The Fairest of Them All

May 27, 2013
In Turgeon’s mash-up of “Rapunzel” and “Snow White,” the longhaired maiden isn’t quite so fair and innocent as in the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm. After a few hours of passion with the prince from the nearby kingdom in her bedroom tower, Rapunzel finds that she’s pregnant with his child. The only problem? The prince is engaged to another. The witch Mathena, determined to prevent her adopted daughter from becoming a mistress to the most powerful man in the land, casts a spell to keep the prince from finding Rapunzel again. Seven years later, when his wife dies under questionable circumstances, the prince, now king, finds Rapunzel and makes her his new queen. But his legitimate daughter, the beautiful Snow White—along with the rest of the kingdom—is weary of a witch’s daughter assuming the throne. And not without good reason. For, when Rapunzel learns from her magic mirror that she’s no longer the fairest of them all—that, in fact, Snow White is “a thousand times more fair”—she turns downright ugly. Turgeon (The Next Full Moon) imaginatively combines murder, revenge, sex, magic, and other genre tropes into a dark and twisted fairy tale. Agent: Elaine Markson, Markson Thoma.

July 1, 2013

Turgeon (Godmother; Mermaid) is known for putting her own spin on traditional fairy tales and here posits the question: What if Rapunzel was Snow White's wicked stepmother? Most of the elements of both stories remain intact, but certain details are twisted just so, creating this entirely new take on the oft-told tales. Rapunzel's hair is her magic, allowing her to feel the emotions of anyone it touches, and her first-person point of view allows readers to experience all the love and longing she holds for Josef, the prince. Her desperation to be with him at any cost sets off a chain of events that will seem, to the enlightened, orchestrated. Her early acceptance and love for Josef's daughter, Snow White, goes through a slow, unfolding erosion. The refrain to Rapunzel's magic mirror--"Who's the fairest?"--along with her suspicion of her adopted mother, Mathena, adds to the creeping horror that permeates the story from the beginning. VERDICT As in Godmother, Turgeon incorporates a sense of melancholy that adds an enormous amount of depth and sympathy for what would otherwise be unsympathetic characters. Rapunzel's growing affection for Gilles (here the king's falconer, taking the traditional role of huntsman) and her absolute devastation at a shocking discovery both ring true, adding a layer of realism to the magic-sparked tale. Lovers of fairy tales will enjoy Turgeon's fresh take on classic stories.--Charli Osborne, Oxford P.L., MI

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