In this version of Rapunzel, the heroine breaks the enchantment put on her by the ogress who keeps her prisoner with the aid of three acorns.

A rollicking, bawdy collection of 50 fairy tales told by 10 storytellers over five days follows the compilation efforts of 17th-century Italian poet Giambattista Basile and traces the experiences of a cursed princess who would win back her betrothed.

In an unusual combination of reflection, autobiography, theory, and criticism, Cristina Mazzoni looks at childbirth and early maternity from the perspective of an academic mother with three young children. Mazzoni draws upon examples ranging from contemporary advice manuals and novels to the work of turn-of-the-century Italian scientists and women writers, as well as fairy tales, religious texts, psychoanalytic accounts, and feminist theory. Throughout her investigations of the various forces that shape cultural views of pregnancy and childbirth, Mazzoni strives to imagine and deploy maternity as a concept and a reality capable of challenging conventional representations of subjectivity. The questions she addresses dwell on relationship and interdependence, the inseparability of the personal and the political, and the connections and interactions between bodies and power. Maternal Impressions is far more than a book of literary criticism and theory. It reveals the multiple bonds and continuities between the contradictory ways in which pregnancy and childbirth were represented a century ago and the manner in which they still haunt feminist experience today. In her conclusion, Mazzoni points toward a possible ethics of maternity.

When Zoë, the 13-year-old orphaned granddaughter of a witch, finds a shape-changing, soul-eating, death-defying, insect-like thingie inside a mysterious jar, she's forced to go on a dangerous journey from Brooklyn to Sicily to save her grandmother's life and free herself from an ancient curse.

Ancient wisdom tells us that gardens have a healing, nourishing effect on the human soul and body. The garden belongs to the great archetype of life and is one of the few big archetypal images that are experienced primarily as positive. This positive experience is significant because the garden is a part of the natural and cultural human environment, and thus, is particularly influential in the interaction between human beings and their environment.

Once upon a time: the forgotten female fabulists whose heroines flipped the fairy tale script. People often associate fairy tales with Disney films and with the male authors from whom Disney often drew inspiration—notably Charles Perrault, the Brothers Grimm, and Hans Christian Andersen. In these portrayals, the princess is a passive, compliant figure. By contrast, The Lost Princess shows that classic fairy tales such as “Cinderella,” “Rapunzel,” and “Beauty and the Beast” have a much richer, more complex history than Disney’s saccharine depictions. Anne E. Duggan recovers the voices of women writers such as Marie-Catherine d’Aulnoy, Marie-Jeanne L’Héritier, and Charlotte-Rose de La Force, who penned popular tales about ogre-killing, pregnant, cross-dressing, dynamic heroines who saved the day. This new history will appeal to anyone who wants to know more about the lost, plucky heroines of historic fairy tales.

How have fairy tales from around the world changed over the centuries? What do they tell us about different cultures and societies? Drawing on the contributions of scholars working on Italian, French, English, Ottoman Turkish, and Japanese tale traditions, this book underscores the striking mobility and malleability of fairy tales written in the years 1450 to 1650. The essays examine how early modern scientific theories, debates on the efficacy of witchcraft, conceptions of race and gender, religious beliefs, the aesthetics of landscape, and censorial practices all shaped the representations of magic and marvels in the tales of this period. Tracing the fairy tale's swift movement across linguistic and geographic borders, through verse and prose versions, from the printed page to the early modern stage, this volume demonstrates the ways in which these fantastic literary texts explored the ideological borders constructed by different societies. An essential resource for researchers, scholars and students of literature, history and cultural studies, contributors explore themes including: forms of the marvelous, adaption, gender and sexuality, humans and non-humans, monsters and the monstrous, space, socialization, and power.

A brilliant, inclusive collection of traditional tales from around the world featuring amazing women and girls. Once upon a time, there was a handsome prince who – no, that's not right! Once upon a time, there were strong, fierce women who plotted, schemed, took action, showed kindness, used magic and trickery, and made their own destiny. From the long-haired Petrosinella who escaped the tower and broke the spell that the ogress had cast over her and Nana Miriam who beat a hippo using politeness and magic, to Kate Crackernuts who tried to save her stepsister from her mother's curse, these are stories of girls doing it for themselves! With stories drawn from all over the world, including China, Scotland, Armenia, Italy and Nigeria, Lari Don presents heroine stories that don't leave girls sitting around waiting to be saved by the handsome prince. Book Band: Dark Blue Ideal for ages 9+

Discover the original macabre stories of your most beloved classics in this collection of disturbingly dark fairy tales. ‘Story-telling is one of the most ancient and universal of arts.’ – Laura F. Kready, A Study of Fairy Tales, 1916 ‘The instruments of darkness tell us truths.’ – William Shakespeare, Macbeth, 1623 This twisted treasury presents over forty of the world’s most wicked fairy tales, including the original versions of stories you thought you knew, such as ‘Cinderella’, ‘Sleeping Beauty’, and ‘Snow White’. Relish in the morbid darkness of these early classics, alongside many other tales you haven't heard before. From renowned storytellers of the fairy tale genre, this collection sources works from the Brothers Grimm, Charles Perrault, Hans Christian Andersen, and many more. Dark Fairy Tales is woven with themes of lost innocence, beastly bonds, and haunted hearts, aiming to inspire, caution, and illuminate valuable aspects of the human experience. Be warned, for these stories are not for the faint of heart and happy endings cannot be guaranteed.