If I think back to my childhood much of my book diet was made up, primarily, of nursery rhymes and fairy stories. Whether that was down to my mother or circumstance I’m not sure but I can’t say I ever remember the home being without copies of Hans Andersen and Grimm’s Fairy Tales. My Mum read Fudge the Fairy to me at bedtime before I could read for myself. She started to read The Enchanted Wood to me while I was learning to read and that motivated me to finish it off for myself. So I was exposed to magical realism from an early age. I’m old now but I still love it.
As a book blogger social media is part of the blogging game. It’s a mixed blessing - sometimes you see a book that nearly every blogger on the planet seems to have been sent a proof of except you. You’re the kid not invited to the party. I’m sure, I hope, that isn’t so but it often feels that way. And so it was with Menna Van Praag’s The Sister’s Grimm. I saw it everywhere. and, oh, how I wanted it! One photo even showed some goody bags! I knew with an unfailing instinct that it would be my kinda book. You can't have a book with ‘Grimm’ in the title and not be reminded of those age old fairy tales. Not published until February though…….. put it on the Wanted List.
Fast forward to now. Shout out to my local library. On the shelf almost on publication day. I was excited by the endorsement from Bridget Collins on the cover as I enjoyed The Binding. (another one that other bloggers received but I didn’t!). I thought ’Sisters…..’ was similar in mood to that book. I have just finished this glorious tale of four sisters. I want to be a sister Grimm. I want to live in Everwhere. Now.
But to the manner of all things blurbish……
‘Absorbing and beautiful - a great achievement.' BRIDGET COLLINS, bestselling author of The Binding
There are hundreds, possibly thousands, of sisters Grimm on Earth.
You may well be one of them, though you might never know it.
This is the story of four sisters Grimm – daughters born to different mothers on the same day, each born out of bright-white wishing and black-edged desire.
They found each other at eight years-old, were separated at thirteen and now, at nearly eighteen, it is imperative that they find each other once again.
In thirty-three days they will meet their father in Everwhere. Only then will they discover who they truly are, and what they can truly do. Then they must fight to save their lives and the lives of the ones they love. Three will live, one will die.
You’ll have to read on to find out who and why . . .’
Something that always excites me about this genre is the imagination and the complexities of plot that leave me breathless at how one person, one mind, can create some other world, so faultlessly, so believably, that you long to shake off this virus ridden world and enter another where anything can happen. But it isn’t just about the creation of a different landscape it’s about using that landscape to offer insights and points. Here it is clearly about the empowerment of women and their self awareness. Some gritty issues about self harming and child abuse aren’t shied away from. But it’s done with a fine balance of solemnity and humour, woven within a poetic patchwork of prose that evokes and excites.
Like many stories of this kind this has a faintly gothic feel to it with the eternal good versus evil theme. The evil here is the father of our four sisters. I’m never willingly in the spoiler business so I’ll say little about plot specifics. The four girls, all so different in personality and their elemental super powers (read the book!) took their place in the everyday world with all the problems and challenges we all face from time to time - money, relationships, employment, siblings, ageing relatives and so on. Things we can all relate to but the frequent flashbacks to their thirteen year old selves in Everwhere never lets the reader forget that this is place of imagination and magic. The male characters are well developed and offered a twist I vaguely suspected at one point only to reject the idea. Until I got to the end!
It’s not the genre for everyone. If you wish for realism in your fiction you might not appreciate this on as many levels as those of use who habitually escape into worlds of fantasy and magic. I loved it. As well as being a fine story I felt it paid homage to those fairy stories that I grew up. Let us continue to celebrate the kissing of frogs and the construction of gingerbread houses, (where you might eat the ceiling before it falls down.) ;)
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