Sunday, December 21, 2014

The Snow Queen, by Hans Christian Andersen (author), Julia Whelan (narrator)

Audible Audio, December 2014 (original publication 1845)

This is a lovely reading of Andersen's story of Gerda and her friend Kai, who becomes contaminated by the shards of a demon-made magic mirror, and succumbs to the lure of the Snow Queen.

Gerda sees the change in her friend when he is affected by the shards, and when he vanishes, she will not believe that he is dead. She sets off on quest to find him, armed chiefly with her courage, loyalty, and good heart.

Something that may seem unexpected  to those who grew up on Disney versions of fairy tales is that nearly all the strong characters here, both good and ill, at least the human ones, are women and girls.

Julia Whelan is an excellent narrator, with a delightful voice, and she strikes exactly the right tone in reading this.

Recommended.

This book is free on Audible until January 31, 2015.

No comments:

Post a Comment