Mirror, Mirror on the Wall: Women Writers Explore Their Favorite Fairy Tales

Long, long ago before fairy tales were sanitized, generations of bloodthirsty children enjoyed the ghoulish stories packed between book covers by Hans Christian Andersen and the brothers Grimm. Their plots seethed with curious, featherbrained girls who sealed their doom by opening forbidden doors; resourceful siblings deliberately lost in the woods by weak, loving fathers; and boys left with wings for arms when a hurried transformation was bungled. Margaret Atwood, Francine Prose, and Fay Weldon are among the 24 contemporary women authors in Mirror, Mirror on the Wall who contribute lucid, powerful essays on the fears, morals, and archetypes fairy tales scrawl out in letters ten-feet tall. --Francesca Coltrera, Women's Studies contributing editor