The Fairest of Them All by Carolyn Turgeon

The Fairest of Them All by Carolyn Turgeon is a completely new version of the fairy tale “Rapunzel” and “Snow White.” See the characters and stories weaved together in a creative and captivating new way in this novel.

Book Description

“In an enchanted forest, the maiden Rapunzel’s beautiful voice captivates a young prince hunting nearby. Overcome, he climbs her long golden hair to her tower and they spend an afternoon of passion together, but by nightfall the prince must return to his kingdom, and his betrothed.

Now king, he weds his intended and the kingdom rejoices when a daughter named Snow White is born. Beyond the castle walls, Rapunzel waits in her crumbling tower, gathering news of her beloved from those who come to her seeking wisdom. She tries to mend her broken heart but her love lingers, pulsing in the magic tendrils of her hair.

The king, too, is haunted by his memories, but after his queen’s mysterious death, he is finally able to follow his heart into the darkness of the forest. But can Rapunzel trade the shadows of the forest for the castle and be the innocent beauty he remembers?” – The Fairest of Them All

My Thoughts

The Fairest of Them All is a book that takes my love of fairy tales and creative retelling of classics to the next level. I really enjoyed this version of the stories, and if you are a fan of fairy tales, I think you’d enjoy this novel, too.

Carolyn Turgeon is a very creative writer to take these stories and show how Rapunzel becomes Snow White’s evil stepmother. I never would have thought of doing so, but how she explains it, it really does make sense, and it just works. Her passion for the stories and her new spin on them really shines through in her writing.

The characters were mostly already known, but this novel goes into much more depth with them and really brings them to life. Personally, I enjoyed how the character worked with these popular fairy tale characters and gave them different qualities than we are used to seeing them with.

The author writes in a smooth and crisp way that makes for a very easy and enjoyable read. It isn’t too overly wordy or full of pages or paragraphs that don’t really matter. I didn’t find myself wanting to skim over anything, or thinking about how many pages were left in it. I just became involved in the story and read it like a good novel should be enjoyed.

This novel is one of my favorite new takes on classic fairy tales, and I can’t wait to read more from this very talented author. I highly recommend it.

* Thank you to the publisher of The Fairest of Them All, Touchstone, for providing me with a copy of this book for review. All opinions expressed are my own.