The novel opens with Miryem’s revisionist retelling of the Rumplestiltskin story. It certainly seems to be a playful riff on the idea of a subverted, destabilized narrative. And perhaps that confusion is deliberate. At times it’s a little confusing each time the narrator shifts it takes a few lines before you are sure who is telling the story. The story is told in the first person, from multiple first person narrators, three protagonists, and a couple of secondary characters. In short, it’s about questioning the narrative. You know, the proverbial “other side of the story”.

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik is a fantasy novel that explores the stories behind the stories you thought you already knew. Then the miller’s despoiled daughter tells everyone that the moneylender’s in league with the devil, and the village runs him out or maybe even stones him, so at least she gets to keep the jewels for a dowry, and the blacksmith marries her before that firstborn child comes along a little early.” And she’s beautiful enough, so the lord, the prince, the rich man’s son notices her, and dances with her, and tumbles her in a quiet hayloft when the dancing is over, and afterwards goes home and marries the rich woman his family has picked out for him. The real story is, the miller’s daughter with her long golden hair wants to catch a lord, a prince, a rich man’s son, so she goes to the moneylender and borrows for a ring and a necklace and decks herself out for the festival. “The real story isn’t half as pretty as the one you’ve heard. If you haven’t read the book and don’t like having things ruined, come back later. Just so you know, I don’t avoid giving away plot points.

Spinning silver