‘’Little lady, little lady’’, said the boys, ‘’little Alexandra,
listen to the watch, tick tick tick: mother in the room all
decked in gold.’’

When Life is anything but a fairytale, Folklore is there to help you escape. This outstanding collection created by the inimitable Angela Carter is THE volume to grace every reader's bookcase. A plethora of tales from every corner of our world centred around female protagonists that represent all the beautiful and evil aspects of the human soul. Brave women, resourceful girls, virtuous maidens, witches, troubled matriarchs, strong minds and cunning tricks, women delving into black arts, mothers, wives, daughters, morality tales and cautionary myths.

My absolute favourites in this be - all and end - all volume for every fairytale aficionado are:

The Search for Luck (Greek)
Mr Fox (English)
Kakuarshuk (Innuit)
The Promise (Burmese)
Blubber Boy (Innuit)
Vasilisa the Priest’s Daughter (Russian)
The Three Measures of Salt (Greek)
Now I Should Laugh, If IWere Not Dead (Icelandic)
The Old Woman Who Lived in a Vinegar Bottle (English)
Tom Tit Tot (English)
East O’The Sun and West O’The Moon (Norwegian)
The Armless Maiden (Russian)
The Girl Who Banoshed Seven Youths (Moroccan)
The Woman Who Married Her Son’s Wife (Innuit)
The Juniper Tree (German)
Nourie Hadig (Armenian)
Nature’s Ways (Armenian)
The Twelve Wild Ducks (Norwegian)
Vasilissa the Fair (Russian)
Diirawic and Her Incestuous Brother (Sudan: Dinka)

My reviews can also be found on https://theopinionatedreaderblog.wordpress.com/ ( )

This beautifully presented edition is a compendium of two earlier anthologies of folk stories, both collected by Angela Carter. They come from across the globe, with the unifying characteristic that all the stories feature women. The women aren't always favourably presented, and there's something unsettling in the fact that the "happy ending" often involves living happily ever after with a prince. Nonetheless, there's something strangely refreshing about the straightforward nature of these tales, and a fascination in their similarities and differences despite their widely varying origins. Ultimately though, I think the bit I enjoyed most was Marina Warner's afterword, a lyrical tribute to Carter and her outlook on the world. I'm not sure whether that makes this a recommendation or not.

A collection of folklore from around the world, tales of wise women, crafty witches and resourceful maidens… the feminist theme doesn’t intrude on the stories, just makes it a more cohesive collection than most fable anthologies. There’s an all-too-short yet interesting forward by Carter, and the woodcut illustrations are a lovely accompaniment.

Considering that I’ve been meaning to read something of the work of Angela Carter for a long time, I’m a bit nonplussed to find myself starting with a book she compiled and edited rather than wrote, but I’m not sorry I bought this volume, because it’s a marvellous anthology that brings a bit of girly sass to my otherwise male-dominated fable/folklore shelf. ( )