Written by Gregory Maguire, who has to be one of my favourite writers of all time, Mirror Mirror is a wonderfully decadent and sinister retelling of the classic fairytale of a beautiful girl, a vain and jealous woman, and a poisoned apple. Yes, essentially, Mirror Mirror, is a dazzlingly macabre retelling of one of my favourite fairytales, Snow White.
The year is 1502 and seven year-old Bianca de Navada lives on a farm with her father, Vicente, above the hills and valleys of Tuscany and Umbria. But one day, a noble entourage makes its way up the steep slopes, brining with it, the cruel and harsh realities of the world. Cesare and his vain sister Lucrezia Borgia, decadent and corrupt children of a wicked pope, send Vicente on a years-long quest to find and bring back a branch from the Tree of Knowledge, upon which are apples from the Garden of Eden. With no other choice, Vicente is forced to leave Bianca in the care of the vain and selfish Lucrezia who, as Bianca becomes older and more beautiful, becomes insensibly jealous and plots a dire fate for the poor girl in the dark woods beyond the farm.
As I mentioned before, the story of Mirror Mirror is largely based around the fairytale of Snow White, so much of the story’s events can be easily anticipated.
What makes Gregory Maguire such a unique and upstanding author, in my book anyway, is that he takes these wonderful and recognisable fairytales and fractures and reworks them so that a whole other world is created and we see all these characters in a completely different light and certain events and motives from a completely different point of view. Mirror Mirror is set against the decadent and erotic background of 15th century Rome and many of the characters and events are drawn from actual ancient history, as is shown by a few recognisable names such as Martin Luther, Machiavelli, and Louis XII.
The magical and “fairytale” aspect of the story is replaced by one of a devout religious hue, with all “magic” being the work of Divine creation: the apple from Eden being the most important to note. Maguire also makes the fairytale of the poison apple a mere guideline and means of intrigue, as much of the story is really a political and religious tale of immense corruption and war. The entire thing is a very clever and healthy balance between the fictional and the factual and makes for a very engaging read.
The one thing I found a bit hard with this book though, is the way in which it is written. Maguire writes in a varied form of registers and, for much of the beginning until you get used to it, you find yourself in state of confusion as the previous chapter is written in the third person, perspective of the observer, and then the next is suddenly in the first person register, usually as one of the characters, either Lucrezia or Bianca. It changes quite abruptly and sometimes can be hard to get the gist of.
I must also say at this point, for parents who possibly think that this will make a good bedtime story, that this really is an adult’s book. There are a fair few scenes of rather a sexual nature, not to mention a few of violence, and sordid bestiality.
On the whole though, Mirror Mirror is a wonderfully decadent book that’s filled with incense, religion, shape-shifting stone, deceit, sex, violence, and attempted murder. It’s a wonderful read that will have you completely engaged. It really is a rich and stunning piece of work.
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