Is Anna Burke quickly joining the ranks of one of my favourite authors? I think so! After my enthusiastic enjoyment of her Robin Hood reimagining, Nottingham, I sought out more titles by this writer, and came across Thorn, an imaginative retelling of Beauty and the Beast. This story follows Rowan, a city girl forcibly relocated to a village with her family due to financial ruin, Rowan herself used as a bargaining chip in an arranged marriage with the son of the village’s most powerful family. The beast is instead The Huntress, a woman of legend whose beauty is as cold as the perpetual winter that surrounds her castle high in the mountains. When Rowan’s father crosses her, his daughter is taken in payment for the misdeed, and in the Huntress’ cold realm, Rowan finds something unexpected: her life’s purpose, and possibly more. This story has the feel of a wonderfully classic Scandinavian folktale while also being a wonderfully modern fantasy. A highlight of the 2021 reading year!
