Six writers - Margo Lanagan, Rosie Borella, Isobelle Carmody, Richard Harland, Margaret Mahy and Martine Murray - have taken inspiration from stories that have shaped us all, tales like 'Beauty and the Beast,' 'The Steadfast Tin Soldier' and 'The Snow Queen'. This collection carries universal themes of envy and desire, deception and abandonment, courage and sacrifice.Characters are enchanted, they transgress, they yearn, they hunger, they hate and, sometimes, they kill.Some of the stories inhabit a traditional fairytale world, while others are set in the distant future. Some are set in the present and some in an alternative present. The stories offer no prescription for living or moral advice and none belong in a nursery.Open the covers and submit to their enchantment.
I love Isobelle Carmody and I adore fairytales - so I really couldn't even imagine turning this book down. But wow. I enjoyed all of the tales but my favourite hands down Eternity by Rosie Borella. It blew me away. The premise was so utterly riveting and it was so well written and it had me glued to the page the entire time - I was devastated at the end. The rest of the tales were fantastic and definitely worth reading if you enjoy fairytales.
