July 2007

The Tale of the Miller's Daughter by JoSelle Vanderhooft
Papaveria Press (2006), ISBN 978-1-4116-9093-6
Reviewed by Candra Gill

Candra K. Gill is a writer, zinester, blogger and fan. When people ask her why she's so into SF, she says she was raised on Star Trek and Octavia E. Butler. She has a master's degree in English literature and pedagogy and will talk for hours about writing, reading and teaching. She works in the Division of Student Affairs at the University of Michigan.

JoSelle Vanderhooft's The Tale of the Miller's Daughter is a version of Rumpelstiltskin told from the point of view of the woman expected to spin straw into gold. When we meet her, she has no name and is trapped in her father's home, unloved and focused on avoiding abuse from within and without. Then, as a result of her father's lies, she becomes trapped in the king's castle where she is required to prove true her father's impossible boasts or pay with her life. An old man comes and helps her, showing her kindness without expecting anything in return. She fears the consequences, as the only person she's ever known to do this in the past was her now-dead mother. She has no choice but to accept his help, so she does, all the while waiting for the catch. And of course there is one.

The book is short enough to be read in one sitting and moves quickly to a satisfying ending. Its first-person prose is highly stylized to the point of sometimes being distracting, and it takes a few pages to get into the rhythm of it. Once it becomes familiar, however, the rich texture of the descriptions moves to the forefront.

The retelling of folktales is a gamble. Readers know the characters and tropes well, so a new take has to bring something fresh to the old tale. Vanderhooft does an admirable job. This version of the story takes the touchstones of the traditional tale—the value of knowing a person's true name, the bargain for the woman's first born, even the soup ladle from the earliest versions of the tale—and gives them new explanations. Through a reconsideration the characters' actions, motivations, and allegiances, the tale expands into a story of chosen families and surviving abuse.