.the princess portal.

Usually when I write about literary inspirations I write about a book, or possibly a series. However I don’t believe it would be fair to do that for the works of Robin McKinley because then I would have to choose a favourite, which seems too difficult a task.

I first discovered her works through her first retelling of my favourite fairy tale, Beauty and the Beast - titled Beauty. I have already mentioned her second retelling - Rose Daughter on this blog. I think most of Robin McKinley’s stories read like fairy tales actually, even if they are original, but they are fairy tales with another dimension.

The only way I can describe it is thus, if you can imagine yourself reading a very old book of tales. Folk stories and epics, bound in a great leather tome with gilt edges and illuminated letters. The words are old fashioned and heavy, the story seems a little predictable (not because it isn’t good, but because you’ve heard similar ones before) then, suddenly, you find yourself inside the story, experiencing everything as the hero or heroine does, and you find its really not as simple a tale as you thought, but a story about real people who feel pain and love and joy and loss just as we do. They’re the stories behind the tales.

I was lucky enough to find two collections of her short stories at the library recently. I have finished ‘Water’ a collection of tales about spirits of the ocean, it also includes some stories by Peter Dickinson. I loved every one of them, but then I’m still on my Mermaid fascination I think. Now I am reading ‘A Knot in the Grain’ which is a very warm little book, I find it really grounding and wonderfully sweet in some parts with just a bit of wildness. She has also retold many other traditional tales including Donkeyskin and Sleeping Beauty.

I think any lover of fairy tales or fantasy should have a look at her works, each is a little treasure and I look forward to finding more!