Snow White and Rose Red by Patricia C. Wrede
This is an adaptation of the fairy tale “Snow White and Rose Red” (which, despite likely having the same root as “Snow White,” is a different story from “Snow White,” and actually one I prefer to “Snow White”) set in Elizabethan England and incorporating elements of “Thomas the Rhymer.”
Rosamund and Blanche live with their mother, a widow, in the village of Mortluk and frequently gather herbs for her from the nearby forest, often passing the border into faerie to do so. When faerie conspirators use mortal sorcerers as part of their plots, one of the faerie queen’s half-mortal sons, Hugh, is turned into a bear and exiled from faerie, and his brother, John, follows him, dragging the sisters into their affairs when they take in the bear.
The book is highly enjoyable and folds the traditional tale, history, and other folklore in fairly seamlessly, but the second half is a bit too cluttered, with all the characters and plotlines coming together and overwhelming the story. It came out before Sexy Other Boyfriends became all the rage, and before it became trendy to use faerie to explore potential skeevy sexual politics, and it shows in the best ways. The characters are developed and likable, and the plot is straightforward without being simplistic, and complex without being convoluted.
Rosamund and Blanche live with their mother, a widow, in the village of Mortluk and frequently gather herbs for her from the nearby forest, often passing the border into faerie to do so. When faerie conspirators use mortal sorcerers as part of their plots, one of the faerie queen’s half-mortal sons, Hugh, is turned into a bear and exiled from faerie, and his brother, John, follows him, dragging the sisters into their affairs when they take in the bear.
The book is highly enjoyable and folds the traditional tale, history, and other folklore in fairly seamlessly, but the second half is a bit too cluttered, with all the characters and plotlines coming together and overwhelming the story. It came out before Sexy Other Boyfriends became all the rage, and before it became trendy to use faerie to explore potential skeevy sexual politics, and it shows in the best ways. The characters are developed and likable, and the plot is straightforward without being simplistic, and complex without being convoluted.