'An absolute stunner of a book.'
-- Claire Hennessey * The Irish Times *
A tapestry of retellings and reimaginings, some told in beguiling second person, that foreground women - their desires, powers, fearsomeness and vulnerability ... enriched by Vaughan's sharp, intricate, Beardsleyesque illustrations.
-- Imogen Russell Williams * The Guardian *
This absolutely beautifully collection of retold fairy tales is as wonderful to read as it is to look at. Featuring lovely, feminist angles on your favourite fairy tales and beautiful full spread illustrations, it deserves a space on your shelf stat.
* Buzzfeed *
Sullivan muddies the black-and-white narratives, not only with murky endings, but with dark, dangerous, imperfect and even unhinged heroines. In doing so, she makes her fairy tales richer and more fertile, but also more adult... Her language is heavily perfumed with meaning... with its beautiful pen-and-ink illustrations reminiscent of Aubrey Beardsley's for Oscar Wilde's fairy tales, it would make a great gift for a teenager.
-- Hattie Garlick * The Times Literary Supplement *
Vaughan's artwork is captivatingly complex and disturbingly mesmeric, harking back to a previous generation of fairy-tale illustrators while significantly contributing to the synergy between this volume's words and images ... In Sullivan's enthralling renditions the feminine is inseparable from the political and the sexual ... An engrossing and terrifying work.
* Inis Magazine *
These fairy tale retellings are remarkable: they stop you in your tracks. They make you exclaim `What! What did I just read?' I turned the pages backwards as often as I turned them forwards. The inky woodcut style drawings are an added bonus from Karen Vaughan. They exactly match the text, dark and light, astonishing, flowing.
-- Hilary McKay, novelist * Achuka.co.uk (round-up, best books of 2017) *
