Fiction. Illustrated by Rikki Ducornet. In Kate Bernheimer's familiar and spare—yet wondrous—world, an exotic dancer builds her own cage, a wife tends a secret basement menagerie, a fishmonger's daughter befriends a tulip bulb, and sisters explore cycles of love and violence by reenacting scenes from Star Wars. Enthralling, subtle, and poetic, this collection takes readers back to the age-old pleasures of classic fairy tales and makes them new. Their haunting lessons are an evocative reminder that cracking open the door to the imagination is no mere child's play, that delight and tragedy lurk in every corner, and that we all "have the key to the library...only be careful what you read."
Author City: TUCSON, AZ USA
The founder and editor of FAIRY TALE REVIEW, Kate Bernheimer is the author of two novels, The Complete Tales of Ketzia Gold and The Complete Tales of Merry Gold. Her first collection of short stories, HORSE, FLOWER, BIRD, illustrated by Rikki Ducornet, has just been published by Coffee House Press. Her first children's book, The Girl in the Castle Inside the Museum, was named a Best Book of 2008 by Publisher's Weekly. She currently serves on the board of FC2 (Fiction Collective Two) and teaches at the University of Louisiana in Lafayette. She is the editor of the new collection of modern fairy tales entitled My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me (Penguin).
Reviews and Other Links
author site
Gina Myers @ NewPages
Dalkey Archive's The Review of Contemporary Fiction
“Each of these spare and elegant tales rings like a bell in your head. memorable, original, and not much like anything you’ve read.”
—Karen Joy Fowler
“A strange and enchanting book, written in crisp, winning sentences; each story begs to be read aloud and savored.”
—Aimee Bender
“HORSE, FLOWER, BIRD rests uneasily between the intersection of fantasy and reality, dreaming and wakefulness, and the sacred and profane. Like a series of beautiful but troubling dreams, this book will linger long in the memory. Kate Bernheimer is reinventing the fairy tale.”
—Peter Buck, R.E.M.