What do you think?
Rate this book
Snow White Learns Witchcraft: Stories and Poems
A young woman hunts for her wayward shadow at the school where she first learned magic—while another faces a test she never studied for as ice envelopes the world. The tasks assigned a bookish boy lead him to fateful encounters with lizards, owls, trolls and a feisty, sarcastic cat. A bear wedding is cause for celebration, the spinning wheel and the tower in the briar hedge get to tell their own stories, and a kitchenmaid finds out that a lost princess is more than she seems. The sea witch reveals what she hoped to gain when she took the mermaid’s voice. A wiser Snow White sets out to craft herself a new tale.
In these eight stories and twenty-three poems, World Fantasy Award winner Theodora Goss retells and recasts fairy tales by Charles Perrault, the Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen, and Oscar Wilde. Sometimes harrowing, sometimes hilarious, always lyrical, the works gathered in SNOW WHITE LEARNS WITCHCRAFT re-center and empower the women at the heart of these timeless narratives.
In these eight stories and twenty-three poems, World Fantasy Award winner Theodora Goss retells and recasts fairy tales by Charles Perrault, the Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen, and Oscar Wilde. Sometimes harrowing, sometimes hilarious, always lyrical, the works gathered in SNOW WHITE LEARNS WITCHCRAFT re-center and empower the women at the heart of these timeless narratives.
Audiobook
First published February 5, 2019
224 people are currently reading
3564 people want to read
About the author
Theodora Goss
131 books2,163 followersTheodora Goss was born in Hungary and spent her childhood in various European countries before her family moved to the United States, where she completed a PhD in English literature. She is the World Fantasy and Locus Award-winning author of the short story and poetry collections In the Forest of Forgetting (2006), Songs for Ophelia (2014), and Snow White Learns Witchcraft (2019), as well as novella The Thorn and the Blossom (2012), debut novel The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter (2017), and sequels European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman (2018) and The Sinister Mystery of the Mesmerizing Girl (2019). She has been a finalist for the Nebula, Crawford, Seiun, and Mythopoeic Awards, as well as on the Tiptree Award Honor List. Her work has been translated into thirteen languages. She teaches literature and writing at Boston University and in the Stonecoast MFA Program.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 186 reviews
February 16, 2021
This is an amazing vibrant valuable collection of real fairytales. When I was trying to think what to say about this book -- I was asked to blurb it -- I kept coming back to that word, real. There are a lot of fairytale retellings out there, and they're reinterpretations, reimaginings, putting in the lost point of view, and they can be good and interesting and I can like them, but they're always versions. Some of what's here are that kind of thing. But the best of these, wow, no, they're real, they have the genuine thrill of what fairytales are and are about. They're not versions, they're their own thing, alive, perilous and magical and vivid. There's nothing twee here, nothing childish, nothing prettified, nothing safe and wrapped in wool. What a voice Goss has, what wonderful work she is doing, how lucky we are to be able to read it!
I get sent books to blurb all the time, the vast majority of them I say no to unread because it's obvious I'm going to hate them, and of the ones I agree to look at I give up on a lot of them, and even of the ones I read all of I actually blurb fewer than half, because "this was a nice instance of what it is" isn't what you want on a book cover. Sometimes I want to review them because then I can look at what a book's doing right and wrong in a more balanced way. But sometimes I am thrilled to get to say something that might persuade people to pick the book up, that I can encourage the tiny number of people who pay attention to me to look at something they might otherwise have passed over. This is one of those times.
Sometimes women's art gets dismissed, especially when it isn't in a valorized genre, or a valorized bit of a genre, especially when it can be seen as YA, or for children, especially when it's short stories and poetry. Sometimes it gets patted on the head. Cut that out.
Hey, everyone! This is an important book doing vitally interesting things. You might not think you want to read it, but you do.
I get sent books to blurb all the time, the vast majority of them I say no to unread because it's obvious I'm going to hate them, and of the ones I agree to look at I give up on a lot of them, and even of the ones I read all of I actually blurb fewer than half, because "this was a nice instance of what it is" isn't what you want on a book cover. Sometimes I want to review them because then I can look at what a book's doing right and wrong in a more balanced way. But sometimes I am thrilled to get to say something that might persuade people to pick the book up, that I can encourage the tiny number of people who pay attention to me to look at something they might otherwise have passed over. This is one of those times.
Sometimes women's art gets dismissed, especially when it isn't in a valorized genre, or a valorized bit of a genre, especially when it can be seen as YA, or for children, especially when it's short stories and poetry. Sometimes it gets patted on the head. Cut that out.
Hey, everyone! This is an important book doing vitally interesting things. You might not think you want to read it, but you do.
Read
February 9, 2022Ovo je zbirka priča i pesama koje predstavljaju nove verzije starih bajki ili pomeraju fokus na sporedne likove u lirskim minijaturama ili u istim takvim minijaturama malo meditiraju o sudbini koja likove zadesi po završetku bajke. I leglo mi je iznenađujuće bolje nego što sam očekivala. Pojedine pesme jesu onako sentimentalne i na ivici kiča, ali druge funkcionišu bolje, a i priče su sve kvalitetnije što su duže. Lični favoriti su mi "Blanšfler" (varijanta Bele mace), "Crvena kao krv, bela kao kost" (bio bi spojler), "Druga Tea" (Andersenova bajka Osjen), i "Zemlja zvana Zima" (Snežna kraljica).
Ono što izdvaja Teodoru Gos od drugih modernih adaptacija bajki jeste... kako ovo da formulišem... uglavnom se prosto ne trudi da bude subverzivna i provokativna. Posle prvih par oklevajućih koraka s uživanjem se prepusti konvencijama bajke i, da prostite, srećnim krajevima. Nisam ni shvatala koliko mi nedostaju narativi u kojima neko proživi ceo svoj život i bude zadovoljan i ispunjen čak i ako mu se usput desi i štogod loše ili ako neke stvari koje želi budu odložene. Pesma "Sedam cipela" je... pa, ta ideja u najsažetijem vidu: priča o tome kako svako životno doba ima svoje zahteve i svoje darove. Da skratim, Teodora Gos život, a konkretno ženski život, i najkonkretnije život žene koja je mladost ostavila daleko za sobom, ne posmatra kao tragediju. A, bože, kako to ume da zafali čitaocima savremene srpske književnosti.
Ima u ovim bajkama i fine intertekstualnosti i autobiografskog iskustva emigracije i, da ne preteram s pohvalama, kičaste sentimentalnosti, ali eto, taj osećaj da je život često sasvim okej i da u njemu možemo da nađemo svoje mesto i raskomotimo se radeći ono što volimo i umemo - veliki je poklon.
Ono što izdvaja Teodoru Gos od drugih modernih adaptacija bajki jeste... kako ovo da formulišem... uglavnom se prosto ne trudi da bude subverzivna i provokativna. Posle prvih par oklevajućih koraka s uživanjem se prepusti konvencijama bajke i, da prostite, srećnim krajevima. Nisam ni shvatala koliko mi nedostaju narativi u kojima neko proživi ceo svoj život i bude zadovoljan i ispunjen čak i ako mu se usput desi i štogod loše ili ako neke stvari koje želi budu odložene. Pesma "Sedam cipela" je... pa, ta ideja u najsažetijem vidu: priča o tome kako svako životno doba ima svoje zahteve i svoje darove. Da skratim, Teodora Gos život, a konkretno ženski život, i najkonkretnije život žene koja je mladost ostavila daleko za sobom, ne posmatra kao tragediju. A, bože, kako to ume da zafali čitaocima savremene srpske književnosti.
Ima u ovim bajkama i fine intertekstualnosti i autobiografskog iskustva emigracije i, da ne preteram s pohvalama, kičaste sentimentalnosti, ali eto, taj osećaj da je život često sasvim okej i da u njemu možemo da nađemo svoje mesto i raskomotimo se radeći ono što volimo i umemo - veliki je poklon.
April 18, 2019
Snow White Learns Witchcraft: Stories and Poems by Theodora Goss
3.75 stars
Whimsical Writing Scale: 4
Plotastic Scale: 4
Cover Thoughts: I adore this cover. It’s one of my absolute favorites. I have an adoring heart for it.
Thank you, Netgalley and Mythic Delirium Books, for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
3.75 stars
This anthology collection focuses on retellings through short stories and poetry (which I thought was a nice blended-medium form of storytelling and it was cohesive). Goss has a good mix of darker concepts, but tends to sway toward the more enchanting, whimsical, and fun side of retellings. I prefer dark retellings because I’m a glutton for punishment and like to cry, but these were so much fun. Goss is a fantastic poet who weaves fantasy, reality, and humanity into her poems. Her stories are fun and full of talking cats. She offers a different, but enjoyable take to the stories we are familiar with as well as ones that we aren’t.
Whimsical Writing Scale: 4
Since this is a collection, here are my thoughts and ratings on each story / poem:
Snow White Learns Witchcraft (poem)- 3 stars I liked this one well enough, but I wasn’t captured by it. I’ll be honest, at first, I thought I would not like this collection because of my lukewarm feelings towards its opening selection.
The Ogress Queen (poem)- 3 stars This is a darker take on Sleeping Beauty with the ogre being the wife of the king who rapes her as she sleeps. The Ogre Queen wants to eat her. It’s weird and definitely dark.
The Rose in Twelve Petals (short story)- 3.5 stars I really liked this one. The story is told through different points of view (it’s a Sleeping Beauty retelling) and one of my favorites was the Spinning Wheel. I liked how different of a story this one was, but I didn’t love it as I hoped to. Goss’s humor and social commentary really peaks out in this one.
Thorns and Briars (poem)- 4 stars This poem was wonderful. I thought it was an excellent representation of how women will let themselves become hardened but present themselves as doing the right thing to appease and impress people.
Rose Child (poem)- 2 stars I was not a fan of this one.
Thumbelina (poem)- 3 stars I liked this one, especially the ending lines.
“I would like to be small enough to hear the dawn breaking, the tulip opening, the sand as it shifts under each tide, the long dream of rocks.”
Blanchefleur (short story)- 3.5 stars This was a cute story about a boy who experiences great loss after his mother dies and how the town sees him as the village idiot. His aunt petitions for him to come on a quest and help those she knows in need in the magical realm. Blanchefleur is a talking cat who is his cousin and they go on many quests together.
Mr. Fox (poem)- 4 stars “How does on fall out of love with a thief who has already stolen one’s heart?” I really liked this poem.
What Her Mother Said (poem)- 3 stars I was so letdown because I loved the concept of this one so much that I wanted it to be longer as well as an actual story instead of a poem.
Snow, Blood, Fur (short story)- 4.5 stars I got my desire. This story follows the theme of the above poem and it was fantastic. It was a fantastic story steeped in darkness and cruelty.
The Red Shoes (poem)- 2.5 stars This was not a bad poem, but I wanted more from it. This is a common feeling towards most of the poems in this collection.
Girl, Wolf, Woods (poem)- 2 stars This one wasn’t bad, but I was not gripped by it.
Red as Blood and White as Bone (short story)- 5 stars This story was amazing. We follow a young girl who works in the kitchens of the palace as a lowly cook and her love of fairy tales. A woman comes to castle and the girl thinks she is a princess. A revenge story steeped with magic. I cried, I gasped, I loved it.
The Gold Spinner (poem)- 3 stars This was a decent poem, but after how good the last story was, I wasn’t feeling it.
Rumpelstiltskin (poem)- 4.25 stars This poem was fantastic. It follows two different halves who live different lives.
Goldilocks and the Bear (poem)- 5 stars I loved the concept of Goldilocks being a thief who is hidden by the young bear and they become friends. It was a beautiful form of storytelling for this story and it worked so well.
Sleeping with Bears (short story)- 3.5 stars This story was ridiculous, but funny. It follows a girl who is confused by the fact that her sister is marrying a bear.
The Stepsister’s Tale (poem)- 4 stars This poem is interesting because it talks about feet in the context of the stepsister being a foot doctor and how the stepsister did what she did to her own feet for her mother’s love.
The Clever Serving-Maid (poem)- 3 stars I would’ve liked more from this story because it felt like a rushed poem and I didn’t think the format helped the story.
Seven Shoes(poem)- 4 stars The witch says that you will get your desire when you have worn through seven pairs of shoes. Is this that story and I really liked the concept of it.
The Other Thea (short story)- 3.25 stars This one follows a witch who has it find her shadow in a different realm or else she will disappear. This one was a bit darker, but had a lot of whimsy infused into it. I loved the shadow concept, but I was very underwhelmed by it.
The Sensitive Woman (poem)- 3.25 stars I liked how raw and vulnerable this one felt.
The Bear’s Wife (poem)- 2 stars I was not a fan of this one.
The Bear’s Daughter (poem)- 3.5 stars I love the lyrical pattern of this one.
A Country Called Winter (short story)- 4.5 stars This one follows a grad student who is an immigrant from a foreign country. It is full of human drama and then it takes royal turn. It felt like a magic Princess Diaries and I loved that.
How to Make It Snow (poem)- 4 stars I liked this poem and the concept. It felt like it connected to the previous story.
Diamonds and Toads (poem)- 3.5 stars This follows a twist on why it’s not so bad to have toads coming out of your mouth, but how having diamonds coming can also be good.
The Princess and the Frog (poem)- 4 stars This one has a great twist and I loved that.
Conversations with the Sea Witch (short story)- 5 stars We follow The Little Mermaid as an old woman in her wheel chair. When she gave her song to the sea witch, she lost her legs and she could speak, but she didn’t know the language of humans. She and her husband (the prince) successfully built an empire and in her old age she feels death coming. Everyday she talks to the sea witch, but this conversation is different from the others. This conversation shows us what the sea witch’s biggest regret with her dead love is. This one got dark surprisingly quick.
The Nightingale and the Rose (poem)- 5 stars In this poem, we follow a nightingale who is a hopeless romantic and she wants to help a boy get a red rose for the professor’s daughter. This is a tale about sacrifice for the sake of love and the tragedy of when that sacrifice is not appreciated by anyone but the earth and its creator. I cried and I fell in love. This is the type of story that I love.
Mirror, Mirror (poem)- 3.5 stars I liked this one, but it wasn’t a favorite.
Overall, this is an excellent collection with a lot of fantastic stories and poems. I highly recommend it if you are looking for some more fairy tale retellings.
Plotastic Scale: 4
Cover Thoughts: I adore this cover. It’s one of my absolute favorites. I have an adoring heart for it.
Thank you, Netgalley and Mythic Delirium Books, for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
April 25, 2019
This is a terrific collection of eight stories and twenty-three poems with the shared theme of re-told folk or fairy tales. They strike me excellent literary works, both singly and as a whole. The poetry is narrative, some more classically structured and others more free formed, and is just as enjoyable as her Songs For Ophelia volume from a couple of years ago. I'd read some of the stories before, in her previous collection In the Forest of Forgetting and elsewhere, but enjoyed revisiting them in this venue as well as the ones that were new to me. I've read a few reviews that cite this as something of a feminist manifesto, but I didn't get that feeling much at all; I just enjoyed reading the stories about the characters and didn't catch any flavor of preaching or lecturing at all. I'm sure that some of the tales contain lessons or symbols that escaped me, but that's okay. I enjoyed the occasional directive of the narrator addressing the reader (which the folk tales I read in my youth always did, too), was perplexed by the prediction of several women characters to sleep with bears, and enjoyed the rich descriptions of food and the preparation of same. I was reminded of the best works of Peter S. Beagle, and enjoyed reading this very much.
February 22, 2019
This is a lovely collection of short stories and poems retelling fairytales. I'd read the vast majority of them before, but still had some new ones to discover.
Of the ones I've read before, the short story "Red as Blood and White as Bone" still gives me a good little shiver. I love this story about the power of stories and belief and magic and love. It's magical. Of the poems, "Rose Child" is a continued favorite. I believe it won a Rhysling Award as well.
She included a couple from her previous collection, In the Forest of Forgetting. While I love those stories, I enjoyed seeing how her writing has changed. Her past stories still showcase her amazing use of language and fairy tale, but I'm drawn to her newer stories now. They're more adult, more nuanced, even when they're from the perspectives of teens, and are actually in a couple cases very teen appropriate. This isn't to say that those earlier stories aren't nuanced, because they are! But not in the same ways.
Of the stories I discovered for the first time in this collection, I loved "Blanchefleur," a retelling of "The White Cat," and "A Country Called Winter," a retelling of The Snow Queen. These are so much fun! Blanchefleur is one of the few stories Goss has ever written from the perspective of a male character. It's funny and compassionate and quite enjoyable.
"A Country Called Winter" is like if Goss decided to write a memoir through a fairytale, except she becomes queen at the end. This isn't the only story in the collection to do this--"The Other Thea" is the most obvious example (which I'd read before, in Uncanny Magazine if I'm remembering correctly). But I just loved A Country Called Winter. It's once again very fun and real and magical.
I've been toying with writing memoir/fairy tale essays--I've even written one which I'd forgotten about until just now! Babies really delete a lot of memory! It's fun to see such a master writer play around with the idea too.
If you enjoy Naomi Novik, Catherynne M. Valente, and Robin McKinley, you should give this a read.
Of the ones I've read before, the short story "Red as Blood and White as Bone" still gives me a good little shiver. I love this story about the power of stories and belief and magic and love. It's magical. Of the poems, "Rose Child" is a continued favorite. I believe it won a Rhysling Award as well.
She included a couple from her previous collection, In the Forest of Forgetting. While I love those stories, I enjoyed seeing how her writing has changed. Her past stories still showcase her amazing use of language and fairy tale, but I'm drawn to her newer stories now. They're more adult, more nuanced, even when they're from the perspectives of teens, and are actually in a couple cases very teen appropriate. This isn't to say that those earlier stories aren't nuanced, because they are! But not in the same ways.
Of the stories I discovered for the first time in this collection, I loved "Blanchefleur," a retelling of "The White Cat," and "A Country Called Winter," a retelling of The Snow Queen. These are so much fun! Blanchefleur is one of the few stories Goss has ever written from the perspective of a male character. It's funny and compassionate and quite enjoyable.
"A Country Called Winter" is like if Goss decided to write a memoir through a fairytale, except she becomes queen at the end. This isn't the only story in the collection to do this--"The Other Thea" is the most obvious example (which I'd read before, in Uncanny Magazine if I'm remembering correctly). But I just loved A Country Called Winter. It's once again very fun and real and magical.
I've been toying with writing memoir/fairy tale essays--I've even written one which I'd forgotten about until just now! Babies really delete a lot of memory! It's fun to see such a master writer play around with the idea too.
If you enjoy Naomi Novik, Catherynne M. Valente, and Robin McKinley, you should give this a read.
December 3, 2018
*ARC received from NetGalley*
With Snow White Learns Witchcraft Theodora Goss focuses her vast affinity for myth and fairy tales on stories that are both familiar and unexpected. Combining stories and poems, this collection contains characters that are easily recognized--though maybe not quite as we are used to seeing them--and others that are less familiar. In the retellings, Dora finds fresh life and striking power in the insights and presentations that are gathered here. And in the stories that stem from more original places, Dora proves her ability to craft striking fairy tales drawn from all the rich past of the genre and full of wealth suited to the modern era.
In her care and craft, Dora allows fresh voices and perspectives to take the page, painting pictures full of fantasy and mystery--while ensuring that the stories are simultaneously intimate and relatable. With rich language and a fantastic style of her own, Dora's newest collection truly highlights her strengths as a writer, while also providing a collection of stories and poems--retellings and original tales alike--that are delightful to read in their own right.
With Snow White Learns Witchcraft Theodora Goss focuses her vast affinity for myth and fairy tales on stories that are both familiar and unexpected. Combining stories and poems, this collection contains characters that are easily recognized--though maybe not quite as we are used to seeing them--and others that are less familiar. In the retellings, Dora finds fresh life and striking power in the insights and presentations that are gathered here. And in the stories that stem from more original places, Dora proves her ability to craft striking fairy tales drawn from all the rich past of the genre and full of wealth suited to the modern era.
In her care and craft, Dora allows fresh voices and perspectives to take the page, painting pictures full of fantasy and mystery--while ensuring that the stories are simultaneously intimate and relatable. With rich language and a fantastic style of her own, Dora's newest collection truly highlights her strengths as a writer, while also providing a collection of stories and poems--retellings and original tales alike--that are delightful to read in their own right.
June 8, 2019
I received a digital ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.
This collection of fairy-tale-inspired stories and poems is wonderfully structured. I know that's an odd way to start a review, but it's one of the elements that was most striking to me about the experience of reading Snow White Learns Witchcraft. The stories and poems included here are ordered so that most pieces feel like they flow from the previous, either turning around to give a startlingly different approach to the same fairy tale, or picking up on a symbol, story element, or theme, and telling a different story with that element. So you'll get several pieces about bears in a row, or roses, or snow, though they'll be very different from one another, or two Rumpelstiltskins or Sleeping Beauties, again very different. And it feels like it comes full circle, ending with the same fairy tale (Snow White) with which it begins.
There are a number of themes in Theodora Goss's writing that recur throughout the collection. These are fairy tales of self-determination, of storytelling, and of introspection. Many of the poems, like "Thumbelina" and "The Sensitive Woman" feel like they must be very personal, leading to the sense that you've been allowed inside the author's private world, but you can see the same authorial voice in even the strangest fantasies, and it all feels of a piece. I loved everything about this book, and purchased myself a print copy as soon as I had finished it so that I could have it on my shelves.
The feeling of Goss's writing itself doesn't differ significantly between the poems and the stories, so the collection is pretty cohesive. That said, the poems are more likely than the stories to feel like snapshots, extrapolations from one idea in a fairy tale, or explorations of a character's perspective, while the stories have fully developed narratives. I think that with the poems, it's probably helpful to come to them with a strong fairy tale background, since they don't stand alone from their source material as well as the stories do.
About half of the total pieces in this book are original to this collection. That said, the five longest stories that serve as the centerpieces of the book are, with only one exception, reprints. Two of them I'd read before, and I am pleased to report that they are just as good on a second reading.
"The Rose in Twelve Petals" is a Sleeping Beauty retelling with an unusual, melancholy, and ambiguous ending. It's told in twelve parts, following different characters, with the theme of roses recurring in each part. It's also alternate history, in low-key way that doesn't upstage the fairy tale.
"Blancefleur" borrows some of the appealing imagery from The White Cat (the castle of cultured felines, the title character), and a bit of its three-part quest structure, without feeling like an actual retelling. A miller's son with fairy ancestry is known as the village idiot until he is apprenticed to his aunt, the Lady of the Forest, who sends him to spend a year each under three very different teachers accompanied by his cousin, the talking white cate Blancefleur. I enjoyed it tremendously.
"Red as Blood and White as Bone" was the first re-read for me (you can read it online here), and it's an original fairy tale as far as I can tell (I fully acknowledge that I won't always recognize a retelling's source material). Set in a fictional European country as World War II looms, it's a dark story about a serving girl who takes in what she believes to be a princess in disguise and helps her to attend a royal ball. This one is ultimately all about stories and the passion to learn and preserve them, but it gets bloody and disillusioned along the way.
"The Other Thea" was the second re-read for me (it first appeared in The Starlit Wood: New Fairy Tales). It's a contemporary story based on Hans Christian Andersen's The Shadow, and it's about an alum of a school for witches who returns to campus for help during a gap year. Since her grandmother's death, she's felt apathetic and depressed, and she's told that she will continue to fade away unless she can retrieve the shadow that her grandmother cut away from her as a child, a journey that takes her into the fae Other Country. Along the way, she has to learn to think for herself and use her skills as a witch... skills that manifest in the form of poetry. Miss Lavender's is a magic school I'd have loved to attend, the Other Country is both mysterious and modern, and there's another talking cat, so what's not to like?
And finally, "A Country Called Winter" is the only lengthy story that's original to this collection. It's another contemporary-set one, a Snow Queen retelling where the elements of the story and the roles of the characters are all jumbled up a bit. The theme of academia continues here, and it's also about growing up as an immigrant in America, separated from cultural roots. We also see Goss's ability to blend etherial magic into a real-world setting with a nation that is both a real country with politics and diplomacy and the actual magical source of winter itself in the world. This may have been my least favorite of the longer stories in the collection, but it still had plenty that made me happy, including a lost princess reveal and a mythic, etherial female Santa Claus figure.
I can't talk about all of the poems here, or even most, since there are so many, but I'll mention that my favorites (at least this time through) included, "Thorns and Briars," about keeping one's heart in a box, "Goldilocks and the Bear," a more straightforward, narrative retelling about the lifelong bond between a young thief and the bear cub who once helped her escape his family's home, and "The Nightingale and the Rose," a gorgeous take on Oscar Wilde's story of the same title. But I can imagine that different poems will stick out to me if I re-read this book at a different point in my life, just as the stories that were re-reads this time around struck me slightly differently than they first did.
It's very hard for a story collection to rank a full five stars from many reviewers (myself included) because inevitably some pieces will seem stronger than others, or appeal more to the individual reader. The miracle of this collection for me was that there wasn't a single dud. Every story and every poem feels like it has something precious to offer, be it intellectually, emotionally, or both. And Goss is a writer in whose hands I feel safe, not because she doesn't take the reader to dark places (she does), but because she leads you through them and out the other side richer for the experience.
This collection of fairy-tale-inspired stories and poems is wonderfully structured. I know that's an odd way to start a review, but it's one of the elements that was most striking to me about the experience of reading Snow White Learns Witchcraft. The stories and poems included here are ordered so that most pieces feel like they flow from the previous, either turning around to give a startlingly different approach to the same fairy tale, or picking up on a symbol, story element, or theme, and telling a different story with that element. So you'll get several pieces about bears in a row, or roses, or snow, though they'll be very different from one another, or two Rumpelstiltskins or Sleeping Beauties, again very different. And it feels like it comes full circle, ending with the same fairy tale (Snow White) with which it begins.
There are a number of themes in Theodora Goss's writing that recur throughout the collection. These are fairy tales of self-determination, of storytelling, and of introspection. Many of the poems, like "Thumbelina" and "The Sensitive Woman" feel like they must be very personal, leading to the sense that you've been allowed inside the author's private world, but you can see the same authorial voice in even the strangest fantasies, and it all feels of a piece. I loved everything about this book, and purchased myself a print copy as soon as I had finished it so that I could have it on my shelves.
The feeling of Goss's writing itself doesn't differ significantly between the poems and the stories, so the collection is pretty cohesive. That said, the poems are more likely than the stories to feel like snapshots, extrapolations from one idea in a fairy tale, or explorations of a character's perspective, while the stories have fully developed narratives. I think that with the poems, it's probably helpful to come to them with a strong fairy tale background, since they don't stand alone from their source material as well as the stories do.
About half of the total pieces in this book are original to this collection. That said, the five longest stories that serve as the centerpieces of the book are, with only one exception, reprints. Two of them I'd read before, and I am pleased to report that they are just as good on a second reading.
"The Rose in Twelve Petals" is a Sleeping Beauty retelling with an unusual, melancholy, and ambiguous ending. It's told in twelve parts, following different characters, with the theme of roses recurring in each part. It's also alternate history, in low-key way that doesn't upstage the fairy tale.
"Blancefleur" borrows some of the appealing imagery from The White Cat (the castle of cultured felines, the title character), and a bit of its three-part quest structure, without feeling like an actual retelling. A miller's son with fairy ancestry is known as the village idiot until he is apprenticed to his aunt, the Lady of the Forest, who sends him to spend a year each under three very different teachers accompanied by his cousin, the talking white cate Blancefleur. I enjoyed it tremendously.
"Red as Blood and White as Bone" was the first re-read for me (you can read it online here), and it's an original fairy tale as far as I can tell (I fully acknowledge that I won't always recognize a retelling's source material). Set in a fictional European country as World War II looms, it's a dark story about a serving girl who takes in what she believes to be a princess in disguise and helps her to attend a royal ball. This one is ultimately all about stories and the passion to learn and preserve them, but it gets bloody and disillusioned along the way.
"The Other Thea" was the second re-read for me (it first appeared in The Starlit Wood: New Fairy Tales). It's a contemporary story based on Hans Christian Andersen's The Shadow, and it's about an alum of a school for witches who returns to campus for help during a gap year. Since her grandmother's death, she's felt apathetic and depressed, and she's told that she will continue to fade away unless she can retrieve the shadow that her grandmother cut away from her as a child, a journey that takes her into the fae Other Country. Along the way, she has to learn to think for herself and use her skills as a witch... skills that manifest in the form of poetry. Miss Lavender's is a magic school I'd have loved to attend, the Other Country is both mysterious and modern, and there's another talking cat, so what's not to like?
And finally, "A Country Called Winter" is the only lengthy story that's original to this collection. It's another contemporary-set one, a Snow Queen retelling where the elements of the story and the roles of the characters are all jumbled up a bit. The theme of academia continues here, and it's also about growing up as an immigrant in America, separated from cultural roots. We also see Goss's ability to blend etherial magic into a real-world setting with a nation that is both a real country with politics and diplomacy and the actual magical source of winter itself in the world. This may have been my least favorite of the longer stories in the collection, but it still had plenty that made me happy, including a lost princess reveal and a mythic, etherial female Santa Claus figure.
I can't talk about all of the poems here, or even most, since there are so many, but I'll mention that my favorites (at least this time through) included, "Thorns and Briars," about keeping one's heart in a box, "Goldilocks and the Bear," a more straightforward, narrative retelling about the lifelong bond between a young thief and the bear cub who once helped her escape his family's home, and "The Nightingale and the Rose," a gorgeous take on Oscar Wilde's story of the same title. But I can imagine that different poems will stick out to me if I re-read this book at a different point in my life, just as the stories that were re-reads this time around struck me slightly differently than they first did.
It's very hard for a story collection to rank a full five stars from many reviewers (myself included) because inevitably some pieces will seem stronger than others, or appeal more to the individual reader. The miracle of this collection for me was that there wasn't a single dud. Every story and every poem feels like it has something precious to offer, be it intellectually, emotionally, or both. And Goss is a writer in whose hands I feel safe, not because she doesn't take the reader to dark places (she does), but because she leads you through them and out the other side richer for the experience.
October 17, 2020
I’ve actually first heard of the author when The Alchemist’s Daughter came out. Means to check it out, didn’t get around to it yet. But then the library got this book and I figured why not. Though poetry may not be my thing, fairy tales very much are. And it requires a certain not insignificant amount of skill to take an already perfect entity such as a proper (European, unDisneyfied) fairy tale and spin into something new and fresh and modern and do so in an appropriately timeless fashion. Goss appears to have an abandonment of those skills. These fairy tales were absolutely terrific. More so, they were just right. The original source plainly recognizable, but turned into something new, given new perspectives and angles and endings. Spins them she does, right into gold. The original sources were all male, Perrault, Andersen, Grimm, Wilde, but these stories have a distinctly less conventional gender role motifs, I’d even dare use the word feminist. In a good way, which is to say it doesn’t overpower the stories, it just takes them to new levels. Princesses who get to write their own stories and their own outcomes, no longer uniformly victims or dolls or toys. Finding their very own, unconventional and at times positively ursine princes. Sometimes all it takes is to change of a perspective, empower those traditionally genre overlooked and you get an entirely different story altogether. I loved these fairy tales. Goss’ eastern European origins might have helped her here tremendously. There’s just the right balance of light and darkness with occasional humorous dashes. These fairy tales sparkle. Or to be more in tone with the book itself…coruscate. The poems, as expected, didn’t do much for me, in fact they didn’t even quite seem like poems (and certainly didn’t rhyme), more like differently paragraphed fiction. I would have been perfectly happy if the collection just featured the fairy tales. But it seems this fairy tale retelling genre likes this sort of a mix. Jane Yolen, who provided a very kind and loving foreword for this book, does the same thing and I’ve recently read and enjoyed her Midnight Circus featuring both. This book, actually, took me a minute to get into, but by story three I was completely into it and didn’t want to put it down. Lovely to have some magic in these positively unmagical times. Lovely read. Recommended.
July 31, 2019
I loved this collection! I'm a big fan of fairytale retellings but I usually don't love poems. This one just hit it out of the park for me. I recently realized that I had been approved for a copy on Netgalley but never downloaded it so I decided to buy it since it still seemed like something I might like. I am so glad I did because I LOVED it! Some of my favorites were: "Thorn and Briars," "Blanchefleur," "Goldilocks and the Bear," "The Stepsister's Tale," "Seven Shoes," and "Diamonds and Toads" though it was really hard for me to not just bookmark all of the stories. Some were one page and some were a lot longer but I enjoyed every one. Some were serious with lessons while others were more whimsical. I definitely want to read more by this author.
I intend to review this on my bookstagram soon as well.
I intend to review this on my bookstagram soon as well.
January 1, 2019
"Fairy tales are another kind of Bible, for those who know how to read them."
Snow White Learns Witchcraft is a collection of poems and short fiction by Theodora Goss, an author probably best known for her mystery/sci fi genre blender Athena Club series. As implied by the title, all of the stories and poetry in Snow White Learns Witchcraft are related to fairy tales. Many of the stories will feel familiar to anyone who grew up with even the tame versions by Disney but she also includes some that seemed more Eastern European influenced. As a side note, many of these stories and poems have been published in other collections but are collected here in a single volume.
I've always loved fairy tales of all kinds and particularly when an author takes known fairy tales and provides a twist that makes the story feel new again. Snow White Learns Witchcraft also has the bonus of having a more feminist take on traditional stories that I really liked. Even better, it does so without feeling gimmicky or like that facet is more important than the story itself. Goss does an excellent job of empowering the women in her stories while still making the story a living, breathing entity with compelling characters. While I enjoyed The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter, this collection of stories was much more to my taste. I didn't love all of the stories and poetry but unlike a lot of collections, there weren't any that I disliked or which bored me. Since there's more than thirty stories and poems in the collection, I'll just mention a few that I particularly loved. In particular, Blanchefleur, Red as Blood and White as Bone and The Other Thea were really great. I loved these three in particular because while I'm guessing they're based on stories I'm less familiar with, they felt familiar and old, just what I want out of a fairy tale. Overall, I really enjoyed this collection and it's one that I'll definitely be recommending to others who enjoy fairy tales as much as I do.
Thanks to both NetGalley and Mythic Delirium Books for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Snow White Learns Witchcraft is a collection of poems and short fiction by Theodora Goss, an author probably best known for her mystery/sci fi genre blender Athena Club series. As implied by the title, all of the stories and poetry in Snow White Learns Witchcraft are related to fairy tales. Many of the stories will feel familiar to anyone who grew up with even the tame versions by Disney but she also includes some that seemed more Eastern European influenced. As a side note, many of these stories and poems have been published in other collections but are collected here in a single volume.
I've always loved fairy tales of all kinds and particularly when an author takes known fairy tales and provides a twist that makes the story feel new again. Snow White Learns Witchcraft also has the bonus of having a more feminist take on traditional stories that I really liked. Even better, it does so without feeling gimmicky or like that facet is more important than the story itself. Goss does an excellent job of empowering the women in her stories while still making the story a living, breathing entity with compelling characters. While I enjoyed The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter, this collection of stories was much more to my taste. I didn't love all of the stories and poetry but unlike a lot of collections, there weren't any that I disliked or which bored me. Since there's more than thirty stories and poems in the collection, I'll just mention a few that I particularly loved. In particular, Blanchefleur, Red as Blood and White as Bone and The Other Thea were really great. I loved these three in particular because while I'm guessing they're based on stories I'm less familiar with, they felt familiar and old, just what I want out of a fairy tale. Overall, I really enjoyed this collection and it's one that I'll definitely be recommending to others who enjoy fairy tales as much as I do.
Thanks to both NetGalley and Mythic Delirium Books for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
October 8, 2025
This is like a 2.5/5. Perfectly fine but nothing special.
I read about 60% and then went to sleep. In the morning I tried to recall even a single story that stuck out to me in either a good or bad way and found that I couldn't recall any of them. Even when looking through the chapter headers to refresh myself, most of them just washed over me.
I did remember the single story that was also posted on Tor's website on its own (Red as Blood and White as Bone) and can definitely recommend this one, but everything else sort of blurred together into a general fairytale haze.
There were a few entries that were ultra short and mostly just letters/poetry, and those I could do without entirely. But overall it's an okay way to pass the time but nothing really memorable or grand. (Also the audiobook for The Other Thea was sooooo grating and I hated it so much.)
I read about 60% and then went to sleep. In the morning I tried to recall even a single story that stuck out to me in either a good or bad way and found that I couldn't recall any of them. Even when looking through the chapter headers to refresh myself, most of them just washed over me.
I did remember the single story that was also posted on Tor's website on its own (Red as Blood and White as Bone) and can definitely recommend this one, but everything else sort of blurred together into a general fairytale haze.
There were a few entries that were ultra short and mostly just letters/poetry, and those I could do without entirely. But overall it's an okay way to pass the time but nothing really memorable or grand. (Also the audiobook for The Other Thea was sooooo grating and I hated it so much.)
May 20, 2025
I think the downfall for me with this book was that I chose to listen to the audio book. Some of the short stories are really short and especially the poems just flew by. With shorter works and poems especially, I seem to fare better when I can dwell on them a little, have them inked before me. So, that’s on me. Doesn’t mean that I don’t recommend the audiobook (it was well read), but it didn’t work for me for this specific format of book.
I also let myself get tricked by the title, thinking that there would be more “witchcraft” instead of mostly fairy tales. That’s again on me. Though: The collection is titled after the first poem…which is really, really short and the audiobook only takes 4 ½ minutes to read it to you. I wa a little disappointed that there was not more Snow White and/or witchcraft in the following pages.
Another thing: collections will always be a mixed bag – even if they are all from the same author.
I think that these stories can be really touching and inspiring for other people, they just didn’t fully do it for me.
That said: I think there is a lot of creativity here, that I really enjoyed. I think this collection is really cool for people – like me – who like fairy tales and fairy tales retellings and have therefore read quite a lot of them. It brings something new to the table with a lot of the popular stories that have been retold time and time again. It was refreshing!
To some of the individual stories:
“Sleeping with Bears”: a poem that says “I’ll rather choose the bear” years before the trend (and social conversation) became a thing. That’s impressive!
The titular poem “Snow White learns Witchcraft” I liked
“Blanchefleur” I liked for a trope I recently discovered for myself: the character being wrongly portrayed by the rest of the cast; here the protagonist gets named “the idiot” by his village even though he is just mourning his mother and rather introverted. I like characters like this!
„The Nightingale and the Rose „ I found really touching despite myself. I don’t know what more to say.
All in all: I feel like this book will leave my memory soon, unfortunately. It didn’t woe me, like I had hoped.
I also let myself get tricked by the title, thinking that there would be more “witchcraft” instead of mostly fairy tales. That’s again on me. Though: The collection is titled after the first poem…which is really, really short and the audiobook only takes 4 ½ minutes to read it to you. I wa a little disappointed that there was not more Snow White and/or witchcraft in the following pages.
Another thing: collections will always be a mixed bag – even if they are all from the same author.
I think that these stories can be really touching and inspiring for other people, they just didn’t fully do it for me.
That said: I think there is a lot of creativity here, that I really enjoyed. I think this collection is really cool for people – like me – who like fairy tales and fairy tales retellings and have therefore read quite a lot of them. It brings something new to the table with a lot of the popular stories that have been retold time and time again. It was refreshing!
To some of the individual stories:
“Sleeping with Bears”: a poem that says “I’ll rather choose the bear” years before the trend (and social conversation) became a thing. That’s impressive!
The titular poem “Snow White learns Witchcraft” I liked
“Blanchefleur” I liked for a trope I recently discovered for myself: the character being wrongly portrayed by the rest of the cast; here the protagonist gets named “the idiot” by his village even though he is just mourning his mother and rather introverted. I like characters like this!
„The Nightingale and the Rose „ I found really touching despite myself. I don’t know what more to say.
All in all: I feel like this book will leave my memory soon, unfortunately. It didn’t woe me, like I had hoped.
December 9, 2019
Not as violent as Grimm nor as saccharine as Disney, these are reworkings of classic fairly tale motifs with a 21st century bent and where the women tell you how they really feel about being perceived as only the brainless pawns, princesses, or witches.
I had the good fortune as a child to discover the fairy tale collections of Grimm and Andrew Lang before the commercialized, sanitized Disney versions. They were darker, more graphic, a little scary sometimes. And, yes, they were magical. This collection, about two-thirds free verse poetry and the rest short stories, draws on the older versions of the classics, shifting the POV ever so slightly. Personally, I enjoyed the short stories most.
Knowing nothing about the author's previous work, I downloaded the sample of this book because the title amused me. Admittedly, I was wary. A few years ago, there was a rash of "twisted fairy tales," and most were either sophomoric or just not well-written. It took only the first few pages of Snow White Learns Witchcraft to decide to purchase it. I could tell that this was written by someone who deeply loves the old fairy tales and understands that they were far more complex and illustrative than often credited, and that the lessons in them are still relevant. It did not disappoint. It was just the thing for a cold, snowy day.
I had the good fortune as a child to discover the fairy tale collections of Grimm and Andrew Lang before the commercialized, sanitized Disney versions. They were darker, more graphic, a little scary sometimes. And, yes, they were magical. This collection, about two-thirds free verse poetry and the rest short stories, draws on the older versions of the classics, shifting the POV ever so slightly. Personally, I enjoyed the short stories most.
Knowing nothing about the author's previous work, I downloaded the sample of this book because the title amused me. Admittedly, I was wary. A few years ago, there was a rash of "twisted fairy tales," and most were either sophomoric or just not well-written. It took only the first few pages of Snow White Learns Witchcraft to decide to purchase it. I could tell that this was written by someone who deeply loves the old fairy tales and understands that they were far more complex and illustrative than often credited, and that the lessons in them are still relevant. It did not disappoint. It was just the thing for a cold, snowy day.
Want to read
November 8, 201999p on Amazon 8th November 2019
July 17, 2019
"Fairy tales are another kind of Bible, for those who know how to read them.” 'Red as Blood and White as Bone' in Snow White Learns Witchcraft by Theodora Goss
Theodora Goss is an award winning-author, a professor of literature and writing at both Boston University and the Stonecoast MFA program. Her debut novel, The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter (2017) and its sequel, European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman (2018) are wonderful and long-overdue adventures with a group of “girl monsters or monstrous young women,” who are the daughters of literature’s maddest of scientists. Her latest work, Snow White Learns Witchcraft, is a collection of fairy tale-themed poems and short stories, and it is glorious.
“Fairy tales fractured, reinvented, re-imagined, retold,” are how Jane Yolen describes perfectly this collection in her introduction. Some entries are well known stories, recast and imagined in ways that are unexpected. Others are stories that are completely new and yet feel well-worn and comfortable, like something known since childhood and rediscovered recently.
Goss has a wonderful knack of taking fairy tale archetypes (princes, princesses, wolves, evil queens and witches) and breathing life into them. The stories in these collections, which are inspired by and/or are retelling existing fairy tale tropes, are populated by people. People with perspectives, fears, strengths and weaknesses. There are no one-note characters here, and the pieces are all the richer for it. For example, in “Conversations with the Sea Witch," Goss allows readers to observe an aging Little Mermaid and Sea Witch as they meet for a daily conversation. Both are now elderly women (the Mermaid did not commit suicide) and have lived long lives that are composed of big events and daily routine. One has children and grandchildren, the other does not. And both have made difficult choices in their lives resulting in regrets and triumphs. They are two wise women grown, from the seed of Hans Christian Andersen’s tale, who have lived their lives and formed a strong friendship in both their commonality and their differences.
To this are added two different reimaginings of "Goldilocks and the Three Bears," a version of Rumpelstiltskin in which the miller’s daughter CAN weave wheat into gold (and has no need of the title character) and, in the title poem, Snow White ponders what to do with her life as she ages. Goss also tells stories with characters of her own creation cast in the fairy tale mold.
The result is a fascinating, heart-warming and bone-chilling collection of stories – whether in prose or poetry – of how women survive, and thrive, even in the most difficult of circumstances. Snow White Learns Witchcraft will leave you breathless, whether from anticipation, shock, wonder, or laughing out loud. It is the result of a master applying her skill to material that she loves. And it is a MUST read for those who are drawn to our ancient stories.
Reviewed by Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch Library,
Theodora Goss is an award winning-author, a professor of literature and writing at both Boston University and the Stonecoast MFA program. Her debut novel, The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter (2017) and its sequel, European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman (2018) are wonderful and long-overdue adventures with a group of “girl monsters or monstrous young women,” who are the daughters of literature’s maddest of scientists. Her latest work, Snow White Learns Witchcraft, is a collection of fairy tale-themed poems and short stories, and it is glorious.
“Fairy tales fractured, reinvented, re-imagined, retold,” are how Jane Yolen describes perfectly this collection in her introduction. Some entries are well known stories, recast and imagined in ways that are unexpected. Others are stories that are completely new and yet feel well-worn and comfortable, like something known since childhood and rediscovered recently.
Goss has a wonderful knack of taking fairy tale archetypes (princes, princesses, wolves, evil queens and witches) and breathing life into them. The stories in these collections, which are inspired by and/or are retelling existing fairy tale tropes, are populated by people. People with perspectives, fears, strengths and weaknesses. There are no one-note characters here, and the pieces are all the richer for it. For example, in “Conversations with the Sea Witch," Goss allows readers to observe an aging Little Mermaid and Sea Witch as they meet for a daily conversation. Both are now elderly women (the Mermaid did not commit suicide) and have lived long lives that are composed of big events and daily routine. One has children and grandchildren, the other does not. And both have made difficult choices in their lives resulting in regrets and triumphs. They are two wise women grown, from the seed of Hans Christian Andersen’s tale, who have lived their lives and formed a strong friendship in both their commonality and their differences.
To this are added two different reimaginings of "Goldilocks and the Three Bears," a version of Rumpelstiltskin in which the miller’s daughter CAN weave wheat into gold (and has no need of the title character) and, in the title poem, Snow White ponders what to do with her life as she ages. Goss also tells stories with characters of her own creation cast in the fairy tale mold.
The result is a fascinating, heart-warming and bone-chilling collection of stories – whether in prose or poetry – of how women survive, and thrive, even in the most difficult of circumstances. Snow White Learns Witchcraft will leave you breathless, whether from anticipation, shock, wonder, or laughing out loud. It is the result of a master applying her skill to material that she loves. And it is a MUST read for those who are drawn to our ancient stories.
Reviewed by Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch Library,
January 21, 2020
I always love Theodora Goss' writings, so it was a joy to finally read this book of poems and fairy tale unravelings and reimaginings. Goss has an extremely emotional and grounded manner of writing. She uses common themes and symbols, but often takes her works into uncharted places. But there is also a distancing in her books that I enjoy and respect a great deal. If you read her blog and follow her interviews you notice how cerebral and cautioned she is with her words. She admits to being a woman in process, I would say. There is a deep well of emotion and darkness underneath what she produces, so even though she gives you the sweetness and smiles, beware the blade, the tooth, the curse. Lovely and unsettling.
For me, this is the kind of book that deserves a beautiful hardcover with plenty of artwork (maybe pencil sketches?), deckle-edged, thick paper stock. Yep.
All the poems are fun and dark and thoughtful; always a bit of an edge; lots of roses, wildness, beauty, nature, mothers and daughters, unexpected choices, unbridled power.
A Rose in Twelve Petals (read previously): An intriguing way to tell a familiar tale.
Blanchefleur: A fun, wry tale about being a wise ruler and using your power sparingly. And cats!
Snow, Blood, Fur: a tale about not being a victim, I think… Or making you own choices.
Red as Blood and White as Bone (read, reviewed on Goodreads).
Sleeping With Bears: Beauty and the Beast, Southern style? A lot weird. Might say something to women that I am drawing a blank on, probably.
The Other Thea: retelling of Hans Christian Andersen's “The Shadow”, Much less dark. I read this as a coming-of-age tale for a young woman. All female cast, quite nice.
A Country Called Winter: a bit too romance-y for my taste, but also rather funny. A bit of Andersen's "The Snow Queen" inside, a bit of the present too.
Conversations with the Sea Witch: "The Little Mermaid" as outline, but taken to a more realistic (read: less Disney-esque) direction. Rather ruminative and solemn.
Goss can do little wrong in her books, if you ask me. She does it all so well, poems, short stories, novels. I did have to look up a few names, not being well-schooled in fairy tales and their variations, but even while she uses familia tales, she makes them entirely her own. There is so much strength in Theodora Goss and her writing is a gift to savor.
Definitely a must-read collection.
For me, this is the kind of book that deserves a beautiful hardcover with plenty of artwork (maybe pencil sketches?), deckle-edged, thick paper stock. Yep.
All the poems are fun and dark and thoughtful; always a bit of an edge; lots of roses, wildness, beauty, nature, mothers and daughters, unexpected choices, unbridled power.
A Rose in Twelve Petals (read previously): An intriguing way to tell a familiar tale.
Blanchefleur: A fun, wry tale about being a wise ruler and using your power sparingly. And cats!
Snow, Blood, Fur: a tale about not being a victim, I think… Or making you own choices.
Red as Blood and White as Bone (read, reviewed on Goodreads).
Sleeping With Bears: Beauty and the Beast, Southern style? A lot weird. Might say something to women that I am drawing a blank on, probably.
The Other Thea: retelling of Hans Christian Andersen's “The Shadow”, Much less dark. I read this as a coming-of-age tale for a young woman. All female cast, quite nice.
A Country Called Winter: a bit too romance-y for my taste, but also rather funny. A bit of Andersen's "The Snow Queen" inside, a bit of the present too.
Conversations with the Sea Witch: "The Little Mermaid" as outline, but taken to a more realistic (read: less Disney-esque) direction. Rather ruminative and solemn.
Goss can do little wrong in her books, if you ask me. She does it all so well, poems, short stories, novels. I did have to look up a few names, not being well-schooled in fairy tales and their variations, but even while she uses familia tales, she makes them entirely her own. There is so much strength in Theodora Goss and her writing is a gift to savor.
Definitely a must-read collection.
February 5, 2019
The word “charm,” in various forms, appears about a dozen times in this excellent and well-designed book. This is not surprising, given its fairy-tale foundations.
I’ve spent more time with Goss’s poems than with her short stories, and it is in the poems that I realize how Goss’s “charm” has a double connotation when combined with her fiction writer’s facility for writing good, sound sentences.
First is the positive connotation, and the one that carries through all of Goss’s poems, stories, and novels. “Charm” here is incantation, conjuration. Verbal magic. What Goss does well she does sorcerously well.
Then there is the negative connotation. In a lesser writer this might mark a serious problem, but it has more of a balancing effect in Goss’s work generally. “Charm” here is captivation, seduction. Surface charisma.
What I’m talking about is a minor flaw of overwriting—those times when Goss gives in to her fine sentence-making facility without achieving quite the select detail and the compressed expression that uplifts the tight, taut work of Jane Yolen, who wrote the book’s introduction.
The book’s strongest poems are one or two pages in length. I believe they expand to the bubble-break without bursting. My favorites are “The Ogress Queen,” “Thorns and Briars,” “Thumbelina,” “What Her Mother Said,” “Girl, Wolf, Woods,” “The Stepsister’s Tale,” “The Sensitive Woman,” and “The Princess and the Frog.”
Of the longer poems, “Snow White Learns Witchcraft” is the most successful due to its controlled pacing. Less successful because overlong, though hardly poorly written, are “Rose Child,” “Goldilocks and the Bear,” “How to Make It Snow,” “Diamonds and Toads,” and “Seven Shoes.” “The Nightingale and the Rose,” at eight pages, might work more effectively as a prose story.
Unforgettable to me among Goss’s poems are the paired “The Bear’s Wife” and “The Bear’s Daughter.” The ending of the second is sublime:
And her daughter, wandering through the empty garden,
where the branches of yew trees rubbing against each other
sound like broken violins,
dreams of the south while a cold wind sways the privet,
takes off her gloves, which are lined with ermine, and places
her hands on the rim of the fountain, in which the sun
has scattered its colors, like roses trapped in ice.
I’ve spent more time with Goss’s poems than with her short stories, and it is in the poems that I realize how Goss’s “charm” has a double connotation when combined with her fiction writer’s facility for writing good, sound sentences.
First is the positive connotation, and the one that carries through all of Goss’s poems, stories, and novels. “Charm” here is incantation, conjuration. Verbal magic. What Goss does well she does sorcerously well.
Then there is the negative connotation. In a lesser writer this might mark a serious problem, but it has more of a balancing effect in Goss’s work generally. “Charm” here is captivation, seduction. Surface charisma.
What I’m talking about is a minor flaw of overwriting—those times when Goss gives in to her fine sentence-making facility without achieving quite the select detail and the compressed expression that uplifts the tight, taut work of Jane Yolen, who wrote the book’s introduction.
The book’s strongest poems are one or two pages in length. I believe they expand to the bubble-break without bursting. My favorites are “The Ogress Queen,” “Thorns and Briars,” “Thumbelina,” “What Her Mother Said,” “Girl, Wolf, Woods,” “The Stepsister’s Tale,” “The Sensitive Woman,” and “The Princess and the Frog.”
Of the longer poems, “Snow White Learns Witchcraft” is the most successful due to its controlled pacing. Less successful because overlong, though hardly poorly written, are “Rose Child,” “Goldilocks and the Bear,” “How to Make It Snow,” “Diamonds and Toads,” and “Seven Shoes.” “The Nightingale and the Rose,” at eight pages, might work more effectively as a prose story.
Unforgettable to me among Goss’s poems are the paired “The Bear’s Wife” and “The Bear’s Daughter.” The ending of the second is sublime:
And her daughter, wandering through the empty garden,
where the branches of yew trees rubbing against each other
sound like broken violins,
dreams of the south while a cold wind sways the privet,
takes off her gloves, which are lined with ermine, and places
her hands on the rim of the fountain, in which the sun
has scattered its colors, like roses trapped in ice.
July 30, 2021
What a lovely, random find this was. I saw this in my daily deal email from Bookbub for 1.99 and figured why not. A quick glance at the Goodreads page and you'll see there aren't many reviews (not surprising since it's from a tiny, now shuttered indie press), but the critical reviews were glowing: starred reviews and praise from heavy hitters like Neil Gaiman. From the description I expected something like The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter, which I adored, but this was so different in tone and accessibility but no less enjoyable. If anything, it's a lot more digestible so this was the perfect read for me while fighting off a cold that left me fuzzy-headed and in no state to read anything too demanding. But despite what easy reading it was, there are a lot of layers here: Goss manages to deconstruct and twist the fables (or in some cases make up her own) in a way that goes down smooth but isn't lacking in depth or intelligence. When it comes to fairy tale retellings, I feel like a lot of authors go really hard in one direction, be it sexy, or dark and gory, or cheeky and ironic, but Goss does something totally different. Each piece still feels like a fairy tale in tone but she reinvents the dynamics between the characters, making for some really unique tales. Goldilocks as a street kid trying to survive when she breaks into the bears' house, and a sympathetic young bear who helps her escape. The little mermaid and Ursula as two very old women keeping each other company, former rivals bound by respect and shared history. Some of the stories are modern with cars and Instagram, but they still have a folk-like feel, and every piece felt hopeful and happy. My favorite was still probably the darkest one, "Red as Blood and White as Bone" where a fairy tale obsessed girl thinks she's in one but turns out to be deadly wrong, but even this one ends with hope (if you Google the title you can read it for free on Tor.com). Overall, a really smart, satisfying collection that deserves a bigger readership.
February 28, 2021
The Athena Club series has been one of my favorite discoveries of 2020. I really enjoyed all those characters claiming their faith and taking life into their own hands. I also loved how Goss managed to really capture the atmosphere of all these cities and teach us some history along the way. So, when there was a discount on the e-book of this collection of fairytale inspired poems and stories, I didn't hesitate and got it right away. Especially because short stories are perfect to read on the side.
Just like with every story collection some stories grabbed me and some stories didn't. I do think that I wasn't in the right place when I read the first half of the book, because I did enjoy the second part of the book much better and I can't imagine that's because of the quality of the stories. It must have to do with the fact that I was quite tired when I read the first half. It might also be because I was mentally not in a great place a couple of weeks ago.
However, I really loved what Goss did with the fairytale like themes. Loads of different stories are told, some original, some inspired by, but they are all unique and they all come with a great take on the fairytale-world, morals, stereotypes and the fight between good and evil. I really loved how a lot of those characters took matters into their own hands and made choices that felt natural and yet bold at the same time.
I think my favorite story though might be the one of the sea witch and the mermaid. It was rather short, but it worked. Mostly because within the short story we really got a great impression of the world, the lives those two women had had and the kind of people they were. I also loved that this story seemed to be about friendship and female empowerment, about love and about standing behind your choices.
But that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy the other stories! There were loads of good ones, so make sure to discover them yourself!
Just like with every story collection some stories grabbed me and some stories didn't. I do think that I wasn't in the right place when I read the first half of the book, because I did enjoy the second part of the book much better and I can't imagine that's because of the quality of the stories. It must have to do with the fact that I was quite tired when I read the first half. It might also be because I was mentally not in a great place a couple of weeks ago.
However, I really loved what Goss did with the fairytale like themes. Loads of different stories are told, some original, some inspired by, but they are all unique and they all come with a great take on the fairytale-world, morals, stereotypes and the fight between good and evil. I really loved how a lot of those characters took matters into their own hands and made choices that felt natural and yet bold at the same time.
I think my favorite story though might be the one of the sea witch and the mermaid. It was rather short, but it worked. Mostly because within the short story we really got a great impression of the world, the lives those two women had had and the kind of people they were. I also loved that this story seemed to be about friendship and female empowerment, about love and about standing behind your choices.
But that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy the other stories! There were loads of good ones, so make sure to discover them yourself!
Read
November 8, 2018I was burned out on them for a time, but I seem to be getting back into reworkings of fairytales – maybe it's just that life has been richer in princesses and wolves lately. Still, the retellings can't be too programmatic in their intent; the old, dark magic needs to be higher in the mix than the agenda, with room left for at least a little whim besides. And these short stories and poems deliver, upending the old notions, but not always along the same axes. The settings shift – what seems at first like the standard neverland of fairytale being revealed as an alternate history of Britain, or the aftermath of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, or maybe just down the road from you. Sometimes there's a reader within the tale, to be even more thoroughly wrongfooted than the reader proper, or one story feeds into the next. If the collection has a flaw – and doesn't every gem or enchantment in a fairytale? – it's that with most of the pieces so short, it can be too easy to gobble them in a rush. Thankfully, such gluttony doesn't meet the poetic justice it might in the old stories, but it still feels like it might not have been entirely fair on Goss' work. Almost all of which has the requisite spark of enchantment, though it will surprise nobody who knows me if I especially liked the ones in which pretty girls fall in love with bears.
(Netgalley ARC)
(Netgalley ARC)
January 31, 2021
4.5 stars
I have found a new writer that I absolutely love and good for me, she has a large canon for me to enjoy! I saw this book on my daily Amazon sales email and was instantly drawn to the fairytale retelling motif and then to learn the author was Hungarian (like me) well I knew I had to read it. I read it in basically two sittings. It is short and it goes quickly as once you start you can’t get enough. Each of the stories and poems are delightful and you will want to go back and read the original Eastern European tales when you read these. It places each tale in context. I loved so many of them, especially Red as Blood and White as Bone and The Other Thea. Many of the stories are rewritten with a feminist slant of course but there are so many themes that are addressed. Goss can see the heart of the tale and present it with new eyes and new meaning. They are modern and her characters seem real at all times. She is a truly talented writer and storyteller. I can’t wait to read her novels!
Theodora Goss is a university professor in literature who teaches fairy tales among other things, and she has a law degree from Harvard to boot!! What a talented woman. I strongly recommend this book for an introduction to her work.
I have found a new writer that I absolutely love and good for me, she has a large canon for me to enjoy! I saw this book on my daily Amazon sales email and was instantly drawn to the fairytale retelling motif and then to learn the author was Hungarian (like me) well I knew I had to read it. I read it in basically two sittings. It is short and it goes quickly as once you start you can’t get enough. Each of the stories and poems are delightful and you will want to go back and read the original Eastern European tales when you read these. It places each tale in context. I loved so many of them, especially Red as Blood and White as Bone and The Other Thea. Many of the stories are rewritten with a feminist slant of course but there are so many themes that are addressed. Goss can see the heart of the tale and present it with new eyes and new meaning. They are modern and her characters seem real at all times. She is a truly talented writer and storyteller. I can’t wait to read her novels!
Theodora Goss is a university professor in literature who teaches fairy tales among other things, and she has a law degree from Harvard to boot!! What a talented woman. I strongly recommend this book for an introduction to her work.
June 18, 2020
I really enjoyed these retellings. There are a few longer (in audio between 20 and 40 minutes each) stories, and heaps of smaller poems/snippets that range from 1 minute to 5 minutes each. The stories and poems range from cute and lovely to sad but sweet to dark and sometimes creepy, so it's a pretty good range. Not all of them have happy endings, not all of them are based around romances. All of them, imo, were fantastic.
I can't really say which were my favourites because there were so many small ones (also it is not easy to flip through an audio book to find the titles of them). But I really loved one of the early short ones which focuses on the wife of the prince who woke Sleeping Beauty, it was quite creepy. And the last longish one about the Nightingale was so sad and beautiful. The Red Riding Hood one was interesting to say the least, and the one about the Idiot and the cat was lovely.
Nah I just loved all of them.
(Some of these are not really suitable for telling to children, in case you were wondering - but some of them absolutely are. If you're considering this book for your kids, I would suggest a text based one and pick and choose which ones to share).
I can't really say which were my favourites because there were so many small ones (also it is not easy to flip through an audio book to find the titles of them). But I really loved one of the early short ones which focuses on the wife of the prince who woke Sleeping Beauty, it was quite creepy. And the last longish one about the Nightingale was so sad and beautiful. The Red Riding Hood one was interesting to say the least, and the one about the Idiot and the cat was lovely.
Nah I just loved all of them.
(Some of these are not really suitable for telling to children, in case you were wondering - but some of them absolutely are. If you're considering this book for your kids, I would suggest a text based one and pick and choose which ones to share).
July 31, 2019
I loved this collection! I'm a big fan of fairytale retellings but I usually don't love poems. This one just hit it out of the park for me. I recently realized that I had been approved for a copy on Netgalley but never downloaded it so I decided to buy it since it still seemed like something I might like. I am so glad I did because I LOVED it! Some of my favorites were: "Thorn and Briars," "Blanchefleur," "Goldilocks and the Bear," "The Stepsister's Tale," "Seven Shoes," and "Diamonds and Toads" though it was really hard for me to not just bookmark all of the stories. Some were one page and some were a lot longer but I enjoyed every one. Some were serious with lessons while others were more whimsical. I definitely want to read more by this author.
December 4, 2018
I received a copy of Snow White Learns Witchcraft from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Snow White Learns Witchcraft is a highly enjoyable collection of reworked fairy tales in the form of short stories and verse. While each story is its own, the collection itself manages to be cohesive--I found myself charging through each story at quick clip, wanting to know "what happens next?" A few of the stories, also, were modernized without pulling me from the fantasy; Goss builds upon the framework of each tale expertly. All in all this collection is very well done, with gorgeous language, and quite a fun read.
Snow White Learns Witchcraft is a highly enjoyable collection of reworked fairy tales in the form of short stories and verse. While each story is its own, the collection itself manages to be cohesive--I found myself charging through each story at quick clip, wanting to know "what happens next?" A few of the stories, also, were modernized without pulling me from the fantasy; Goss builds upon the framework of each tale expertly. All in all this collection is very well done, with gorgeous language, and quite a fun read.
February 19, 2019
Admittedly, I have to say I really didn't expect much going in to this collection having stumbled across quite a few 'modern and twisted' takes on fairy tales that left me rather cold. Happily, that wasn't the case at all here. The verses work brilliantly well, the stories were beautifully told, and still managed to have a fair amount of originality in a genre that - one could argue - has been beaten to death.
Enjoyed this title a lot.
With thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Enjoyed this title a lot.
With thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
March 2, 2019
Goss is a scholar of the revised fairy tale - literally. She teaches the topic of fairy tales in college. This book is a compendium of short stories and poems that play with the tropes of fairy tales, not the twee fairy kind, but the Grimm Brothers kind. As with any author collection it's interesting to see the recurring themes (what is it about women who marry bears?), and Goss is enough of a stylist to pull it off even if the theme is somewhat far-fetched. The standout story to my mind is "Red As Blood, White As Bone".
And it has a dynamite introduction by Jane Yolen, who welcomes her into the coven of fairy tale revisers, of whom Yolen is the supreme example.
And it has a dynamite introduction by Jane Yolen, who welcomes her into the coven of fairy tale revisers, of whom Yolen is the supreme example.
May 14, 2021
I recently saw this come up as a discounted ebook and decided to go for it based on the good reviews. I have always loved fairy tales and tend to really enjoy short story collections of retellings; I was not disappointed with my choice in this one! It was beautifully written and evocative of classic fairy tales, while also having a unique and more modern feel with a feminist bent. My only small complaint is that I wish the endings were stronger to give the stories more of a memorable impact. But overall I enjoyed it a lot and will probably revisit it again in the future.
November 11, 2018
Yes, yes, yes! My favorite thing is fairytales for adults, and this collection is everything I love. Goss captures the magic and whimsy and horror and dark, delicious wonder of fairytales, and spins gorgeous snippets that make me feel both a child and a woman at the same time. The eroticism of fairytales is unavoidable, and I can't have been the only one to want to marry the beast instead of the boring old Prince, and Goss proves that by setting up her heroines with bears and trolls, whilst still preserving the delicate and innocent magic of the thing.
This was an absolute pleasure to read.
If you're a fan of Naomi Novik, or Robin McInley, you'll snap this right up.
This was an absolute pleasure to read.
If you're a fan of Naomi Novik, or Robin McInley, you'll snap this right up.
March 1, 2019
One of my favorite writers writing on one of my favorite topics - what's not to love? Goss' lyrical writing shines on these poems and stories, all fairy tale based, as far as I can tell. All have a bit of a twist on them. We have an updated Snow Queen in prose, poetical musings on a middle-aged or elderly Snow White, podiatristic stepsisters from Cinderella, and the nameless maid who just said NO to Rumplestiltskin rather than get sucked into a marriage with a king greedy for gold. Each is a little gem. If you love fairy tales, you have to read these.
June 12, 2019
While the mostly fantasy Victorian fairy tale mashups are decent and the anachronisms amusing, I'm not a fan of unrhymed poetry which is a goodly portion of this book. If you enjoy such poems then this collection might be for you.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 186 reviews