The Girl with Glass Feet

Synopsis: A mysterious metamorphosis has taken hold of Ida MacLaird - she is slowly turning into glass. Fragile and determined to find a cure, she returns to the strange, enchanted island where she believes the transformation began, in search of reclusive Henry Fuwa, the one man who might just be able to help...Instead she meets Midas Crook, and another transformation begins: as Midas helps Ida come to terms with her condition, they fall in love. What they need most is time - and time is slipping away fast.

Review: I did really like this adult fairytale although I thought it was a bit of a shame that the occasional swear word and slight graphic content made it unsuitable for children/YA because in every other way it would be perfect.

I loved Ida, she's a lovely mix of feisty and vulnerable. She's someone who would normally be quite outgoing and adventurous but Ida has a problem, her feet have turned into glass and it's gradually seeping it's way into the rest of her body. Ida doesn't know why this is happening, she has only one clue and that's the words spoken to her by reclusive Henry Fuwa after she had come to his aid one day. This happened when she was visiting the remote and icy St Hauda's land, and so she returns there to look for him and see if he can help before it's too late. Whilst searching for him she comes across Midas Crook, who's something of a loner and a keen photographer. He's immediately struck by her appearance, she has the cool, monochromatic look of a fifties movie star all except for the enormous boots that she has on.

Ida soon enlists Midas's help in trying to find Henry Fuwa but unknown to her Midas has his own problems and Henry Fuwa is a part of them too. A friendship grows between the two, a friendship which slowly begins to turn into something more, but time is not on their side. Beautifully dreamy and descriptive, the book's not overloaded with magical creatures but they weave in and out and the mystical sits quite happily alongside the ordinary.

There were occasions when I thought the book lost it's way a bit, and I couldn't really see the point of the moth winged bulls, but the true measure of any story is how much you care about the characters and as this book reaches it's climax I found myself becoming increasingly anxious about Ida. This is Ali's first novel and I'm definitely interested to see what he comes up with next.

Angela Carter's Book of Fairy Tales

Synopsis: Once upon a time fairy tales weren't meant just for children, and neither is Angela Carter's Book of Fairy Tales. This stunning collection contains lyrical tales, bloody tales and hilariously funny and ripely bawdy stories from countries all around the world- from the Arctic to Asia - and no dippy princesses or soppy fairies. Instead, we have pretty maids and old crones; crafty women and bad girls; enchantresses and midwives; rascal aunts and odd sisters. This fabulous celebration of strong minds, low cunning, black arts and dirty tricks could only have been collected by the unique and much- missed Angela Carter.

Review: An exquisite collection of fairy tales for adults. This book brings together two collections of fairy tales that were edited by Angela, 'The Virago Book of Fairy Tales' and 'The Second Virago Book of Fairy Tales'. Sadly Angela died just before the second collection was ready though she worked on it right up to the end, collecting the stories and grouping them under her chosen headings. She wasn't able to write the new introduction though or finish the notes.

Her chosen headings are ..
1. Brave, Bold and Wilful
2. Clever Women, Resourceful Girls and Desperate Stratagems
3. Sillies
4. Good Girls and Where it Gets Them
5. Witches
6. Unhappy Families
7. Moral Tales
8. Strong Minds and Low Cunning
9. Up to Something - Black Arts and Dirty Tricks
10. Beautiful People
11. Mothers and Daughters
12. Married Women
13. Useful Stories
... and there is a collection of stories under each heading totalling 103 in all.

There are a lot of tales which are familiar although with slightly different characters, origins and outcomes. Different takes on the stories of 'Cinderella', 'Snow White/Rose Red', 'Red Riding Hood' etc (though 'Red Riding Hood' is one of the few stories printed here that is recognisable as the version we know), stories that have seeded themselves all around the world. They come from Europe, Scandinavia, the Carribean, USA, the Arctic, Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Make no mistake these are not tales to be told to children, these are grimmer than grimm, and also fairly graphic and crude. Angela says in her introduction (from the first original Virago fairy tales book) that the removal of coarse expressions was a common nineteenth century pastime, and she believes this denaturised the tales.

The tales, almost without exception, feature women as the main protagonists.

'The stories in this book, with scarcely an exception, have their roots in the pre-industrialised past, and unreconstructed theories of human nature. In this world, milk comes from the cow, water from the well, and only the intervention of the supernatural can change the relations of women to men and, above all, of women to their own fertility. I don't offer these stories in a spirit of nostalgia; that past was hard, cruel and especially inimical to women, whatever desperate stratagems we employed to get a little bit of our own way. But I do offer them in a valedictory spirit, as a reminder of how wise, clever, perceptive, occasionally lyrical, eccentric, sometimes downright crazy our great grandmothers were, and their great grandmothers; and of the contributions to literature of Mother Goose and her goslings.'

Some of my favourites were 'Kate Crackernuts', a Scottish tale about a King and his two daughters, Kate and Anne. Kate was the Queen's daughter, she was less beautiful than Anne (the Queen's step-daughter) and the Queen, being rather jealous and resentful (aren't they always), tried her best to destroy this beauty. Kate on the other hand loved her sister, and did everything she could to thwart her mothers plans, rather successfully as it turned out. 'The Three Sillies' is a tale about a farmer, his wife, his daughter and a travelling gentleman who is courting the daughter. The gentleman (and they give him good cause) has reason to believe that these are the silliest three people he has ever met. He want's to continue on his journey but makes them a promise that if he can find three sillier people than them on his travels, he'll come back and marry the daughter. Luckily for the girl, the gentlemen soon stumbles across a whole raft of people that would make Mr Bean look sensible and he soon returns to ask for her hand. And despite it being the most bizarre thing I've ever read, I couldn't help smiling at 'Blubber Boy' an Inuit tale about a girl whose boyfriend had drowned in the sea. She was inconsolable but then carved his likeness out of blubber and rubbed it on her genitals whereby it came to life (don't try this at home!). Unfortunately a side effect of being made out of blubber is that, on very sunny days, you have a tendency to melt. Blubber boy does this and the girl is upset again but luckily blubber is plentiful where she comes from.

The stories are illustrated beautifully in black and white lino cut style by Angela's friend, illustrator, Corinna Sargood.