This was one of my favourite books when I was younger; I booked it out of the local library on a number of occasions, but never thought to buy my own copy. With hindsight this was a grave mistake, as it has never come back into print and I finally had to shell out … never you mind how much but more than I could really afford to a bookfinding agency to get an ex-library copy. Those only familiar with Tanith Lee in her guise as High Priestess of All Things Goth might be surprised by these slight, whimsical, often very funny variants on fairy tales, but I thoroughly enjoyed revisiting them. ( )

This is one of the finest and funniest children's books I have ever found. Tanith Lee, who otherwise wrote mostly science fiction and fantasy, has twisted the fairy tale genre into balloon shapes and sent me home from the carnival with cheeks and sides aching from smiling and laughing so much. When I first read these as a kid, no one else was doing the fractured fairy tale thing, and twenty-five years later, no one else has done it as well. Her version of Cinderella alone should be read to all young girls, since it effectively punctures all the conventions of waiting passively until the right prince comes along. ( )