Description: Eight marvelous, melancholy new fairy tales for daring readers.
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 evokes the age-old pleasures of classic fairy tales and makes them new.Review Quotes: "The stories in Horse, Flower, Bird are melancholy--as are Rikki Ducornet's accompanying illustrations--but also as bright and sprightly as a little caged bird." --Baltimore City Paper
"[Bernheimer's] strangely moving stories . . . combine fantasy with deep wisdom; the illustrations by Rikki Ducornet are an added delight." --Reader's Digest "Hauntingly poetic. . . . This is a collection readers won't soon forget, one that redefines the fairy tale into something wholly original." --Booklist "Despite its playful packaging, this book recalls the grim cautionary messages of old-world fairy tales. Bernheimer's message? 'Be careful what you read.'" --American Book Review "As we once wanted to read classic fairy tales over and over, the melancholy tales in Horse, Flower, Bird need to read over and over." --Contrary Magazine "Once I was pulled into the worlds of these stories, I did not want to stop reading until I found out where Bernheimer was taking me." --New Pages Review "A strange and enchanting book, written in crisp, winning sentences; each story begs to be read aloud and savored." --Aimee Bender "Each of these spare and elegant tales rings like a bell in your head. Memorable, original, and not much like anything else you've read." --Karen Joy Fowler "Kate Bernheimer is reinventing the fairy tale." --Peter Buck, R.E.M.