress and the Orphans, set in the fictional town of Stone-in-the-Glen, is told from the perspective of the all-knowing stone at the center of the town, which is not revealed until the book’s final chapter. The story is set over a few years, and the timeline jumps back and forth to tell the histories of various characters and the town. Most of the story takes place a few years after Stone-in-the-Glen’s Library burned and the Ogress moved to the town.

The people of Stone-in-the-Glen once spent their days working and meeting with their neighbors to discuss ideas and keep the town lovely. Everything changed the night the Library burned down, which occurred shortly after a newcomer came to the town and dragons started being seen in the nearby woods. In truth, the newcomer is a dragon—disguised in a human skin—responsible for the Library's demise. The disguised dragon convinces the people he is the only one who can restore Stone-in-the-Glen after the devastation. Wanting something to believe in, the people elect him mayor, which allows him to cheat them out of their money while doing nothing to help Stone-in-the-Glen.

Whenever the people become discontent with the Mayor, he makes a speech about how wonderful he is and wins them over again. The Mayor also encourages the residents to blame the Ogress for Stone-in-the-Glen’s misfortune, which most people start to do. The exception is the 15 orphans at the Orphan House. They don’t understand how people could blame the Ogress when she didn’t live nearby when the Library burned, but no matter how they try to reason, the townspeople are not interested in the truth, preferring to blame the Ogress because it’s easy. While the people hate the Ogress, she sees their sorrow and tries to help by making treats and leaving them on the townspeople’s doorsteps in the middle of the night.

There is a rule that orphans must leave the Orphan House when they turn 14, which is only a few weeks away for the eldest orphan, Anthea. While she frets about what she’ll do when her birthday comes, Cass, another orphan, decides to leave so Anthea won’t have to. The Matron of the Orphan House believes Cass was kidnapped and begs the townspeople for help. The Mayor convinces the townspeople the Ogress kidnapped Cass, which riles the residents. Meanwhile, the Ogress finds Cass sick and lost in the woods. The Ogress returns Cass safely to the Orphan House, but the townspeople refuse to believe she helped.

One night, a group of townspeople attack the Ogress’s home, breaking windows and nearly killing her flock of sheep by setting fire to the barn. Following the attack, the Ogress stops bringing treats to the town, and the people feel the loss of the treats. Realizing there have been no treats since the attack, the orphans visit the Ogress and restore her spirits. The Ogress and orphans create books with stories about the town to leave on doorsteps, and little by little, the people realize how terrible they’ve been. It’s revealed that the Ogress left the treats, and when she comes to town, the people accept her, apologizing for their actions.

As the people become aware of how good the Ogress is, they lose interest in the Mayor. Desperate to win their attention, the Mayor gives a speech but is interrupted by the Ogress’s crow friends arriving with all the coins the Mayor swindled from the people and kept hoarded in his home. The Mayor’s true dragon form is revealed, but the dragon is weak from spending so long as the human Mayor. The town cats chase the dragon away, and the people, with the Ogress’s help, set to work rebuilding Stone-in-the-Glen.