Today’s woman in speculative fiction is Australian writer Kate Forsyth. Kate writes historical fiction, set in various eras, from the Renaissance to World War II, but her novels tend to be based on fairy tales, so I will count them. Besides, ALL her children’s books are fantasy. And she has received an award from the Australian Fairytale Society for her contribution to Australian fairytale culture. Also her novels are all about women.
I started with reading her children’s books, the series called “The Witches of Eileanan”, but then discovered her adult books which are fairy tale themed.
She also wrote a non fiction book about Rapunzel, The Rebirth Of Rapunzel: A Mythic Biography Of The Maiden In The Tower.
Speaking of Rapunzel, she has written a novel called Bitter Greens, which has two stories in it. One is the story of Charlotte-Rose De La Force, the woman who created the Rapunzel fairy tale, the other is the story of Rapunzel. That one is set in the Renaissance and the witch is a former model of the artist Titian, so no, not a hag.
The Beast’s Garden is set in Nazi Germany. The heroine, Ava, is a singer. She has Jewish friends and on Kristallnacht saves the family by yelling at an SS officer, Leo. She doesn’t know it yet, but he is involved in a plot against Hitler, so he is fine with it, and sends away his men. They eventually marry. She has to save him from a concentration camp. The story is based on fairy tale “The Singing, Springing Lark”, a version of “Beauty And The Beast”, which has a lion instead of a Beast(hence the name Leo) and which has the heroine rescue him from a nasty woman who wants him. This is one of my favourites of her books.
The Blue Rose is set in the time of Louis XVI, the heroine being an aristocrat who falls in love with a gardener who is fascinated by a Chinese tale about a very special rose. I believe he is based on a real person. There are hints of the Arthurian legend and the heroine is even called Viviane.
The Wild Girl is about Dortchen Wild, the girl who lived next door to the Grimm Brothers, who told them some of the stories they used in their fairy tale anthologies and married Wilhelm Grimm. The author lets it be known that the Grimms did not get their stories from old women in the countryside, as is usually assumed, but from middle class girls. Mind you, I think those girls probably got the stories from their nurses! It was a great novel, and, of course, set just after the time when Napoleon made his brother Jerome king of what he called Westphalia. It feels strange to read this and think that in England Jane Austen’s heroines were drinking tea. It’s straight historical fiction, but it’s got fairy tales in it, so I’m counting it.
Beauty In Thorns is about the women in the lives of the pre-Raphaelites, with hints of “Sleeping Beauty”.
I have just bought Psykhe, which is based on “Eros and Psyche”. The only other novel on this theme I have read was by C.S. Lewis and seen from the viewpoint of one of Psyche’s sisters. I’ll be interested to compare.
There are others, which I haven’t read yet but would like to, such as Dancing On Knives, which, of course, refers to “The Little Mermaid.”
If you haven’t read any of Kate Forsyth’s work, I do highly recommend it.
If you have, what do you think?
All these books are easily available in ebook. I’d be surprised if you couldn’t get them in print.
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