7 Dark Tales

Description

This collection of 7 dark tales, is a startling and imaginative take on the the fairytale form. Inspired by the Brothers Grimm, each narrative gently unfolds, reminiscent of ancient, oral story-telling. It is exquisitely illustrated with 7 colour plates and 14 black-and-white 'woodcut'-style illustrations. The book is beautifully produced, featuring colour plates, tipped-in glassine sheets, and gold motifs on the inside pages, while the full colour case has a matt finish combined with spot gloss varnish and a gold foil stamp. The book also includes head-and-tail bands and a ribbon marker.

Wendy Straw is an acclaimed illustrator whose work has been published in several countries and languages around the world. She is renowned for her gentle but vibrant pastel work. Christine Grace is an award-winning screen-writer and playwright. This is her first published collection of short stories.

Seven traditional fairy tales are reconfigured to present new surfaces. What I liked about this collection is that the intensity and wonder of the old tales are well preserved. So many people have piggybacked off fairy tales: nineteenth century moralisers, Disney, etc., all telling children and women how to behave. More recently people have tried subvert the old tales and/or instill them with pop psychology or modern values; Cinderella's ugly sisters turn cool and kick-ass. The ever-fresh beauty of the originals slips away. Christine Grace doesn't make this mistake, though she clearly has modern, sophisticated ideas of how our hearts and minds work. We do come across modern themes like coming-of-age, the body hatred learned by teen girls, and the destructive mind games imposed on young children; the many-sided complexities of parent-child relationships are seldom far away. But these themes always emerge authentically from the original material, rather than imposed from without. These 'dark' tales are sometimes sinister, more often simply mysterious. There is tenderness, and touches of humour. And there is respect for the protagonists (and for some of the secondary characters - a distinctly modern touch). The last three tales were for me the most subtle. My favourite was 'The Man in the Dress' where I felt I was taken closest to Faery. The illustrations by Wendy Straw are beautiful and, like the layout, well matched to the text. (Tony Sullivan, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41966999-7-dark-tales#other_reviews