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Silenced
A powerful feminist fairy tale of four women each cursed by the same abusive man. Gripping and essential, it will captivate readers of Jennifer Saint's Ariadne, Heather Walter's Malice and Menna van Praag's The Sisters Grimm.
Four women. Four enchantments. One man. But he is no handsome prince, and this is no sugar-sweet fairy tale. Jo, Abony, Ranjani, and Maia all have something in common: they have each been cursed by the CEO of their workplace after he abused his power to prey on them. He wants them silent and uses his sinister dark magic to keep them quiet about what he did. But Jo, Abony, Ranjani and Maia are not fairy-tale princesses waiting to be rescued. They are fierce, angry women with a bond forged in pain, and they’re about to discover that they have power of their own.
In this sharply written, bitingly relevant modern fable, the magic is dark and damaging, and the women are determined to rescue themselves.
Four women. Four enchantments. One man. But he is no handsome prince, and this is no sugar-sweet fairy tale. Jo, Abony, Ranjani, and Maia all have something in common: they have each been cursed by the CEO of their workplace after he abused his power to prey on them. He wants them silent and uses his sinister dark magic to keep them quiet about what he did. But Jo, Abony, Ranjani and Maia are not fairy-tale princesses waiting to be rescued. They are fierce, angry women with a bond forged in pain, and they’re about to discover that they have power of their own.
In this sharply written, bitingly relevant modern fable, the magic is dark and damaging, and the women are determined to rescue themselves.
352 pages, Paperback
First published April 25, 2023
27 people are currently reading
1057 people want to read
About the author
Ann Claycomb
3 books80 followersSilenced, a #MeToo fairytale, is now available for purchase! This book tells the story of four women coworkers who have all been assaulted by their CEO and join forces to break the fairy tale curses he has put on them to keep them quiet.
Ann Claycomb's first novel, The Mermaid’s Daughter, published by Harper Collins in 2017, imagines that the Little Mermaid really is trapped as a human and passes that curse down through generations of women unable to return to the sea.
An inveterate reader of fairy tales, Ann believes in the power of Faerie, chocolate, and a good workout, in no particular order. She also wishes people would stop using the phrase “fairy tales can come true” as reassurance, because a great deal of what happens in fairy tales, especially to women, is frankly terrifying. And so Ann is drawn to retelling fairy tales to highlight the thorns around the beautiful castles and the dangers of straying off the path. She has an MFA and an MA in English, and baffled her MA thesis committee with an argument that “Beauty and the Beast” is ruined by the Beast’s transformation at the end into just an ordinary prince. Ann lives with her husband, children, two cats, and a mostly hairless dog in Fort Collins, Colorado.
Ann Claycomb's first novel, The Mermaid’s Daughter, published by Harper Collins in 2017, imagines that the Little Mermaid really is trapped as a human and passes that curse down through generations of women unable to return to the sea.
An inveterate reader of fairy tales, Ann believes in the power of Faerie, chocolate, and a good workout, in no particular order. She also wishes people would stop using the phrase “fairy tales can come true” as reassurance, because a great deal of what happens in fairy tales, especially to women, is frankly terrifying. And so Ann is drawn to retelling fairy tales to highlight the thorns around the beautiful castles and the dangers of straying off the path. She has an MFA and an MA in English, and baffled her MA thesis committee with an argument that “Beauty and the Beast” is ruined by the Beast’s transformation at the end into just an ordinary prince. Ann lives with her husband, children, two cats, and a mostly hairless dog in Fort Collins, Colorado.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 93 reviews
June 12, 2024
3,5 ⭐️
El año pasado empecé a dar pequeños pasitos fuera de mi zona de confort lectora (la cual adoro) porque cada vez que lo hago me llevo gratas sorpresas. Así, cuando desde Duermevela me dieron la oportunidad de leer este libro, ¡no lo dudé!
‘Silenciadas’ trae al mundo actual algunos de los más famosos cuentos con los que hemos crecido y con esta premisa ya estaba atrapada como buena fan que he sido de series como ‘Érase una vez’ o ‘El décimo reino’.
En el caso de la novela nos encontramos con una situación muy dura, varias empleadas de la misma empresa sufren abusos por parte de su jefe. Pero por si eso no fuera suficiente, también las maldice. Cada vez que intenten denunciar lo sucedido, cada una de ellas sufrirá terribles consecuencias relacionadas con cuentos (no doy más detalles porque creo que es muy diver irlo descubriendo con la lectura).
Por suerte, las víctimas si pueden hablar entre sí de lo sucedido, cuando descubren con tremendo pesar de que no han sido las únicas. Así, las veremos luchar juntas para acabar con sus maldiciones al tiempo que cada una recorre su propio camino para aprender a vivir con lo que le ha sucedido. Creo que es importante no perder de vista que estamos ante una novela dirigida a un público joven, para hablar de sororidad y aumentar la conciencia sobre las situaciones que se engloban dentro del movimiento metoo. De ahí que ciertos temas que en otro género serían narrados con gran crudeza y tal vez dramatismo, aquí no son el centro, pero es verdad que choca un poco la aparente rápida recuperación y aceptación tras las agresiones.
La trama principal se ve intercalada con extractos de un blog donde mujeres analizan los cuentos clásicos dándoles una vuelta a cómo se nos han contado y uniéndolo la impronta que han dejado en la sociedad actual. ¡¡Estas partes me encantaron y me hicieron desear poder formar parte de esa comunidad!!
A pesar de que el desenlace puede ser algo predecible, reconozco que he disfrutado mucho con esta historia que más allá de la magia (cuya presencia me ha encantado), habla de situaciones reales y puede ser una buena puerta a leer sobre este tema para público joven.
⚠️Aunque no hay escenas demasiado explicitas, la trama gira en torno a abusos y puede ser doloroso de leer.
El año pasado empecé a dar pequeños pasitos fuera de mi zona de confort lectora (la cual adoro) porque cada vez que lo hago me llevo gratas sorpresas. Así, cuando desde Duermevela me dieron la oportunidad de leer este libro, ¡no lo dudé!
‘Silenciadas’ trae al mundo actual algunos de los más famosos cuentos con los que hemos crecido y con esta premisa ya estaba atrapada como buena fan que he sido de series como ‘Érase una vez’ o ‘El décimo reino’.
En el caso de la novela nos encontramos con una situación muy dura, varias empleadas de la misma empresa sufren abusos por parte de su jefe. Pero por si eso no fuera suficiente, también las maldice. Cada vez que intenten denunciar lo sucedido, cada una de ellas sufrirá terribles consecuencias relacionadas con cuentos (no doy más detalles porque creo que es muy diver irlo descubriendo con la lectura).
Por suerte, las víctimas si pueden hablar entre sí de lo sucedido, cuando descubren con tremendo pesar de que no han sido las únicas. Así, las veremos luchar juntas para acabar con sus maldiciones al tiempo que cada una recorre su propio camino para aprender a vivir con lo que le ha sucedido. Creo que es importante no perder de vista que estamos ante una novela dirigida a un público joven, para hablar de sororidad y aumentar la conciencia sobre las situaciones que se engloban dentro del movimiento metoo. De ahí que ciertos temas que en otro género serían narrados con gran crudeza y tal vez dramatismo, aquí no son el centro, pero es verdad que choca un poco la aparente rápida recuperación y aceptación tras las agresiones.
La trama principal se ve intercalada con extractos de un blog donde mujeres analizan los cuentos clásicos dándoles una vuelta a cómo se nos han contado y uniéndolo la impronta que han dejado en la sociedad actual. ¡¡Estas partes me encantaron y me hicieron desear poder formar parte de esa comunidad!!
A pesar de que el desenlace puede ser algo predecible, reconozco que he disfrutado mucho con esta historia que más allá de la magia (cuya presencia me ha encantado), habla de situaciones reales y puede ser una buena puerta a leer sobre este tema para público joven.
⚠️Aunque no hay escenas demasiado explicitas, la trama gira en torno a abusos y puede ser doloroso de leer.
December 31, 2023
So What’s It About?
A powerful feminist fairy tale of four women each cursed by the same abusive man. Gripping and essential, it will captivate readers of Jennifer Saint's Ariadne, Heather Walter's Malice and Menna van Praag's The Sisters Grimm.
Four women. Four enchantments. One man. But he is no handsome prince, and this is no sugar-sweet fairy tale. Jo, Abony, Ranjani, and Maia all have something in common: they have each been cursed by the CEO of their workplace after he abused his power to prey on them. He wants them silent and uses his sinister dark magic to keep them quiet about what he did. But Jo, Abony, Ranjani and Maia are not fairy-tale princesses waiting to be rescued. They are fierce, angry women with a bond forged in pain, and they’re about to discover that they have power of their own.
In this sharply written, bitingly relevant modern fable, the magic is dark and damaging, and the women are determined to rescue themselves.
What I Thought
I heard about this via the AMA that Ann Claycomb did on r/fantasy earlier this year, and I’m very glad to have checked it out. The description of a #MeToo fairy tale retelling pretty much fits the bill 100%. Each woman in this story is cursed by their rapist CEO with a particular fairy tale curse that she must overcome in order to live a free life after her assault and stop the perpetrator from continuing his assaults. What I like most about this is how each fairy tale curse is essentially one of the traumatic effects of assault or one of the barriers that survivors face when trying to speak out about their experiences. At the same time, each woman’s curse is broken as she turns an inner struggle to a strength.
Rani’s Bluebeard curse represents the fear of retribution or negative effects against loved ones, and she uses her mother’s skills and knowledge to free herself and her mother from the curse’s harm. Jo is quite literally silenced when she tries to speak about the assault with her Toads and Diamonds curse, but she learns that speaking openly about her feelings for her loved ones and being vulnerable empowers her.
With her Thumblina curse, Maia is belittled and made small and fragile. Her story doesn’t work quite as well for me as the other two, because her relationship with her boyfriend is the linchpin of several important decisions she makes and it never feels quite fleshed out enough for those decisions to feel justified. Abony’s story also feels a bit vague to me - her curse is based on The Red Shoes in that she is forced to buy extremely expensive shoes every time she tries to speak out. It represents the costs, both financial and otherwise, of divulging trauma publicly, as well as the perpetrator’s sexist and victim-blaming beliefs about her dressing well. Her character arc feels the least coherent to me - in the moment where all of their "flaws" are listed, hers is said to be her pride in refusing to ask for help, which is not something I really picked up on throughout. This could have just been poor reading on my part, however.
I always enjoy stories like this where the magic is richly symbolic. This is true of the CEO perpetrator’s power as well as the women’s curses and character arcs that I described above. He taps into collective sexist beliefs to create his magic and uses violence against women to fuel his own ego, financial gain, and power. This makes the ultimate solution of our protagonists reclaiming power over their curses/stories by challenging sexist beliefs even more satisfying.
I do think that it feels a bit too convenient that the four women are able to rely on the witch Chantal for so many explanations and answers about what to do, although Chantal points out how important it is that they are the ones who find each other, support each other, and each come up with the ways they can take back their power. A lot of the book’s dialogue is comprised of the characters working through the magic and debating what to do about the curses, which leaves less room for introspection. I think I would have enjoyed slightly more interiority for the four women, which would have made them overcoming their individual curses even more powerful for me.
Each chapter is book-ended by an excerpt from a fairy tale Discord channel where users discuss different fairy tale tropes, how they demonstrate historical/ongoing sexist beliefs, and how they can be reclaimed. None of this felt very revolutionary to me, but I could see it being more impactful for other readers. That being said, some of these excerpts drifted a bit too far into the didactic for my personal taste, like when we got descriptions of Trump’s election and the 2016 Women’s March in the form of fairy tales.
There are some interesting nuances that I’ll finish by noting. The CEO himself gets almost no page time or characterization, with all of the focus being on the survivors, their relationships with each other, and how they find their way to empowerment. I also appreciate that they encountered another coworker who had been assaulted but made the decision to stay silent about it instead of joining them. This character was not shamed or judged for for being weak or “letting other women down” as we often see in popular discourse - rather, Claycomb made it clear that she was doing what she decided was best for her survival and her priority of taking care of her family post-assault.
In its reclamation of sexist tropes that are genre staples and effective exploration of trauma, Silenced reminds me of How to Be Eaten and The Refrigerator Monologues. Have yourself a fictional survivor empowerment binge and read all three together!!!
A powerful feminist fairy tale of four women each cursed by the same abusive man. Gripping and essential, it will captivate readers of Jennifer Saint's Ariadne, Heather Walter's Malice and Menna van Praag's The Sisters Grimm.
Four women. Four enchantments. One man. But he is no handsome prince, and this is no sugar-sweet fairy tale. Jo, Abony, Ranjani, and Maia all have something in common: they have each been cursed by the CEO of their workplace after he abused his power to prey on them. He wants them silent and uses his sinister dark magic to keep them quiet about what he did. But Jo, Abony, Ranjani and Maia are not fairy-tale princesses waiting to be rescued. They are fierce, angry women with a bond forged in pain, and they’re about to discover that they have power of their own.
In this sharply written, bitingly relevant modern fable, the magic is dark and damaging, and the women are determined to rescue themselves.
What I Thought
I heard about this via the AMA that Ann Claycomb did on r/fantasy earlier this year, and I’m very glad to have checked it out. The description of a #MeToo fairy tale retelling pretty much fits the bill 100%. Each woman in this story is cursed by their rapist CEO with a particular fairy tale curse that she must overcome in order to live a free life after her assault and stop the perpetrator from continuing his assaults. What I like most about this is how each fairy tale curse is essentially one of the traumatic effects of assault or one of the barriers that survivors face when trying to speak out about their experiences. At the same time, each woman’s curse is broken as she turns an inner struggle to a strength.
Rani’s Bluebeard curse represents the fear of retribution or negative effects against loved ones, and she uses her mother’s skills and knowledge to free herself and her mother from the curse’s harm. Jo is quite literally silenced when she tries to speak about the assault with her Toads and Diamonds curse, but she learns that speaking openly about her feelings for her loved ones and being vulnerable empowers her.
With her Thumblina curse, Maia is belittled and made small and fragile. Her story doesn’t work quite as well for me as the other two, because her relationship with her boyfriend is the linchpin of several important decisions she makes and it never feels quite fleshed out enough for those decisions to feel justified. Abony’s story also feels a bit vague to me - her curse is based on The Red Shoes in that she is forced to buy extremely expensive shoes every time she tries to speak out. It represents the costs, both financial and otherwise, of divulging trauma publicly, as well as the perpetrator’s sexist and victim-blaming beliefs about her dressing well. Her character arc feels the least coherent to me - in the moment where all of their "flaws" are listed, hers is said to be her pride in refusing to ask for help, which is not something I really picked up on throughout. This could have just been poor reading on my part, however.
I always enjoy stories like this where the magic is richly symbolic. This is true of the CEO perpetrator’s power as well as the women’s curses and character arcs that I described above. He taps into collective sexist beliefs to create his magic and uses violence against women to fuel his own ego, financial gain, and power. This makes the ultimate solution of our protagonists reclaiming power over their curses/stories by challenging sexist beliefs even more satisfying.
I do think that it feels a bit too convenient that the four women are able to rely on the witch Chantal for so many explanations and answers about what to do, although Chantal points out how important it is that they are the ones who find each other, support each other, and each come up with the ways they can take back their power. A lot of the book’s dialogue is comprised of the characters working through the magic and debating what to do about the curses, which leaves less room for introspection. I think I would have enjoyed slightly more interiority for the four women, which would have made them overcoming their individual curses even more powerful for me.
Each chapter is book-ended by an excerpt from a fairy tale Discord channel where users discuss different fairy tale tropes, how they demonstrate historical/ongoing sexist beliefs, and how they can be reclaimed. None of this felt very revolutionary to me, but I could see it being more impactful for other readers. That being said, some of these excerpts drifted a bit too far into the didactic for my personal taste, like when we got descriptions of Trump’s election and the 2016 Women’s March in the form of fairy tales.
There are some interesting nuances that I’ll finish by noting. The CEO himself gets almost no page time or characterization, with all of the focus being on the survivors, their relationships with each other, and how they find their way to empowerment. I also appreciate that they encountered another coworker who had been assaulted but made the decision to stay silent about it instead of joining them. This character was not shamed or judged for for being weak or “letting other women down” as we often see in popular discourse - rather, Claycomb made it clear that she was doing what she decided was best for her survival and her priority of taking care of her family post-assault.
In its reclamation of sexist tropes that are genre staples and effective exploration of trauma, Silenced reminds me of How to Be Eaten and The Refrigerator Monologues. Have yourself a fictional survivor empowerment binge and read all three together!!!
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November 1, 2024¿Cuántos fans hay de los cuentos clásicos en la sala?
Si os gustan las historias (y retellings) de Cenicienta, Barbazul, La bella durmiente... tenéis que leer este libro. No solo juega con ese universo de cuentos de hadas como nunca habíamos visto sino que además hace un análisis de todos ellos desde la ironía y la crítica a modo de chats de discord que no os podéis perder.
Esta es una novela muy reivindicativa y feminista, sobre el #metoo, sobre el abuso dentro del entorno laboral, sobre la sororidad e importancia de unirse y denunciar, sobre cómo las mujeres tienen que estar siempre apoyándose si quieren sobrevivir... y a pesar de tratar temas tan duros y difíciles, es una historia totalmente atrapante y adictiva, que pone el foco en la acción y superación.
De las novelas de fantasía más originales que he leído, y totalmente imprescindible si os gustan los cuentos clásicos.
Si os gustan las historias (y retellings) de Cenicienta, Barbazul, La bella durmiente... tenéis que leer este libro. No solo juega con ese universo de cuentos de hadas como nunca habíamos visto sino que además hace un análisis de todos ellos desde la ironía y la crítica a modo de chats de discord que no os podéis perder.
Esta es una novela muy reivindicativa y feminista, sobre el #metoo, sobre el abuso dentro del entorno laboral, sobre la sororidad e importancia de unirse y denunciar, sobre cómo las mujeres tienen que estar siempre apoyándose si quieren sobrevivir... y a pesar de tratar temas tan duros y difíciles, es una historia totalmente atrapante y adictiva, que pone el foco en la acción y superación.
De las novelas de fantasía más originales que he leído, y totalmente imprescindible si os gustan los cuentos clásicos.
April 30, 2023
“You want us to shake his belief in White patriarchy?”
Silenced is a powerful book of fairy tales that takes the passive women from the classic stories and gives them the chance to make their own. Although you have many of the classic elements of a fairy tale, it was nice to see a fairy tale where the women had agency.
It’s weird to say you loved a book where sexual assault is at the heart of that story, but I really loved Silenced. SA and getting justice for how the women have been wronged is the driving force of this story, and it felt powerful. I liked that the CEO didn’t feel like a character, we were barely told anything about him other than what he did - it made it seem like he wasn’t worth time in the women’s thoughts.
I liked how the book also provided a critical discussion of many elements of classic fairy tales - how women are kissed by a prince to be saved but never have to kiss a prince to save him, how princesses never have friends, how so many classic fairy tales seem to have a foot fetish. It introduced another interesting twist to an already fascinating story. I think the discussions could provide the inspiration to so many university essays.
Each of the main characters felt like genuine people and I liked how they overcame their problems, both personal and their curses. I enjoyed that they forged a friendship throughout the story, and that that allowed them to work together.
I didn’t want to put the book down, and I definitely think I’ll be back to it. I love fairy tale retellings, and this was such an unusual and powerful way to reimagine the stories.
Silenced is a powerful book of fairy tales that takes the passive women from the classic stories and gives them the chance to make their own. Although you have many of the classic elements of a fairy tale, it was nice to see a fairy tale where the women had agency.
It’s weird to say you loved a book where sexual assault is at the heart of that story, but I really loved Silenced. SA and getting justice for how the women have been wronged is the driving force of this story, and it felt powerful. I liked that the CEO didn’t feel like a character, we were barely told anything about him other than what he did - it made it seem like he wasn’t worth time in the women’s thoughts.
I liked how the book also provided a critical discussion of many elements of classic fairy tales - how women are kissed by a prince to be saved but never have to kiss a prince to save him, how princesses never have friends, how so many classic fairy tales seem to have a foot fetish. It introduced another interesting twist to an already fascinating story. I think the discussions could provide the inspiration to so many university essays.
Each of the main characters felt like genuine people and I liked how they overcame their problems, both personal and their curses. I enjoyed that they forged a friendship throughout the story, and that that allowed them to work together.
I didn’t want to put the book down, and I definitely think I’ll be back to it. I love fairy tale retellings, and this was such an unusual and powerful way to reimagine the stories.
August 19, 2023
Silenced for me falls in the category of books that have really cool premises that are sadly poorly executed. Silenced follows the story of four women who have been sexually assaulted by their CEO. After doing so, the man curses them to not be able to talk to anyone about what has happened to them, curses which are inspired by various fairy-tales. Jo, for instance, will spit out bugs every single time she tries to speak out about the CEO. Together, they try to figure out a way to lift the curses. Whilst I thought the premise was incredibly cool, the story itself felt like a pretty heavy-handed metaphor of women afraid to speak up because of various reasons (a metaphor that wasn't really a metaphor, because the girls actively speak about how ironic and cruel their curses are in this respect). The CEO was written in such a cartoon villain way that it was hard to take the actual story seriously, and especially him as a dangerous man that has violated more than seven women. The ending again felt quite cartoonish, with the power of friendship saving the day (with the exception of Maia's character, which actually felt a little more fleshed out). I could however appreciate the individual epilogues for each girl's story, which wrapped up everyone's narratives quite nicely. Honestly, I think the issue with this book is that it tried to focus on too many things at the same time. There's 4 persepctives, 4 main characters, all with different issues that we had to get through in only 350 pages. If the focus was only on one character, or maybe if the book was longer we would have been able to appreciate and immerse ourselves more in the story, and eventually also empathise more.
April 30, 2023
Silenced was an interesting read. From the very nature of the story it is fiercely feminist and owes a lot to the MeToo movement. The way the fairytales were woven into the narrative worked well and the book is perhaps better described as magical realism than out-and-out fantasy. While I applaud the fact that the story showed abused women stepping forward and reclaiming their agency, and its message overall was a positive one that deserves to be heard, a part of me was a little over the heavy-handed feminism by the end. I tend to like my messages within literature more on the subtle side, but that's just a personal preference. Suffice to say the message in this book is projected loud and clear and that may appeal to some readers but not to others. The way in which the story is told is clever and captivating though, and it will likely also appear to general readers of fairytales retold. It gets four stars from me.
I received this book as a free eBook ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I received this book as a free eBook ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
April 30, 2023
Headlines:
Feminist, fantasical and fierce
Cursed and silenced
Revenge is sweet
What a clever and great book Silenced was. It started with some tough subject matter which I've put down the bottom in the content warnings. The themes were so important and related to male-female power and disempowerment, going full circle. The story was set in the contemporary with fantastical elements, magic and use of fairy tales as analogies for real world experiences. I enjoyed seeing the vilification of real world men who deserve only our disgust and distain.
The story brought four women together, bonded by assault and curses placed on them. The curses were weird for some, hideous for all and shocking; the fourth curse, really took me by surprise. The introduction of characters came slowly and reveals of their experiences were shared. There felt to be authenticity in the narrative of these characters and I warmed to them all.
The story took the reader for a walk in the shoes of life after assault but with a twist of living with these curses. The chapters were interspersed with discord threads of contemporary takes on fairy tales and the patriarchal/misogynistic leanings of these tales.
The vilest characters award goes to the CEO...it's hard to find words but sticking around to see what happened was page-turning.
This was such a great read and considering the themes, it didn't feel heavy at all. The writing was engaging and intelligent and I would seek out Ann Claycomb again, I'm definitely interested in what else she'll write.
Thank you to Titan Books for the review copy.
Content warnings: rape, sexual assault, body horror, bugs and snakes.
Find this review at A Take From Two Cities Blog.
Feminist, fantasical and fierce
Cursed and silenced
Revenge is sweet
What a clever and great book Silenced was. It started with some tough subject matter which I've put down the bottom in the content warnings. The themes were so important and related to male-female power and disempowerment, going full circle. The story was set in the contemporary with fantastical elements, magic and use of fairy tales as analogies for real world experiences. I enjoyed seeing the vilification of real world men who deserve only our disgust and distain.
The story brought four women together, bonded by assault and curses placed on them. The curses were weird for some, hideous for all and shocking; the fourth curse, really took me by surprise. The introduction of characters came slowly and reveals of their experiences were shared. There felt to be authenticity in the narrative of these characters and I warmed to them all.
The story took the reader for a walk in the shoes of life after assault but with a twist of living with these curses. The chapters were interspersed with discord threads of contemporary takes on fairy tales and the patriarchal/misogynistic leanings of these tales.
The vilest characters award goes to the CEO...it's hard to find words but sticking around to see what happened was page-turning.
This was such a great read and considering the themes, it didn't feel heavy at all. The writing was engaging and intelligent and I would seek out Ann Claycomb again, I'm definitely interested in what else she'll write.
Thank you to Titan Books for the review copy.
Content warnings: rape, sexual assault, body horror, bugs and snakes.
Find this review at A Take From Two Cities Blog.
August 11, 2025
4✨
Trata el tema de las violaciones con mucha sensibilidad y con todo el horror que implica para las víctimas. Me gustó cómo lo vincula las maldiciones con los cuentos de hadas tradicionales, pero creo que había cosas no muy bien hiladas y que, como obra narrativa, aunque con realismo mágico, le quita credulidad o incluso hace ver a la novela como poco trabajada (incluso los personajes dicen "no me preguntes cómo ha pasado porque no tengo ni idea" recurso que está bien si no lo utilizas más de dos veces en diferentes situaciones), sobre todo en el final.
Me gustó mucho cómo crea el sentimiento de unión entre las mujeres, la sororidad y cómo trata sus vidas personales más allá de la violación.
Por cierto, yo soy sensible y pensé que me afectaría más leer sobre este tema pero creo que está muy bien tratado y que no es tan explícito como me esperaba.
Trata el tema de las violaciones con mucha sensibilidad y con todo el horror que implica para las víctimas. Me gustó cómo lo vincula las maldiciones con los cuentos de hadas tradicionales, pero creo que había cosas no muy bien hiladas y que, como obra narrativa, aunque con realismo mágico, le quita credulidad o incluso hace ver a la novela como poco trabajada (incluso los personajes dicen "no me preguntes cómo ha pasado porque no tengo ni idea" recurso que está bien si no lo utilizas más de dos veces en diferentes situaciones), sobre todo en el final.
Me gustó mucho cómo crea el sentimiento de unión entre las mujeres, la sororidad y cómo trata sus vidas personales más allá de la violación.
Por cierto, yo soy sensible y pensé que me afectaría más leer sobre este tema pero creo que está muy bien tratado y que no es tan explícito como me esperaba.
April 4, 2024
Thank you to my bookish besties Lauren and Danielle for sending me a copy of 𝐒𝐈𝐋𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄𝐃 by Ann Claycomb. I absolutely flew through the book, and read the whole story in one day.
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"𝐎𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐮𝐩𝐨𝐧 𝐚 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞," 𝐀𝐛𝐨𝐧𝐲 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝, "𝐡𝐞'𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐝, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲. 𝐖𝐞'𝐯𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭."
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Silenced is a powerful book. It does include a theme of SA, and readers should be aware of this going into the story, but the depictions of this are in no way explicit.
The main thread of the story is focussed on women reclaiming their power following this trauma, in the unique ways that make them who they are.
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"𝐇𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞, 𝐉𝐨," 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝, "𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞. 𝐋𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭."
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There is so much I loved about this novel. I adore fairytale and mythology retellings in general, but especially where there is a twist or a recentering of the perspective of a particular story.
In Silenced, rather than focussing on any one singular fairytale or myth, Claycomb weaves many throughout the story. She does this directly in relation to the women who have been cursed, but also very subtly at times with glimpses and flashes of little details that those who love fairytales can pick up on and savour.
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"𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞?" 𝐀𝐛𝐨𝐧𝐲 𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐞𝐝.
𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬. "𝐋𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐡𝐞𝐝𝐠𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐬, 𝐛𝐚𝐛𝐲, 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬, 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐰𝐞𝐛 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐠𝐨𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐜𝐤 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫."
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The main story surrounds four women - Abony, Ranjani, Maia and Jo - who all experience SA from the same man (the 'CEO'). They are understandably traumatised, but Claycomb depicts this in a brilliantly clever way through her use of fairytales and allegory.
For some women, this sort of violation results in a loss of voice, or a loss of confidence in who they are; for others it is much more rooted in the body and physical symptoms that may occur.
Trauma by its very nature is a powerlessness. It is both psychological and physical. From a physical perspective, survivors can have symptoms, rather than memories. The human mind subdues conscious awareness of that which is too horrific to be remembered, but the body remembers in a different way as an imprint of the past.
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𝐉𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐞, 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬 - 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭, 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐚 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐫.
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As part of their journey together, these intelligent and capable women figure out the reason behind why the CEO is violating women (though in the real world of course there isn't a clear cut reason why this happens), and they hatch a plan to figure out how to stop him from hurting more women.
I loved the fact that the CEO remains nameless - this in itself turns the traditional fairytale on its head where usually the female characters are nameless or under-represented, but it also emphasises the point that this could be any man, in any position of power, taking advantage and abusing that power he holds.
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"𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐞𝐧 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐰𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐮𝐲 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 - 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐞'𝐫𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐲, 𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬, 𝐩𝐞𝐭𝐬, 𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐬, 𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐬"
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The structure of the story was very cleverly executed, with chapters following the POVs of the four women, but interspersed with blog posts that share and discuss fairytales.
There are stories of older, more traditional fairytales (such as The Red Shoes and Bluebeard); challenges within the discussion about representation within fairytales (including thr modernisation and censoring of some stories, like The Little Mermaid); and also modern depictions of real life situations that emphasise the way fairytale stories really do occur around us all the time.
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𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐮𝐩𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐝𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐤𝐞𝐩𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐰𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐬𝐚𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐧 𝐛𝐲 𝐚 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝, 𝐚 𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐨𝐫, 𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐨𝐧 - 𝐲𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐝.
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What I loved in particular about the story was the friendship that developed between the women, and how they didn't only support each other through the trauma they'd endured, but they encouraged each other to step into their power to become who they needed to be. They all broke out of old patterns that were keeping them 'stuck', and reclaimed something vital about themselves to live a fuller and richer life.
They weren't all friends from the start, and it took time for them to learn to trust each other. But this in itself is true for many women who live in this patriarchal society. For many years women have been conditioned to view each other as competition, and there is a degree of collective trauma where women were forced and coerced into a position of betraying other women in an effort to protect themselves (such as during the witch trials). This fear can still permeate our day to day lives, with many women preferring to stay silent and compliant, with the false belief that to be 'good' and 'ladylike' ensures you will be protected in this society. But that is perhaps the biggest myth of them all.
I adore stories of women supporting women, but in a realistic way, which was definitely the case within Silenced.
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𝐈 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐰𝐞 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧'𝐭 - 𝐨𝐫 𝐜𝐚𝐧'𝐭, 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐰, 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝, 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐧'𝐭. 𝐎𝐫 𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨, 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐭.
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Another thing I ADORED within the story was the depiction of The Gingerbread House. I don't even like toffee apples, but I wanted a toffee apple while I was reading this book!
The portrayal of the enchantment on the gingerbread was truly magical, and I loved how yet again Claycomb turned a stereotypical fairytale trope on its head.
In many fairytales, the biting of the apple/peach is a representation of a loss if innocence. But in Silenced, the tasting of the gingerbread resulted in something quite the opposite - and this felt especially true in Abony's experience.
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𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐯𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 - 𝐧𝐨, 𝐠𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐡 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐮𝐫𝐠𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭.
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I loved the fact that despite the difficult things that had happened to these women, they really chose their own stories, and found solace in each other and their loved ones to move forward with their lives.
None of us can control what happens to us, but we do have power over our healing, and over the future we want to create for ourselves.
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"𝐆𝐨𝐝," 𝐉𝐨 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝, 𝐩𝐮𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞. "𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐈'𝐦 𝐬𝐨 𝙩𝙞𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝐨𝐟 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐫𝐲."
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Overall I would definitely recommend Silenced to all readers, but especially to women, and especially to readers who enjoy fairytales.
I would definitely read more from Ann Claycomb in the future, and will be sending a copy of Silenced on to another friend of mine who I know will love it.
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"𝐎𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐮𝐩𝐨𝐧 𝐚 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞," 𝐀𝐛𝐨𝐧𝐲 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝, "𝐡𝐞'𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐝, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲. 𝐖𝐞'𝐯𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭."
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Silenced is a powerful book. It does include a theme of SA, and readers should be aware of this going into the story, but the depictions of this are in no way explicit.
The main thread of the story is focussed on women reclaiming their power following this trauma, in the unique ways that make them who they are.
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"𝐇𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞, 𝐉𝐨," 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝, "𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞. 𝐋𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭."
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There is so much I loved about this novel. I adore fairytale and mythology retellings in general, but especially where there is a twist or a recentering of the perspective of a particular story.
In Silenced, rather than focussing on any one singular fairytale or myth, Claycomb weaves many throughout the story. She does this directly in relation to the women who have been cursed, but also very subtly at times with glimpses and flashes of little details that those who love fairytales can pick up on and savour.
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"𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞?" 𝐀𝐛𝐨𝐧𝐲 𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐞𝐝.
𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬. "𝐋𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐡𝐞𝐝𝐠𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐬, 𝐛𝐚𝐛𝐲, 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬, 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐰𝐞𝐛 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐠𝐨𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐜𝐤 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫."
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The main story surrounds four women - Abony, Ranjani, Maia and Jo - who all experience SA from the same man (the 'CEO'). They are understandably traumatised, but Claycomb depicts this in a brilliantly clever way through her use of fairytales and allegory.
For some women, this sort of violation results in a loss of voice, or a loss of confidence in who they are; for others it is much more rooted in the body and physical symptoms that may occur.
Trauma by its very nature is a powerlessness. It is both psychological and physical. From a physical perspective, survivors can have symptoms, rather than memories. The human mind subdues conscious awareness of that which is too horrific to be remembered, but the body remembers in a different way as an imprint of the past.
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𝐉𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐞, 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬 - 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭, 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐚 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐫.
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As part of their journey together, these intelligent and capable women figure out the reason behind why the CEO is violating women (though in the real world of course there isn't a clear cut reason why this happens), and they hatch a plan to figure out how to stop him from hurting more women.
I loved the fact that the CEO remains nameless - this in itself turns the traditional fairytale on its head where usually the female characters are nameless or under-represented, but it also emphasises the point that this could be any man, in any position of power, taking advantage and abusing that power he holds.
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"𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐞𝐧 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐰𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐮𝐲 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 - 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐞'𝐫𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐲, 𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬, 𝐩𝐞𝐭𝐬, 𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐬, 𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐬"
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The structure of the story was very cleverly executed, with chapters following the POVs of the four women, but interspersed with blog posts that share and discuss fairytales.
There are stories of older, more traditional fairytales (such as The Red Shoes and Bluebeard); challenges within the discussion about representation within fairytales (including thr modernisation and censoring of some stories, like The Little Mermaid); and also modern depictions of real life situations that emphasise the way fairytale stories really do occur around us all the time.
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𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐮𝐩𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐝𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐤𝐞𝐩𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐰𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐬𝐚𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐧 𝐛𝐲 𝐚 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝, 𝐚 𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐨𝐫, 𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐨𝐧 - 𝐲𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐝.
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What I loved in particular about the story was the friendship that developed between the women, and how they didn't only support each other through the trauma they'd endured, but they encouraged each other to step into their power to become who they needed to be. They all broke out of old patterns that were keeping them 'stuck', and reclaimed something vital about themselves to live a fuller and richer life.
They weren't all friends from the start, and it took time for them to learn to trust each other. But this in itself is true for many women who live in this patriarchal society. For many years women have been conditioned to view each other as competition, and there is a degree of collective trauma where women were forced and coerced into a position of betraying other women in an effort to protect themselves (such as during the witch trials). This fear can still permeate our day to day lives, with many women preferring to stay silent and compliant, with the false belief that to be 'good' and 'ladylike' ensures you will be protected in this society. But that is perhaps the biggest myth of them all.
I adore stories of women supporting women, but in a realistic way, which was definitely the case within Silenced.
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𝐈 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐰𝐞 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧'𝐭 - 𝐨𝐫 𝐜𝐚𝐧'𝐭, 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐰, 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝, 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐧'𝐭. 𝐎𝐫 𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨, 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐭.
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Another thing I ADORED within the story was the depiction of The Gingerbread House. I don't even like toffee apples, but I wanted a toffee apple while I was reading this book!
The portrayal of the enchantment on the gingerbread was truly magical, and I loved how yet again Claycomb turned a stereotypical fairytale trope on its head.
In many fairytales, the biting of the apple/peach is a representation of a loss if innocence. But in Silenced, the tasting of the gingerbread resulted in something quite the opposite - and this felt especially true in Abony's experience.
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𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐯𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 - 𝐧𝐨, 𝐠𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐡 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐮𝐫𝐠𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭.
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I loved the fact that despite the difficult things that had happened to these women, they really chose their own stories, and found solace in each other and their loved ones to move forward with their lives.
None of us can control what happens to us, but we do have power over our healing, and over the future we want to create for ourselves.
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"𝐆𝐨𝐝," 𝐉𝐨 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝, 𝐩𝐮𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞. "𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐈'𝐦 𝐬𝐨 𝙩𝙞𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝐨𝐟 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐫𝐲."
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Overall I would definitely recommend Silenced to all readers, but especially to women, and especially to readers who enjoy fairytales.
I would definitely read more from Ann Claycomb in the future, and will be sending a copy of Silenced on to another friend of mine who I know will love it.
April 26, 2023
3.75 star review ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Written in modern day, it’s unlike anything I’ve read before, it’s really unique in terms of concept. If I was going to compare it to another book it would probably be The Lost Storyteller but a more fantastical version. But this one also deals with the important topic of sexual assault and how women have in the past and even today been forced to be silent or been too afraid to speak up. It wasn’t for graphic but it is a huge factor of the book so some people might still find it hard to read. There’s also some references to fairy tales of old and even new I really loved that stand out from the rest of the story.
These four women are brought together by what happened and have a common purpose. I felt such sympathy for the four leading ladies and what they had been through. Nothing was knocking them down though, they take strength from what happened to them. It could be hard at times though to read about that they was going through as victims of sexual assault.
I did admittedly struggle a little with the writing in this one and the pacing but I think I will definitely be picking it up again at some point.
Filled with strong female characters, witches, sorcerers and more. Silenced is a thought provoking read with a dash of fantasy. A brilliant modern day feminist fairy tale.
Written in modern day, it’s unlike anything I’ve read before, it’s really unique in terms of concept. If I was going to compare it to another book it would probably be The Lost Storyteller but a more fantastical version. But this one also deals with the important topic of sexual assault and how women have in the past and even today been forced to be silent or been too afraid to speak up. It wasn’t for graphic but it is a huge factor of the book so some people might still find it hard to read. There’s also some references to fairy tales of old and even new I really loved that stand out from the rest of the story.
These four women are brought together by what happened and have a common purpose. I felt such sympathy for the four leading ladies and what they had been through. Nothing was knocking them down though, they take strength from what happened to them. It could be hard at times though to read about that they was going through as victims of sexual assault.
I did admittedly struggle a little with the writing in this one and the pacing but I think I will definitely be picking it up again at some point.
Filled with strong female characters, witches, sorcerers and more. Silenced is a thought provoking read with a dash of fantasy. A brilliant modern day feminist fairy tale.
April 28, 2023
This is a read no one should miss!!
‼️TW‼️
This is the authors note: “Silenced deals with the theme of sexual assault and the silencing that many women experience when they try to report. The novel also includes brief descriptions of sexual assault. Although these descriptions are not graphic, they may still be upsetting for some readers.”
Content warnings include: Rape, Sexual Assault, Insects & Snakes.
This book had me hooked from the outset. It centres around 4 women who have had their power ripped from them by their evil CEO, but they’re about to learn how to take that power back!
I loved that although the story deals with the horrific theme of sexual assaults and the assaulted women then being unable to speak their truths, I didn’t feel like it was a chore to read and I was definitely driven to keep turning the pages because the characters were so true to life in their portrayal.
The twist on the women’s forced silence is the curses they have to endure and these were so cleverly thought out!
The link to fairytales and how they are written to the benefit of men and not women is something I didn’t fully realise or think about until I read this book and the message board extracts and the comments within them.
In short every woman, young and old, should read this book and take control of the power they sometimes unwittingly wield!!
I have included some of my favourite quotes below (I don’t want to give too much away):
"Where there's an evil wizard there's always a good one to counter him--or her," Jo said, nodding sagely. "Dumbledore, Aslan, Gandalf... I mean, I think it's a rule in fantasy novels."
"Aslan's not a wizard," Maia said absently, "he's Jesus.”
“Question of the Day: Why are witches in fairy tales always evil?
submitted by blackcatlover (member since 2016)
Jess: Short answer to this one: because men find powerful women scary and need other women to also find them scary. How to do this? Make sure that the women exercising power in these stories are always doing it for evil purposes.”
‼️TW‼️
This is the authors note: “Silenced deals with the theme of sexual assault and the silencing that many women experience when they try to report. The novel also includes brief descriptions of sexual assault. Although these descriptions are not graphic, they may still be upsetting for some readers.”
Content warnings include: Rape, Sexual Assault, Insects & Snakes.
This book had me hooked from the outset. It centres around 4 women who have had their power ripped from them by their evil CEO, but they’re about to learn how to take that power back!
I loved that although the story deals with the horrific theme of sexual assaults and the assaulted women then being unable to speak their truths, I didn’t feel like it was a chore to read and I was definitely driven to keep turning the pages because the characters were so true to life in their portrayal.
The twist on the women’s forced silence is the curses they have to endure and these were so cleverly thought out!
The link to fairytales and how they are written to the benefit of men and not women is something I didn’t fully realise or think about until I read this book and the message board extracts and the comments within them.
In short every woman, young and old, should read this book and take control of the power they sometimes unwittingly wield!!
I have included some of my favourite quotes below (I don’t want to give too much away):
"Where there's an evil wizard there's always a good one to counter him--or her," Jo said, nodding sagely. "Dumbledore, Aslan, Gandalf... I mean, I think it's a rule in fantasy novels."
"Aslan's not a wizard," Maia said absently, "he's Jesus.”
“Question of the Day: Why are witches in fairy tales always evil?
submitted by blackcatlover (member since 2016)
Jess: Short answer to this one: because men find powerful women scary and need other women to also find them scary. How to do this? Make sure that the women exercising power in these stories are always doing it for evil purposes.”
August 14, 2024
Heavy-handed and lacking in subtext. A metaphor is not a metaphor if it’s literally what is happening to them. The oversimplicity of the topics at hand is extremely off-putting, and none of the characters are likable or interesting. All of these women hate each other; every woman seems to be constantly grappling to pull a "gotcha" moment on the others. The villain is disappointing; the CEO does not feel like a real person, but a cartoonishly evil depiction of a rapist.
Another reviewer stated that the online discourse sections were chock-full of cliches. Every person involved in this story has never heard of any historical context surrounding folktales and fairytales. “WOMEN SHOULD BE ABLE TO WEAR WHAT THEY WANT” is not an educated, believable, nor interesting reaction to Hans Christian Andersen’s fascination with the feet of poverty-stricken little girls. Also, referring to racism as “the icky stuff” is insane.
Something I've been holding onto since I read this last year... Why are the leading Black women just named different variations of "Ebony"?
Another reviewer stated that the online discourse sections were chock-full of cliches. Every person involved in this story has never heard of any historical context surrounding folktales and fairytales. “WOMEN SHOULD BE ABLE TO WEAR WHAT THEY WANT” is not an educated, believable, nor interesting reaction to Hans Christian Andersen’s fascination with the feet of poverty-stricken little girls. Also, referring to racism as “the icky stuff” is insane.
Something I've been holding onto since I read this last year... Why are the leading Black women just named different variations of "Ebony"?
May 2, 2023
Silenced is an utterly captivating, thought provoking and important read and I couldn’t put it down. The author achieves the seemingly impossible by using elements of magic and fairytales to highlighting the topic of sexual assault and the silencing that victims often experience against a backdrop of a modern day fairytale.
The story features four very different, but equally fabulous strong, successful women who have been assaulted and cursed, but refuse to break. The chapters are told from their alternating points of view, and we learn details of their background, lives and the curses that silence them as the book progresses. The author does an incredible job of bringing the characters to life and I loved seeing how quickly they formed a strong and supportive sisterhood.
Rather than waiting to be ‘saved’ or purely seeking revenge, the women dig into their own power to find the strength to take back their voices and seek justice against the evil CEO.
The story highlights how many of the original fairytales constrain, degrade and punish women in some of the most awful ways imaginable. Some of these ‘bedtime stories’ were really the stuff of nightmares for the women involved. Peppered throughout the story are chat room discussions that contextualise fairytales into modern day situations, highlighting the sick and misogynistic nature of them. This was definitely eye opening!
Despite the serious nature of the story, it’s never depressing. Silenced is a considered, moving and empowering tale about the power of friendship, being heard and justice. I highly recommend it.
The story features four very different, but equally fabulous strong, successful women who have been assaulted and cursed, but refuse to break. The chapters are told from their alternating points of view, and we learn details of their background, lives and the curses that silence them as the book progresses. The author does an incredible job of bringing the characters to life and I loved seeing how quickly they formed a strong and supportive sisterhood.
Rather than waiting to be ‘saved’ or purely seeking revenge, the women dig into their own power to find the strength to take back their voices and seek justice against the evil CEO.
The story highlights how many of the original fairytales constrain, degrade and punish women in some of the most awful ways imaginable. Some of these ‘bedtime stories’ were really the stuff of nightmares for the women involved. Peppered throughout the story are chat room discussions that contextualise fairytales into modern day situations, highlighting the sick and misogynistic nature of them. This was definitely eye opening!
Despite the serious nature of the story, it’s never depressing. Silenced is a considered, moving and empowering tale about the power of friendship, being heard and justice. I highly recommend it.
April 25, 2023
This was an unexpected but powerful journey. We're introduced to the women one by one, and get to know each woman's story and curse as we go. Each woman has her strengths and weaknesses, but I admired the sisterhood which quickly formed between the women.
Throughout are blog post style snippets, calling out the misogyny in traditional fairytales (and pointing out how creepy Hans Christian Andersen was). These help unravel the mystery of the curses, and are interesting to read.
The different perspectives worked cohesively throughout and were well timed. I felt most connected to Ranjani. The characters families and significant others were also brought to life nicely, and you became fully invested in their relationships and how they'd been affected.
Parts of this were tough to read, but important to be written. And there were happy moments too, like the magic of Chantal's sweetshop and the sisterhood formed.
Overall a powerful take on fairytale retellings, and women reclaiming their power, which is worth a read.
Throughout are blog post style snippets, calling out the misogyny in traditional fairytales (and pointing out how creepy Hans Christian Andersen was). These help unravel the mystery of the curses, and are interesting to read.
The different perspectives worked cohesively throughout and were well timed. I felt most connected to Ranjani. The characters families and significant others were also brought to life nicely, and you became fully invested in their relationships and how they'd been affected.
Parts of this were tough to read, but important to be written. And there were happy moments too, like the magic of Chantal's sweetshop and the sisterhood formed.
Overall a powerful take on fairytale retellings, and women reclaiming their power, which is worth a read.
April 24, 2023
AD/PR Product: Thank you @titanbooks for letting me apart of @ann.claycomb’s book tour. I couldn’t put this one down!
❗️CW: Sexual assault and the silencing that many women experience when trying to report. Although some descriptions are not graphic, they may still be upsetting for some readers so please proceed with caution.
This isn’t your typical fairy tale. It was cruel, heartbreaking and the message behind the story was sadly very truthful with many sexual assault victims. It was really eye opening.
Jo, Abony, Ranjani, and Maia’s curses were unique to them in the most painful of ways and with everything happening I found these four women to be so incredibly strong and determined. The bond they developed as a group was beautiful and I think everyone deserves to have people in their lives they can rely on.
Like many SA survivors these four women never wanted revenge. They wanted justice and I’m so glad they all found that and were finally heard and believed.
Such a well written, fast paced book! I’ll definitely be recommending this one!
❗️CW: Sexual assault and the silencing that many women experience when trying to report. Although some descriptions are not graphic, they may still be upsetting for some readers so please proceed with caution.
This isn’t your typical fairy tale. It was cruel, heartbreaking and the message behind the story was sadly very truthful with many sexual assault victims. It was really eye opening.
Jo, Abony, Ranjani, and Maia’s curses were unique to them in the most painful of ways and with everything happening I found these four women to be so incredibly strong and determined. The bond they developed as a group was beautiful and I think everyone deserves to have people in their lives they can rely on.
Like many SA survivors these four women never wanted revenge. They wanted justice and I’m so glad they all found that and were finally heard and believed.
Such a well written, fast paced book! I’ll definitely be recommending this one!
June 25, 2023
This is a really amazing feminist adaptation/modernization of sets of fairy tales. Written for a #MeToo world, the novel revolves around a series of women who have been sexually assaulted by the CEO of their company, and then placed under fairy tale curses to prevent them reporting it--all so that he can gain magical power to drive the company's stock prices up. But the women find one another and learn that the way to defeat the curses is to confront the source of the CEO's power.
https://youtu.be/UKYxiJ2x_r0
https://youtu.be/UKYxiJ2x_r0
July 3, 2024
A very cool premise but I feel like it fell short of the depth this kind of subject matter requires. It felt too light-handed and while I appreciated some of the more humorous aspects, it just wasn’t balanced quite right and I think it was trying to do too much!
June 14, 2024
Uno de esos libros en los que hubiera agradecido MUCHISIMO las estrellas partidas.
No le puedo dar solo tres estrellas, porque trata varios temas muy serios (no solo el abuso sexual como tal) muy bien y de forma muy amena que puede llegar a una audiencia mucho más mainstream que otras obras que igual sean más densas/desagradables de leer (o, por el contrario, demasiado vanillas y suaves para el asunto). Además, no demoniza a los personajes por no tomar siempre la decisión correcta y el tono sobrenatural es bastante original y bien llevado.
Sin embargo ...en cuanto aparecen los foros, el discurso que se sigue es muy Feminismo de la Segunda Ola (cosa que, a día de hoy, me chirría demasiado) y es cierto que lo que lo tara un poco es la caracterización de las cuatro protagonistas hasta que ya has entrado en la historia a fondo.
De todas formas, muy necesaria lectura aunque de verdad que recomiendo leerla saltándose los foros. Sé que la intención es buena, pero ...pero
No le puedo dar solo tres estrellas, porque trata varios temas muy serios (no solo el abuso sexual como tal) muy bien y de forma muy amena que puede llegar a una audiencia mucho más mainstream que otras obras que igual sean más densas/desagradables de leer (o, por el contrario, demasiado vanillas y suaves para el asunto). Además, no demoniza a los personajes por no tomar siempre la decisión correcta y el tono sobrenatural es bastante original y bien llevado.
Sin embargo ...en cuanto aparecen los foros, el discurso que se sigue es muy Feminismo de la Segunda Ola (cosa que, a día de hoy, me chirría demasiado) y es cierto que lo que lo tara un poco es la caracterización de las cuatro protagonistas hasta que ya has entrado en la historia a fondo.
De todas formas, muy necesaria lectura aunque de verdad que recomiendo leerla saltándose los foros. Sé que la intención es buena, pero ...pero
April 28, 2025
Höjdpunkten med denna bok? Den snygga framsidan kanske. Nä men detta var en bok som nog kunde blivit väldigt bra om den fått bearbetats lite till. Det handlar om 4 kvinnor som blivit våldtagna av samma man som sedan ger kvinnorna varsin curse baserad på olika sagor. Jag förstår poängen men hela storyn var lite för on the nose. Inget sades mellan raderna utan varje grej behövde förtydligas med dialog. Språket var därmed rätt orealistiskt och hade inte så bra flow. Gillade nog Jo bäst som karaktär och kändes som att det fanns liiite med djup där. Allt som allt en 3/5 toasters.
February 24, 2025
Una historia muy dura por lo que cuenta, pero al mismo tiempo muy amable por las protagonistas y la relación entre ellas. Y toda una revisión del papel y tratamiento de las mujeres en los cuentos de hadas tradicionales.
November 28, 2023
This book was amazing! I breezed through it on a 5 hour flight. A compelling story with interesting characters and a page turning plot!
June 7, 2024
4.5⭐️
August 17, 2024
Lectura dura aunque tenga una portada cuqui. Una oda a la sonoridad
July 11, 2025
3.5 ⭐️ A modern, feminist #MeToo fairytale where women are cursed by the same abusive men. Dark and disturbing. Important premise, but the execution didn’t quite land for me. Four perspectives in under 350 pages made it hard to fully sick into each character.
August 30, 2024
This ended up being a bit too reductive and rah rah corporate girl power for my personal taste, but honestly, the idea was solid. It just ended up feeling a bit too trite to me at times. Best of luck to the author though.
November 11, 2025
it's a bit modern
October 2, 2023
I liked the way we went back and forth between the main story and the online forum about fairytales (although hearing the forum's community guidelines EVERY time one of these chapters started did quickly get annoying on the audiobook). Otherwise, I felt vaguely positive about the message and plot... but nothing was particularly outstanding. Usually I read a lot of books that are fascinating ideas and the execution is meh, but with this one, I wish the author had reached for something more radical than women-unite-to-fight-patriarchy-also-magic-exists... It's ok! But not a top book for me.
February 18, 2025
4.5 stars. It was interesting to read the reinterpreted fairytales and I like how AC blended fantasy/metaphors with the brutal reality and devastating cost of women that have been sexually abused. It's super powerful as it forces the reader to confront difficult but necessary truths of navigating a world that has historically and still is in many ways shaped by men. WOULD HIGHLY RECOMMEND!
May 30, 2023
I hate that we have a #metoo world and love that Ann wrote the fairytale for it. My only point of contention is I feel like calling it a #metoo fairy tale attaches it to one conversation in society when this is a much bigger look at women through time, story and expectation.
Ann has put in many layers of fantasy and thoughtfulness that kept me intrigued all the way through. I feel like I could read it again and get more understanding of all of the fairy tale nuance and I love that.
Mostly I love the 4 main characters-they felt real and they each reminded me of someone I know and have both leaned on and rooted for before.
Ann has put in many layers of fantasy and thoughtfulness that kept me intrigued all the way through. I feel like I could read it again and get more understanding of all of the fairy tale nuance and I love that.
Mostly I love the 4 main characters-they felt real and they each reminded me of someone I know and have both leaned on and rooted for before.
May 24, 2023
Thank you to Titan Books and NetGalley for the ARC of this novel. The concept of someone being cursed with the punishment of fairytales and using less well-known fairytales really sparked my interest to request this. I like the POV switches between each of the cursed women which then extended into a larger universe. It is marketed as fantasy which works as the events are fantastical but is a realistic fantasy with the conclusion. Seeing these women come together to not only help each other but fight back against the patriarchy was powerful to me. I also really liked the fairytale discord channel topics to connect to the story but also offer more details and context to these stories we accept in their Disney sanitized versions. I would highly recommend this book.
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