'Once there was a Postman who fell in love with a raven'
Raven Girl
This modern-day fairytale from the author of The Time Traveler's Wife - which is a lovely book, ignore the abomination that is the movie - is clunky yet elegant.
It contains everything a fairytale should.
Danger.
Unconventional romance.
Inexplicable acts.
And creatures that display more humanity than the humans themselves.
I wouldn't say this tale lives up to the likes of Angela Carter's dark reimaginings of classic fairytales - The Bloody Chamber, Book of Fairy Tales, The Magic Toyshop - but it has left what feels like a warm spark inside my chest.
A comforting little glow that hasn't burned out just yet and not many stories have the ability to do that.
I'm just a sucker for a twisted fairytale, what can i say?
'Get this book!'
That's what i'd say.
Even for the illustrations alone.
Drawn by Niffenegger herself, they remind me ever so much of the early work of Sylvain Chomet:
They possess the same jittery lines and muted palates that work so well together.
Which reminds me, i must re-watch Belleville Rendez-vous.
It's been too long without those creepy, crooning triplets.
Ps. Thanks to my Dad for surprising me with this. He knows what i like in my literature.
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