JULIET by Anne Fortier
Hands up anyone who doesn’t know the story of Romeo and Juliet. No-one? Thought not. Chances are you cut your literary teeth on it, and it probably holds some special associations for you. That’s why it’s such a good subject for a modern/historical parallel romance story with sinister overtones.
July 29, 2011
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Judi Clark · 
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Tags: Fairy Tales, love, Middle Ages, Quest, Shakespeare, Time Period Fiction · Posted in: Contemporary, Debut Novel, Facing History, italy, Reading Guide
THE GIRL WITH THE GLASS FEET by Ali Shaw
In the snow-encrusted archipelago of St. Hauda’s Land, moth-winged bulls and a creature that can turn things white with her gaze share an island with more human lives: people who lose love as quickly as they gain it and who must struggle with the baggage of the past.
November 1, 2010
· Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: Fairy Tales, Loss, Real Event Fiction, Small Town · Posted in: 2010 Favorites, Allegory/Fable, Contemporary, Debut Novel, Speculative (Beyond Reality), United Kingdom
THE WOMAN WITH THE BOUQUET by Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt
In this title short story, “The Woman with the Bouquet,” Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt blends his trademark elements of fairy tale romance, pathos, and fatedness. It radiates mystery and romanticism but also a ghostly bit of menace, and it cuts to a marrow of sorrow. It appeals to our curiosity about the “obsessing” people in this world who will not be moved from their own missions, and simultaneously it reminds us that time spent waiting for something is time not spent doing something else more “constructive.” Loyalty and love would seem to be the motivators of the woman, but perhaps she just is retiring from the world by standing there every day?
September 25, 2010
· Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: Europa Editions, Fairy Tales, Schmitt · Posted in: France, Short Stories, Translated
THE MOST BEAUTIFUL BOOK IN THE WORLD by Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt
TTHE MOST BEAUTIFUL BOOK IN THE WORLD is a collection of eight modern fairy tales. In each of the novellas, a sense of the fantastic intertwines with the mundane, sometimes enchantingly, sometimes crudely but still beguilingly.
The title story, for instance, transports the reader into the midst of a women’s gulag during Soviet rule where the inmates suspiciously eye the newcomer, Olga. She might, after all, be an informer. But the talk of the day is about her hair which is either “horrible” or “magnificent” depending upon the prisoner opining.
November 2, 2009
· Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: Europa Editions, Fairy Tales, Schmitt · Posted in: Allegory/Fable, France, Short Stories, Translated
