I’ve been a fan of Theodora Goss’s writing for years. I loved Goss’s The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter (you can read my review here). Now there’s The Collected Enchantments with dozens of long and short stories about magic and fantasy and fairy tales.

Some of the stories in The Collected Enchantments retell and recast familiar fairy tales in a new light like “Goldilocks and the Bear,” and “Rapunzel”. And then there’s more classic stories told in a different style: “Rumpelstiltskin,” “Thumbelina,” and “Medusa Gets a Haircut.”

I found The Collected Enchantments…enchanting and so will you! Theodora Goss is a gifted storyteller and this book is filled with delights! GRADE: A

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

• Introduction: Why I Write Fantasy — 11
• Why You Might Be a Witch –16
• The Rose in Twelve Petals — 18
• The Ogress Queen — 32
• Rose Child — 34
• The Rapid Advance of Sorrow — 37
• Lady Winter — 42
• Shoes of Bark — 44
• Miss Emily Gray — 46
• The Witch — 56
• Binnorie — 59
• The Wings of Meister Wilhelm — 60
• The Egg in Twelve Scenes — 80
• Vivian to Merlin — 84
• In Autumn — 86
• Seven Shoes — 89
• The Clever Serving-Maid — 92
• Princess Lucinda and the Hound of the Moon — 94
• The Cinder Girl Burns Brightly — 107
• The Stepsister’s Tale — 110
• Lily, With Clouds — 112
• The Gold-Spinner — 118
• Rumpelstiltskin — 120
• Singing of Mount Abora — 122
• The Dragons — 135
• Thumbelina — 139
• In the Forest of Forgetting — 140
• Autumn’s Song — 146
• Green Man — 147
• Sleeping With Bears — 148
• Goldilocks and the Bear — 154
• The Bear’s Wife — 158
• Professor Berkowitz Stands on the Threshold — 160
• Persephone in Hades — 172
• The Princess and the Peas — 174
• Blanchefleur — 178
• Rapunzel — 210
• The Sorceress in the Tower — 211
• Fair Ladies — 213
• Swan Girls — 228
• The Gentleman — 231
• Christopher Raven — 233
• Ravens — 247
• The Fox Wife — 249
• Reynalda — 252
• Mr. Fox — 254
• The Mysterious Miss Tickle — 256
• Lessons with Miss Gray — 259
• The Witch-Girls — 281
• The Witch’s Cat — 283
• Pip and the Fairies — 285
• Tam Lin Remembers the Fairy Queen — 292
• The Fairies’ Gifts — 294
• Snow, Blood, Fur — 295
• When You Have Lost Yourself — 298
• The Mermaid’s Lament — 300
• Conversations with the Sea Witch — 301
• Diamonds and Toads — 307
• Medusa Gets a Haircut — 310
• The Other Thea — 312
• Mother Night — 334
• The Red Shoes — 337
• Red as Blood and White as Bone — 339
• Girl, Wolf, Woods — 356
• In the Snow Queen’s Castle — 358
• A Country Called Winter — 360
• How to Make It Snow — 376
• Snow White Learns Witchcraft — 380
• How to Become a Witch-Queen — 383
• Mirror, Mirror — 388
• The River’s Daughter — 399
• Saint Orsola and the Poet — 401
• The Nightingale and the Rose — 419
• Your House — 426