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 such as When Women Were Dragons (2022). 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.