Charles de Lint's Newford Wiki
Advertisement

Wendy St. James aka Wendy St. Clair — Character

This page is a stub. Please help expand the usefulness of the Charles de Lint's Newford Wiki by expanding it!

What[]

Poet, human

Books and Stories this Character Appears In[]

Description / Bio[]

Wendy St. James is a poet with a few publications and part of the Newford art scene. Works with Jilly at Kathryn's Cafe on Battersfield Road in Lower Crowsea.

About[]

She is close friends with Sophie, Izzy, Christy, Geordie and the rest. Wendy is best friends with Jilly Coppercorn—they consider each other soul sisters, and bear a resemblance to each other.

Personality and Character[]

Physical Decription[]

Wendy is described as waifish with a small frame and delicate features. Her thick curly hair is naturally a dark brown colour, but she often dyes it blonde.

Resides[]

Occuupation / Job[]

Kathryn's Cafe

Talent[]

Poetry

Other Details[]

  • Has a regular job writing copy and doing proofreading at In the City—weekly arts and entertainment newspaper.
  • Guardian of the Tree of Tales

History / Background[]

Connections (characters, places)[]

Name What Connection About
Jilly Coppercorn human artist best friend consider each other soul sisters; look alike
John Windle Conjure Man shows her the Tree of Tales dog: Ginger;
Tree of Tales Magic tree grew at Butler U new guardian cut down; John Windle inspires Wendy to plant new one, tell it stories. 
Kathryn's Cafe cafe works there employs a lot of artists; old-world charm
Butler University University Tree of Tales John Windle took Wendy there to see the Tree of Tales cut down; she saw a hollogram of a sapling growing as big; 
LaDonna DaCosta young woman friend told her she saw Bigfoot in the Tombs

Events in the Series (spoiler area)[]

"Conjure Man": Thanks to a chance meeting with John Windle, Wendy becomes the guardian of the Tree of Tales. She gathers stories from around town to share with the growing oak tree.

Wendy witnessed John Windle being pushed off his bike by bullies. She rushed to help him. He took her poetry journal out of her hands and begins critiquing it like a "renegade English professor." He smiles as he returns her work saying, "...that's the hope of our future. Then he takes her to Butler University where a 400 year old giant tree has been cut by the head librarian just because it blocked his view. He tells her it was the Tree of Tales. "She held all the stories the wind brought her...and with each tale she grew. Her death is a symbol that the world has no more time for stories."

As he's peddling away, she sees a hologram like image of a sapling growing into a full blown giant tree like the one cut down. when she touches it, it vanishes.

Wend confides in Jilly Coppercorn, who bevieves in the weird. After telling her the story, the go to Butler to look at the stump. There was a tiny wiser of tale emanating off of it. Jilly advises her to plant a sapling. "You’ve got to plant a new tree. It wasn’t just the conjure man choosing you—the tree chose you, too." They looked around and found a single acorn. Jilly encouraged her to plant the tree and feed it stories. And so she did. ~ "The Conjure Man" — Dreams Underfoot ~ Dreams Underfoot

Character Quotes[]

See Also[]

External Links[]

Advertisement