Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier is truly a delve into the fantastic through beautiful prose and detailed imagery. I was wandering around my local library and saw this book. I started reading page one and couldn’t put it down. This book was inspired by the 12 dancing princesses fairy tale.
For me that brought back the memories of grade school, when Nickelodeon still had a program called special delivery, where they showed an animated fairy tale every afternoon. That was the first time I heard the story of the 12 dancing princesses. So this book held me captivate not just by the story but by the nostalgia of childhood.
The story is of sisters, not 12 of them, and takes place in I believe Transylvania or that area of the world. The girls are left on their own as their father goes away for winter due to his health. They fall under the tyranny of their cousin. The tale is powerful. It is of the repressed struggling for freedom, about family ties, power, corruption, and romance. It’s a book that gives you sensory image without boring you or overloading you. If you are a fan of fantasy, then this book is a treat.
To find out more about the author, check out her website.