Publishers Weekly
05/11/2020
In chapters that alternate between prose and poetry, Cornwell (The Forest Queen) retells “Snow White and Rose Red,” placing the classic fairy tale against a lushly imagined circus backdrop. Rosie and Ivory, 17-year-old twins named for their hair color and born of different fathers, have spent their lives touring with the Circus Rose, which their bearded-lady mother founded. When the girls and circus return to their birthplace, Port’s End, they discover that a new strain of religious extremism is infecting the city and gaining power over the populace. After a blaze destroys the circus, Ivory, who prefers the shadows to the stage, must take a leadership role and work to recover her vanished family. A range of relationships appears throughout: the girls’ parents form a polyamorous interracial triad, Ivory becomes involved with a nonbinary Fey character, and Rosie, who is queer, enters a romance with an enigmatic bear. Though the plot meanders, the story tackles crucial themes—including the importance of found family and the dangers of religious fundamentalism—while navigating complex familial relationships and delivering a rich atmosphere. Ages 12–up. Agent: Sara Crowe, Pippin Properties. (June)
From the Publisher
★ "This creative exploration of chosen family, self-knowledge, love, and the tension between opposites is both timely and timeless. Dazzling." —Kirkus, STARRED "Cornwell (The Forest Queen) retells 'Snow White and Rose Red,' placing the classic fairy tale against a lushly imagined circus backdrop....the story tackles crucial themes—including the importance of found family and the dangers of religious fundamentalism—while navigating complex familial relationships and delivering a rich atmosphere." —Publishers Weekly "This is a delicately lovely reimagining of the fairy tale 'Snow White and Rose Red'....a rich range of queerness."—Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books —
AUGUST 2020 - AudioFile
Magic, technology, and religion collide in this retelling of “Snow White and Rose Red.” Narrator Nicol Zanzarella voices teenage twins Rosie and Ivory in a story that features dual points of view. They were close when they grew up in the circus run by their mother. But when they come home after years away, they get caught up in the strange changes that have overtaken the city, which affect their relationships with their mother and their distant fathers. Tightrope walker Rosie’s sections are written in verse; Zanzarella adds drama to the poetry with pauses and quick changes in volume. Ivory works backstage, and in her sections Zanzarella uses an even and straightforward tone. She also gives intriguing accents to the secondary characters, bringing the twins’ world to life. L.S. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2020-03-11
A queer reimagining of “Snow-White and Rose-Red.”
Dark-skinned Ivory and pale-skinned Rosie (each named for her hair color) are 17-year-old twin daughters of the Circus Rose’s ringmistress. When the circus returns to their birthplace, Port’s End, Rosie’s and Ivory’s growth unfolds against a volatile backdrop that echoes contemporary politics: Recent regime and policy shifts result in aggressive behavior by the Brethren, whose church formerly occupied a position of political power. After tragedy strikes the circus, Ivory must shoulder ringmistress duties even as she attempts to discover who—or what—is behind the devastation. The present-tense, first-person narrative alternates between Rosie’s dreamy verse and Ivory’s looping prose as the sisters navigate new romances, professional challenges, and oppressive religious fanaticism on tour. Rosie is attracted to women but prefers the mysterious Bear above all while Ivory’s understanding of her own sexuality expands when she meets Tam, a black-haired, olive-skinned Fey magician who is “neither male nor female, like all Fey.” Tam’s pronouns, fe/fer/fers, are seamlessly integrated into the text. The twins have different fathers: Ivory’s is brown skinned while Rosie’s father is pale.The well-constructed fantasy world evokes elements of northern Europe and the United States during the Industrial Revolution, placing fluid Fey society and magic in an uneasy truce with established human monarchies and technologies. This creative exploration of chosen family, self-knowledge, love, and the tension between opposites is both timely and timeless.
Dazzling. (Fantasy. 14-18)
