Briar Rose (23 page)

people were gassed there. The Nazis were such exquisite record keepers. Numbers-not names.

The killings began in mid-January 1942 and, with several interruptions, ended January 17, 1945, when the guards slaughtered the remaining prisoners just ahead of the liberation by the Russian army. Two men-both part of the forced grave-digging detail-managed to escape, though shackled, in the early years. Two other men were miraculously alive in the camp at the war's end.

During the time that this book posits a rescue-June of 1942-there are no records of killings, which may mean that there were no actual deaths or more likely that those particular records have been lost.

The town of Chelmno exists. There may be a priest there, but I have never met him. There may be good people there. I have never heard them interviewed.

This is a book of fiction. All the characters are made up. Happy-ever-after is a fairy tale notion, not history. I know of no woman who escaped from Chelmno alive.

I

Provenol Tales, by Michael de Larrabetti

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Rich, subtle, adult fairy tales based on French legendry.

RECOMMENDED READING

FOR LOVERS OF FINE FAIRY TALES

FICnON AND POETRY

Katie Crackernuts, by Katherine Briggs

A charming short novel retelling the Katie Crackernuts tale, by one of the world's foremost folklore authorities,

ning with 0, by Olga Broumas

Brournas's poetry makes use of many fairy tale motifs in this collection, (Available from The Yale University Press.)

Ae Sun, the Moon and the Stars, by Steven Brust

A contemporary novel mixing ruminations on art and creation with a lively Hungarian fairy tale.

Possession, by A. S. Byatt

A Booker Prize-winning novel that makes wonderful use of the Fairy Melusine legend.

Sletping in Flames, by Jonathan Carroll

Excellent, quirky dark fantasy Using the Rumplestiltskin tale.

Ae Bloody Chamber, by Angela Carter

A stunning collection of dark, sensual fairy tale retellings.

Ae Sleeping Beauty, by Hayden Carruth

A poetry sequence using the Sleeping Beauty legend.

Beyond the Looking Glass, edited by Jonathan Cott

A collection of Victorian fairy tale prose and poetry.

The Nightingale, by Kara Dalkey

An evocative Oriental historical novel based on the Hans Christian Andersen story.

188

Recommended Reading

Jack the Giant-Killer and Drink Down the Moon by Charles de Lint Wonderful urban fantasy novels bringing "Jack" and magic to the str modern Canada.

Tam Lin, by Pamela Dean

A lyrical novel setting the old Scottish faery story (and folk ballad) T

among theater majors on a midwestem college campus.

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The King's Indian, by John Gardner

A collection of peculiar and entertaining stories using fairy tale motifs Blood Pressure, by Sandra M. Gilbert

A number of the poems in this powerful collection make use of fairy tale The Seventh Swan, by Nicholas Stuart Gray

An engaging Scottish novel that starts off where the "Seven Swans" fi ends.

Fire and Hemlock, by Diana Wynne Jones

A beautifully written, haunting novel that brings the Thomas the Tam Lin tales into modern-day England.

7Womas the Rhymer, by Ellen Kushner

A sensuous and musical rendition of this old Scottish story and folk b Red as Blood, or Tales ftom the Sisters Grimmer, by Tanith Lee A striking and versatile collection of adult fairy tale retellings.

Beauty, by Robin McKinley

Masterfully written, gentle and magical, this novel retells the story of Be the Beast.

The Door in the Hedge, by Robin McKinley

The Twelve Dancing Princesses and The Frog Prince retold in McKinl geous, clear prose, along with two original tales.

Disenchantments, edited by Wolfgang Mieder

An excellent compilation of adult fairy tale poetry. (Available from the sity Press of New England.)

Kindergarten, by Peter Rushford

A contemporary British story beautifully wrapped around the Hansel an tale, highly recommended. (Available from David R. Godine, Publisher.) Transformations, by Anne Sexton

Sexton's brilliant collection of modern fairy tale poetry.

j

Recommended Reading

Trail of Stones, by Gwenn Strauss

Evocative fairy tale poems, beautifully illustrated by Anthony Browne Swan's Wing. by Ursula Synge

A lovely, magical fantasy novel using the Seven Swans fai tale Sleeping Beauty, by Sheri S. Tepper

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189

Dark fantasy incorporating several fairy tales from an original and iconoclastic writer.

Coachman Rat, by David Wilson

Excellent dark fantasy retelling the story of Cinderella from the coachmaes point of view.

Snow W%ite and Rose Red, by tricia C. Wrede

A charming Elizabethan historical novel retelling this romantic Grimm's fairy tale.

Don't Bet on the Prince, edited by Jack Zipes

A collection of contemporary feminist fairy tales compiled by a leading fairy tale scholar, containing prose and poetry by Angela Carter, Joanna Russ, Jane Yolen,

Tanith Lee, Margaret Atwood, Olga Brournas and others.

A SAMPLING OF THE WORKS OF MODERN-DAY FAIRY TALE CREATORS

The Faber Book of Modern Fairy Tales, edited by Sara and Stephen Corrin Gudgekin the Thistle Girl and Other Tales, by John Gardner Mainly by Moonlight, by Nicholas Stuart Gray

Collected Storik. hv Richard Kenn -

He-art o( Wood, by William Kotzwinkle

Fairy Tale5, by Alison Uttley

Tales of Wonder, by Jane Yolen

The Power of Myth, by Joseph Campbell

RECOMMENDED NONFICTION

Ae Erotic World of Faery, by Maureen Duffy

Womenfolk and Fairy Tales, by Susan Cooper

(Essay in The New ~ork Times Book Review, April 13, 1975) 190 Recommended Reading

Beauty and the Beast. Visions and Revisions of an Old Tale, by Betsy Hearne.

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from The University of Chicago Press.)

Once. Upon a Time, collected essays by Alison Lurie

Here All Dwell Free.. Stones to Heal the Wounded Feminine, Gertrude Mueller examines Briar Rose and The Handless Maiden.

What the Bee Knows~ collected essays by P.L. Travers

Problems of the Feminine in Fairy Tales, by Marie-Louise von Franz, collected I originally presented at the C.G. Jung Institute.

Touch Magic, collected essays by Jane Yolen

Fantasists on Fantasy, edited by Robert H. Boyer and Kenneth J. Zahors Tolkien's "On Fairy Stories," G.K. Chesterton's "Fairy Tales," and other A SHORT LIST OF RECOMMENDED FAIRY TALE SOURCE COUECTION

Old Wives' Fairy Tale Book, edited by Angela Carter

The Tales of Charles Perrault, translated by Angela Carter Italian Folktales, translated by Italo Calvino

The Complete Hans Christian Andersen, edited by Lily Owens The Maid of the North: Feminist Folk Tales ftom Around the World, edited Johnston Phelps

Favorite Folk Tales from A-round the World, edited by Jane Yolen The Complete Brothers Grimm, edited by Jack Zipes

For volumes of fairy tales from individual countries-Russian fairy tales, African, Japanese, etc-see the excellent Pantheon Books Fairy Tale and

Library.

With her deft touch for the modem fairy tale, Jane Yolen is one of the acknowledged masters of fantasy today. She is the author of over one hundred novels, collections, children's books, and works of nonfiction. Her young adult novel The Devil's Arithmetic won the Jewish Book Council Award and the

Association of Jewish Libraries Award; her children's book Owl Moon (illustrated by John Sc'- -enherr) was awarded the Caldecott Medal;

herf, -7 ";C1FVqtPr fjjzht, Sister Dark and

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~nn I for the

- , - f __ rantasy

Award, toe,_-Liristopher Medal, and the Golden

Kite Awa , -he Girl Who Cried Flowers was nominated for the National Book Award.

Jane Yolen lives with her husband in western

Massachusetts, where she edits the "Jane Yolen

Books" line of young adult novels for HBJ in between storytelling and lecturing on literature at schools and libraries across the country.

Terri Windling, creator and editor of the Fairy

Tale Series, has been called the preeminent fantasy editor of the present day; she is a four time winner of the World Fantasy Award for he editorial work. Her own writing includes novels forthcoming from Bantam and Tor, and she has exhibited artwork on fairy-tale themes in the United States and Great Britain. Thomas Canty, series illustrator and designer, is one of the leading artists in the romantic fantasy movement and a two-time winner of the World Fantasy Award for his distinctive book covers and designs; his work has been exhibited by the Society of Illustrators in New York and in museums and

Jacket art and design copyright @ 1992

by Thomas Canty

A TOR HARDCOVER

Distributed by St. Martin's Press in the United States

175 Fifth Avenue

New York New York lOO10

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CREATED BY TERRI WINDLING

ADVANCE PRAISE FOR

BRIAR ROSE

"Tern Wiridling's Fairy Tales shows over and over again that difficult truths can sometimes only be told through the medium of fantasy. In Briar Rose Jane Yolen tells me of the darkest tales of the twentieth century in spare, lyric prose, showirig us obliquely a truth too terrible to be faced, giving

us a beautdul tale of darkness and redemption."

-Lisa Goldstein, audior The Red Magiciar

'qhere are few writers capable ofusing the fairy tale,tale form to wnte about all the rarnifications
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of the Holocaust, and

Jane Yolen is one of them .... A superb accomplishment."

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