Today I bought the latest issue of Faerie Magazine and saw the following lovely review of Godmother:
On its surface, Godmother is a smart, entertaining, and lovable new novel that tales a look at the Cinderella tale and then shakes it up like a snow-globe. But lurking just below that surface is a deep, dark fable, and by the time the book ends one might wonder where the light and dark met, so deft was the transition.
Meet Lil, an elderly New Yorker who works at a bookstore in the West Village. The sole employee of the handsome, wealthy, and endearingly self-deprecating owner, Lil spends her mornings walking the thirty-or-so blocks from her home to the store, sweeping, organizing books, and lovingly preparing the shop for opening. Each morning she dusts and fusses over the many rare and first edition titles, but none more so than a thick book of fairy tales. It soon comes to light by the progression of Lil's days that she is none other than the fairy godmother from the Cinderella tale, fallen from fairy grace and forced to live among the mortals. The explanation for that fall spans the length of the book, and the foreshadowing and slowly unraveling mystery are expertly done. It is a chance encounter in a diner with a man who might be from her past that forces Lil to remember the events leading up to her banishment. Told almost half in flashbacks, Godmother goes back and forth between the behind the scenes of Cinderella and the story of Lil, which takes place in modern New York and is every bit as interesting and mysterious. As the two threads intertwine and increase their momentum, it is hard not to notice that something is amiss in Lil's world. Is it simply the plight of the earth-bound fairy? Or does Lil have another secret? Carolyn Turgeon has crafted a lovely and moody piece, full of sounds and smells, rife with descriptive language, and teeming with atmosphere. -- Hattie Unglesbee
I also love this recent review from another very gorgeous fairy tale publication.
In other news, tonight my friend Barb is coming over to watch Forbidden Planet with me, but roodly suggested that she would NOT be into watching MISS AMERICA pageant.
These uppity people and their standards!
On its surface, Godmother is a smart, entertaining, and lovable new novel that tales a look at the Cinderella tale and then shakes it up like a snow-globe. But lurking just below that surface is a deep, dark fable, and by the time the book ends one might wonder where the light and dark met, so deft was the transition.
Meet Lil, an elderly New Yorker who works at a bookstore in the West Village. The sole employee of the handsome, wealthy, and endearingly self-deprecating owner, Lil spends her mornings walking the thirty-or-so blocks from her home to the store, sweeping, organizing books, and lovingly preparing the shop for opening. Each morning she dusts and fusses over the many rare and first edition titles, but none more so than a thick book of fairy tales. It soon comes to light by the progression of Lil's days that she is none other than the fairy godmother from the Cinderella tale, fallen from fairy grace and forced to live among the mortals. The explanation for that fall spans the length of the book, and the foreshadowing and slowly unraveling mystery are expertly done. It is a chance encounter in a diner with a man who might be from her past that forces Lil to remember the events leading up to her banishment. Told almost half in flashbacks, Godmother goes back and forth between the behind the scenes of Cinderella and the story of Lil, which takes place in modern New York and is every bit as interesting and mysterious. As the two threads intertwine and increase their momentum, it is hard not to notice that something is amiss in Lil's world. Is it simply the plight of the earth-bound fairy? Or does Lil have another secret? Carolyn Turgeon has crafted a lovely and moody piece, full of sounds and smells, rife with descriptive language, and teeming with atmosphere. -- Hattie Unglesbee
I also love this recent review from another very gorgeous fairy tale publication.
In other news, tonight my friend Barb is coming over to watch Forbidden Planet with me, but roodly suggested that she would NOT be into watching MISS AMERICA pageant.
These uppity people and their standards!
posted by Carolyn Turgeon at
4:06 PM
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