Today it is a pleasure to take part in the BlogTour The Beauty of the Wolf by Wray Delaney. Delaney aka Sally Gardner, has a talent for turning the wicked and macabre into captivating tales full of magical and mystical elements.
If you decide to buy a hardcopy or paperback version of this book, I highly recommend the hardcover both for bookworms, who love a handsome physical copy, and as a present. It is absolutely stunning!
About the Author
Wray Delaney is the pseudonym of the award winning novelist Sally Gardner. She has sold over 2 million books in the UK and her work has been translated in to more than 22 languages. She has won both the Costa Children’s Book Prize and the Carnegie Medal 2013 for Maggot Moon. She also won the 2005 Nestle Children’s Book Prize for her debut novel I, Coriander. She writes books for children aged seven and upwards.
The Beauty of the Wolf is her second adult novel. Her debut adult novel, An Almond for a Parrot is a fascinating combination of historical fiction with a cheeky touch of soft erotica.The Beauty of the Wolf is a timely, feminist retelling of Beauty and the Beast, reversing the gender roles of the original fairytale with subtle undercurrents of topical themes such as gender and sexuality and body positivity.
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Buy The Beauty of the Wolf
About the book
In the age of the Faerie Queene, Elizabeth I, a period of ruffles and lace, of wrought velvet and blanched satins, two newborn babes are cursed, one with unimaginable beauty and the other, in its mirror image, a beast. But how could beauty ever be a curse?
Not only will all be blind to Beau’s true self, for all will lust after him but none will have the power to see past such an enchanted face – but the curse shall cause his own father’s death.
Meanwhile the beast, Randa, is locked away in her father’s cellar – lonely and hidden away. She longs for love, but how could anyone ever see past her wings and beak and fierce talons?
Is it possible that these two cursed creatures, each the mirror image of the other, could be one another’s salvation when all hope is lost?
Review
Delaney is channelling her inner Brothers Grimm in this modern retelling of the old classic The Beauty and the Beast. The original, dark and twisted Grimm, not the politically correct revamped and toned down versions we read as children or to our own children at bedtime. Yes, I do know Gabrielle-Suzanne de Villeneuve wrote the Beauty and the Beast. I am talking about the gritty, brutal and noirish quality of original fairytales in general.
The author has written the story with an old school pen and tongue. It is a very 'Do you become a rose-tree, and I the rose upon it' kind of story.
I am actually going to go out on a limb here, perhaps even the pirates plank, and suggest that the reader leave behind any known version or connotations in relation to the story this is based on. Let me tell you why.
Personally I think the story would have worked just as well, possibly better without the in your face connection to the original premise. By all means mention the inspiration in the author's note for instance. This story is a tale unto itself and deserves to be stood alone on the podium without any ghosts of the past swirling around it. As it stands readers may be reading and comparing during the entire read.
I believe turning the roles upside down and inside out is important in a world where women and girls are defined by their beauty or lack of it in the majority of stories. Girls grow up being shown by advertising industries, television, movies and life in general, a version of themselves they are supposed to aspire to, regardless of whether they can or not. What remains are generations of women who suffer from insecurity, mental health issues and an overwhelming sense of never being good enough. In a way Randa is that insecure ugly duckling.
Wray Delaney, which is the pseudonym of the successful award winning novelist Sally Gardner, has a talent for turning the wicked and macabre into captivating tales full of magical and mystical elements. She has the ability to pull the reader deep into her world. I hope this isn't her last venture into the adult world of books.
Buy The Beauty of the Wolf at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: HQ; pub date 21 Feb. 2019. Buy at Amazon com, at Waterstones,
Read my review of An Almond for a Parrot by Wray Delaney
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