The Wilful Eye (Tales from the Tower #1) – Isobelle Carmody & Nan McNab
Allen & Unwin, 2011
302 pages
RRP: AU$27.99
ISBN: 9781742374406

Reviewed by Liz Grzyb

The Tales from the Tower duet are a collection of revisited fairy tales from Australia’s best-loved fantasy authors. Collected by Isobelle Carmody and Nan McNab, the first instalment, The Wilful Eye, takes a new look at “The Tinderbox”, “Rumpelstiltskin”, “The Snow Queen”, “Beauty and the Beast”, “Babes in the Woods” and “The Steadfast Tin Soldier”. I’ve always been a sucker for retellings of fairy stories, and these were no disappointment.

The collection begins with Margo Lanagan’s “Catastrophic Disruption of the Head”. Horrific and compelling, this story is a shock of a beginning which will keep the reader glued to the page. Isobelle Carmody’s “Rumpelstiltskin” retelling “Moth’s Tale” follows the bloodshed up with a slower-paced, more dreamlike tale.

“Eternity” from Rosie Borella takes a more modern look at a new kind of Snow Queen, which is disturbing in its realism. Richard Harland’s “Heart of the Beast” takes an inquiring eye to the family’s role in Belle’s residence in the Beast’s castle.

Margaret Mahy’s “Wolf Night” is another of the modern-day set tales, revisiting “The Babes in the Woods” in chilling fashion. The final story, Martine Murray’s “One Window”, wraps this collection up with a disturbing vision of “The Steadfast Tin Soldier” in a world of child slavery.

Each story is strong and compelling, although my personal favourites were “Wolf Night” and “Moth’s Tale” for weaving a fine, entangling web of story, and “Catastrophic Disruption of the Head” for the sheer blow-your-mind factor. I have the second volume, The Wicked Wood on my to-read pile and am eagerly looking forward to a continuation of the thought-provoking, fantastic reads to be found in The Wilful Eye.