These don't sound like your typical stories! I love anything with strong female characters who face adversity and how they persevere, so these are going on my Kindle Wish List. Do you have any that you've read and recommend that are similar? Two that I really didn't like in college (Women in Lit class), but now have a much greater appreciation for, and understanding of, are The Bloody Chamber: And Other Stories by Angela Carter
Amazon
and Jasmine by Bharati Mukherjee
Amazon
So many fairy tales and myths are about girls who are known only by their positions in life: daughter, princess, wife. They don't slay dragons; they prick their fingers. ...Later on, I realized that all my favorite childhood books were reinterpretations of these old stories — newer versions in which the girls were named, wielded weapons and fought battles. Here are three novels that have reclaimed some of these tales for women. ...the job of reclaiming these myths seem like an unending labor. But this is work that must be done: creating worlds in which girls are free to speak up, to love themselves, and to love each other.
Deerskin
By Robin McKinley, paperback, 384 pages, Ace Trade, list price: $14
Charles Perrault's fairy tale "Donkeyskin" is the basis for Deerskin, Robin McKinley's reimagining of this story about the daughter of a king and his beautiful queen. When the queen dies, the king decides that the only woman who could possibly replace his wife is their daughter, Lissla Lissar. The result of the king's incestuous proclamation is a horrific rape that leaves Lissar and her dog badly battered and near death. What follows is a tale of survival. Slowly, Lissar learns to reclaim her own body. Ultimately, she reclaims her own right to love and be loved — a right that so often is entirely invisible in fairy tales about girls, whose only duties are to the men in their lives.
Alcestis
By Katharine Beutner, paperback, 304 pages, Soho Press, list price: $14
In Greek myth, Alcestis was one such girl: so dutiful that when her husband asked for her to die in his stead, she complied. But Katharine Beutner's interpretation of the story gives us a vividly different woman.
Santa Olivia
By Jacqueline Carey, paperback, 352 pages, Grand Central Publishing, list price: $13.99
Santa Olivia takes these typically masculine narratives — a masked hero; the training of a champion — and reclaims them for every girl who has ever dreamed that she could be the true hero.
"Now, more than ever, the illusions of division threaten our very existence. We all know the truth: more connects us than separates us. But in times of crisis the wise build bridges, while the foolish build barriers. We must find a way to look after one another as if we were one single tribe.” -King T'Challa, Black Panther
The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it. ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is. ~Winston Churchill
