There and Back Again

by Ann Lawrence, Shirley Felts

A collection of seven stylish fairy-tales, each having an adventurous journey as its theme.

144 pages, Hardcover

Published December 19, 1985

About the author

Ann (Margaret) Lawrence was born in England in 1942. She wrote more than fifteen highly original fantasy novels and collections of stories for children, including The Hawk of May, which was highly commended for the Guardian Award.

Since her tragically early death in 1987 her work has continued to gain in reputation and has been published in the USA, Germany, Sweden and Japan.

Reviews

[Capn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Seven magical stories and seven magical journeys. We search for the Golden Apples which are guarded by fiery serpents. We enter the haunted castle, inhabited by giants and ogres. We are whisked to London by means of a magic coat. We meet the ghostly hare with three legs. We travel to find the most beautiful bride in all the world. We visit the King of France and have to get his crown and sceptre. We encounter the Green Man of Knowledge who lives east of the moon and west of the stars. And usually, but not always, we come back to where we started from.
Jacket illustration by Shirley Felts

THERE AND BACK AGAIN

The Golden Apples 1
Mossycoat 23
What's the Shivers 42
The Green Man of Knowledge 62
The Three-Legged Hare 89
Emilia 109
The Three Feathers 126

First things first - I'm not a fairy tale afficionado. I haven't read enough to make an intelligent commentary on any of these stories. To give you an idea of my naïveté on the subject, this is the first version of Mossycoat I have ever read (I thoroughly enjoyed this Cinderella-esque tale - all the characters were highly agreeable or detestably smarmy), and while I have heard of "The Goose Girl" and its retellings, I've never actually read one (I don't think there's one of those here, though there is an enchanted princess who turns into a swan each day).

But I am a fan of Ann Lawrence. I just recently finished Tom Ass; or, The Second Gift, which I loved. There's a story here, 'Emilia', which is like the female obverse of it (in a way), and includes yet another enchanted beast of burden. Apart from an affectionate collie dog, I don't think a single animal in this tale isn't actually an enchanted human in disguise. Though I may be forgetting something already.

Recurrent themes are lazy or dreamy male characters, being either punished or rewarded or both for their lack of conventionality or conformity (much like in Tom Ass; or, The Second Gift), females being much wiser and more capable than anyone at first would realise (or who are boastful and over-confident, in the case of 'Emilia'), and all of the older females are decidedly shrewd and knowing, if not magically gifted.

"What's the Shivers?" was an especially odd tale. I don't think I liked it well when I read it, but after coming to the end, it really stands out in my memory. So does "The Green Man of Knowledge", which I was at first very disappointed with (because I don't think it belongs on my The Green Man Listopia list... I don't know who that guy is, but he's just not the Cerunnos/oak-leaf tree dude I expected. He is powerful, though, but scary and evil and more akin to the Devil, I think...? Please someone else read this and explain him to me!). ;)

"The Golden Apples" is about a King with three sons, and so is "The Three Feathers", only:

There was once a king who had three sons. (This was another king and three quite different sons.)

I think it's more a function of 1. My sleep-deprived, aging brain and chaotic home life messing with my recall, and 2. Reading short story fairy tales one after another in close succession, more than any fault of Lawrences' that these all begin to blend together for me. I've never been a fan of short stories for that reason, but I enjoyed this. And I would have loved it if I had read it as a teenager!

The prince charmings are charming (virtuous and honourable, but not too virtuous to be repressed and dull and hard to imagine as any fun at all), the females are great and full of personality and depth, and there's a theme of independent females (such as in Tom Ass; or, The Second Gift) really chafing under the social confines of their medieval-esque worlds (possessing sufficient or exceptional business acumen; actively dodging arranged marriages, or not wishing to be married at all, etc.).

Almost a five for me (perhaps it ought to be). Let's call it 4.5 and round up, as I'm the first reviewer. :) I'm happy giving this a high rating with the idea that it will encourage someone else to track down a copy and read it - I think they'll enjoy it. At least, this fairy tale n00b assumes so. :)