Kate Forsyth’s Long-Lost Fairy Tales by Kate Forsyth, illustrated by Lorena Carrington

Title: Kate Forsyth’s Long-Lost Fairy Tales

Author: Kate Forsyth, illustrated by Lorena Carrington

Genre: Fairy tales/Fantasy

Publisher: New Dawn Publishing

Published: 4^th April 2024

Format: Paperback

Pages: 386

Price: $32.99

Synopsis: Fairy tales are as old as language itself.

Long, long ago, storytellers all around the world told tales of wonder both to enchant and entertain us, and also to teach us that – if we are good and kind and courageous enough – we can change the world for the better.

For this is what fairy tales do. They give us hope.

As we travel through the dark and dangerous world of the fairy tale, as we fight dragons and outwit ogres and save our sisters and brothers, we learn that we are capable of anything. And then we return to our own world with all that we have learned along the way, stronger and braver than before.

The stories in this book come from all the corners of the world. Some were told in deep time before history was recorded, and some were written not so long ago. All of them have been unjustly forgotten.

In this collection of long-lost fairy tales, author Kate Forsyth and illustrator Lorena Carrington work together to bring tales of wisdom, compassion, and courage to life for the modern-day reader.

~*~

Myths and fairy tales have been part of all human cultures for thousands of years, starting in the oral tradition and slowly moving to being transcribed, collected and written down. This led to retellings and literary fairy tales. Each culture had similar tales or multiple versions, and this book brings 21 fairy tales that are not as well-known as some of the popular ones to light.

Everyone knows Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Snow White due to the multiple movie versions and Disney’s sanitised versions that strip the tales down to something a bit more palatable. Yet, there is something magic about the originals and these retellings of long-forgotten fairy tales that Kate Forsyth, a fairy tale scholar has pulled together. These are the tales that were buried or taken down by people whose names did not become as well known. Hidden in archives and old books just waiting to be discovered. Or simply lost in time, just waiting for someone to find them. Someone like Kate Forsyth and Lorena Carrington, whose literary and illustrative work in fairy tales has brought them to life in so many ways.

There are tales from Ireland, Scotland, Japan, and various countries in Europe, traditions that explored the same human fears and emotions through stories. Stories that we now read for entertainment were once warnings and safety lessons. Kate has taken the tales that she and her fabulous illustrator Lorena Carrington found, and put her own spin on them, maintaining the traditions they come from with great respect and at times.

The retellings are giving the original tales something more in the retelling, or taking the key elements and telling a story that would be just as welcome around the fire of a village. They’re carefully curated as part of their series about retold fairy tales, and each book has explored different versions of well-known tales, just as this one does. It means that the book explores cultures and themes that are different, yet also things we might see across cultures. Things that different countries and cultures addressed with, and dealt with in different ways.

It’s a work of beauty, one that takes the reader on a journey to so many different places in the past and across the world. I have always loved Kate’s books, and Lorena is one of my favourite illustrators, so their collaborations are always something I look forward to. And getting to explore fairy tales I didn’t know, or different versions of fairy tales I do l know is something I enjoy.

They’re like a window to a world far away that is real and fantastical at the same time. Something that is believable. And Kate manages to capture the oral traditions so well in her writing, you can imagine sitting around in a village telling these stories to each other, or helping collect them for posterity.

They also act as reminders of what greed and selfishness can do, and in today’s world, some of these characters felt eerily familiar, or I could see what could bring make people like that. These tales are insightful and intriguing, and well worth the read if you enjoy fairy tales and retellings, and the magic that they bring to the literary world. Fairy tales are at the heart of stories and this collection reminds us of that.