Tales of Virtuous Stepmothers - Georgina Warren - ★★★★

AUTHOR: Georgina Warren

GENRE: Fairy Tale Collection

PUBLICATION DATE: April 12, 2023

RATING: 3.9 stars.

In a Nutshell: A children’s fairy tale collection with each story having a virtuous stepmother in a major or minor role. Love the intent, and enjoyed most of the stories. A great option for little ones, especially those who have stepmothers, so that they can finally see some positive representation of this vilified category of parents.

This short story collection contains twelve fairy tales. Each of the stories is varied in its content. Some have intriguing magical creatures such as ogres and dragons while some others have animals and birds in the main roles. Those with human narrators have either commoners or kings at the helm. Some recite stories of ordinary living while others contain tales of royal adventures. But no matter what, every story has one factor in common: a good stepmother.

The preface contains a heartfelt note by the author about how the wicked stepmother trope from fairy tales created negative perceptions in her mind when it came to accepting her own stepmother. But her stepmother persisted and succeeded in creating a loving bond that lasts till today. This amazing lady became the main motivation for the author to pen this collection and ensure that other children who might also have stepmothers don’t struggle to search for positive ‘stepmother’ representation in fairy tales.

There is another note by the author at the end of the book, which is more detailed about her writing choices. I think this note will work better for adults than for kids, though older middle-graders will certainly have no issues getting the point it makes, as it is much lengthier and more complex than a simple children’s book note usually is.

All this might make you assume that the stepmother is the main protagonist of every story. Not true. Some of the tales do have the stepmother in the central role, either saving her family from danger, or sacrificing something for her kids, or some other ‘virtuous’ task. But a few stories also show her playing a secondary role in the narrative, acting more as the catalyst than as the facilitator.

A couple of the tales even show stepmothers making mistakes and learning from them, which is so essential in keeping this narrative grounded in reality despite its fantastical components. Mothers are already burdened by expectations of perfection; there’s no need to add that pressure onto stepmothers as well, who are already struggling against different (and worse) expectations.

The stories cover a variety of themes such as dangerous friendships, broken promises, risky adventures, and brave sacrifices – all components of memorable fairy tales. Reading this book made me reminisce about all the folktale and fairy tale collections I had devoured in my childhood. This book has a similar kind of vibe, though it takes a good step ahead by ensuring justice for the much-defamed stepmother character.

Unlike most fairy tales, this one doesn’t stick to stepdaughters alone. Many of the stories also show the stepson-stepmother combination, which makes this book suitable to all fairy-tale-loving children. Another fun component is the character names, which are quite unique. I have a strong feeling that the author used etymological roots from many Romance languages to cook up such interesting names. Sometimes, the names hint at a specific physical or behavioural trait of the character, which is fun when you get the inside joke. However, I wasn’t able to decode a few of the names and hence lost out on the subtler nuances.

The length of the stories is quite varying, but most of them range between eight to twenty-five pages. The only exception is the story named ’The Bird of Many Voices’, which is almost novella-length in comparison, with 70+ pages. As this story comes right in the middle of the book, it breaks the reading flow. It’s good that the author divided this story into sections, so kids can still pause in between if they need a break. But I feel that it would have been better to place this story at the end of the book and make it clear in the title or table of contents that it is a novella and hence lengthier than the rest. (The page numbers in the ToC gives a clue, but it is not a clear indicator.)

Remembering that these stories are fairy tales is important. And when I say ‘fairy tales’, I don’t mean the cutesy Disney retellings but the original grim Grimm stories. The stories in this book don’t shy away from darker content or sad events, and many cannot be considered light or fun reads. but the writing never becomes too gruesome. That said, a few of the stories venture into topics suitable for slightly older kids, so perhaps parents could read the book first and decide the age-appropriateness of the tales as per their children’s reading taste and understanding level.

As always, I rated the stories individually. As these are written for children, my ratings are my guesstimates of how children might feel about these tales. Every single one of the stories reached/crossed the three-star mark, which means I didn’t hate any of the entries. These are my top favourites with 4+ stars each:

🥚 Aisimetra and the Manticore’s Eggs: A good start to the proceedings with a brave stepmother who understands the pain of another mother. - ⭐⭐⭐⭐

🦶🏻 Princess Sanspied: The best part of the story was the representation of the disability of the princess, her frustration with it, and her stepmother’s role in ensuring her future. - ⭐⭐⭐⭐

🐉 The Dragon Mother: Rare to see a dragon in such a loving and sacrificing role. I love dragon stories anyway, so this was an easy one to enjoy, though I did miss fire-breathing scenes. - ⭐⭐⭐⭐

🍈 The Giantess, the Roc, and the Durians: A true-blue fairy tale with a bit of whimsy and magic woven into a human dilemma. Very entertaining! - ⭐⭐⭐⭐✨

🟡 The Gilded Foreman: A good old good vs. evil storyline with a great ending. Loved the woman power rep in this! - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

👹 The Ogre’s Wedding or Soursop Stew: A clever protagonist uses their intelligence to outwit ogres. Classic fairy tale stuff, this! - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

🐴 Truffle the Magic Mare: Who doesn’t like magical animals, right? - ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Overall, I am very happy with this indie collection. I admire it not just for its intent but also for its content. The stories are entertaining as well as thought-provoking, just as good fairy tales ought to be. This is supposedly the first of a planned three-volume collection, and based on how this went, I’m on board for the remaining two.

Much recommended! This book would make a wonderful gift for any child who has/is going to get a stepmother. Heck, why restrict its reach? Let’s edit that to: It would make a wonderful gift for every child who loves reading fairy tales.

3.9 stars, based on the average of my ratings for each tale. (If you are familiar with my ratings, you know that an average coming close to 4 stars is wonderful for an anthology.)

My thanks to author Georgina Warren for providing me with a complimentary copy of “Tales of Virtuous Stepmothers”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

The digital version of this book is currently available on Kindle Unlimited.