The Fairest of Them All

I’m working on a book about Beatrice Portinari, who’s the mysterious woman Dante Alighieri wrote about in The Divine Comedy (she’s up in heaven and helps initiate his entire journey) and other works. No one really knows anything about her other than that she was an aristocratic girl who was contracted to marry (and did marry) a much older banker and then died at twenty-four. No one knows if Dante actually knew her or if they had any kind of actual relationship, romantic or otherwise. So I’ve imagined what I think is a really cool and surprising story about her. It’s not a fairy tale, but it’s a kind of retelling, a looking at something familiar through an unexpected point of view. Plus there will be a medieval setting, a little grittier than the one in Fairest, but with a similar overlay of magic and beauty. I think that fans of my fairy tales will like it!

Of course, there are many, many more fairy tales to explore, so you never know . . .

© JOI BROZEK

CAROLYN TURGEON is the author of Rain Village, Godmother, Mermaid, and the middle-grade novel The Next Full Moon.

ALSO BY CAROLYN TURGEON

The Next Full Moon

Mermaid: A Twist on the Classic Tale

Godmother: The Secret Cinderella Story

Rain Village

Praise for The Fairest of Them All

“Intricate, inventive, and charged with magic. Carolyn Turgeon masterfully clears the mists of fairy tale and legend to reveal the complex humanity that lies beneath the stories of Rapunzel and Snow White.”

—Eleanor Brown, New York Times bestselling author of The Weird Sisters

“Magical, mythical, and totally original, Turgeon’s haunting story of Rapunzel and Snow White unfolds like a waking dream, with prose that shimmers like cut diamonds. About love, longing, and loss, it turns the fairy tale into something as provocative as it is profound.”

—Caroline Leavitt, New York Times bestselling author of Pictures of You and Is This Tomorrow

“Forget everything you know about fairy tales filled with glamorous princesses and happy endings. In Carolyn Turgeon’s skilled hands, characters that have long been the bedrock of literature come to life, revealing their all-too-human desires and a mesmerizing, hidden darkness. Her body of work is already substantial and growing, which is good news for readers everywhere. The Fairest of Them All will move her into a larger sphere, worldwide. I loved this book from start to finish.”

—Jo-Ann Mapson, author of Solomon’s Oak and Finding Casey

“Turgeon reimagines two fairy tales to produce a lush, dark yarn. Her steadfast vision reveals the shadow and light battling in each of the characters’ hearts.”

—Margaret Dilloway, author of How to Be an American Housewife

“There are fairy-tale princesses like Rapunzel, who are lovely and compassionate and kind. And there are fairy-tale villainesses like Snow White’s stepmother, who are ambitious and clever and wicked. In Carolyn Turgeon’s brilliant retelling, however, good and evil are combined to create a fairy tale anti-heroine who could break your heart—and then eat it.”

—Alisa Kwitney, author of Token, Flirting in Cars, and Moonburn (as Alisa Sheckley)

“The Fairest of Them All possesses the spirit of all great fairy tales—filled with brave hearts, twists of fate, and incredible transformations. Carolyn Turgeon honors the traditional stories of Rapunzel and Snow White, yet intertwines their lives in a way that gives the tales, as well as both women, new dimensions. The dark, sensual magic at work in this book will allure readers right to the shocking, beautiful end.”

—Ronlyn Domingue, author of The Mercy of Thin Air

“To call Carolyn Turgeon’s The Fairest of Them All a retelling doesn’t seem quite accurate. This story of Rapunzel and Snow White may feel as familiar as it is thoroughly innovative, but it reads like an original—like the real story. Turgeon has managed to peel back centuries of dressing and sweetness and lace that have been heaped upon these characters. She has plucked them from their perfumed clouds and returned them to their primal form, to the unique women they were once, before their fairy tales diluted them. In gratitude, they sing from the pages, all full of suffering and longing and ferocious intellect. This is the Rapunzel I have always wanted to know.”

—Jeanine Cummins, author of A Rip in Heaven

“How very lucky we grown-ups are to have Carolyn Turgeon’s fairy tale to captivate us. What a joy to be delighted again by witches, princesses and kings—now all fleshed out and psychologically complex and compelling. Under Turgeon’s deft hand, Rapunzel’s and Snow White’s tale is as beautiful as it terrifying. Enter into this enchanted forest and be enthralled!”

—M.J. Rose, author of The Reincarnationist

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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2013 by Carolyn Turgeon

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information, address Touchstone Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.