Bitter Greens - Kate Forsyth

Reading this book was a very mixed experience. After the first couple of chapters I seriously considered putting it aside - very unusual for me - as it struck me as a clumsily written historical novel in which the believability of the narrator's voice was constantly undermined by the intrusion of informative asides describing this or that amusing period detail. However, once the fable of "Petrosinella" (Rapunzel) began to be told, the flaws in the outer story (which did improve significantly, although it then strayed into bodice ripper territory on occasion) were made forgivable by the captivating simplicity of this wonderfully human fairy tale, which I loved because of its engaging and likeable characters (yes, even the witch!) and the psychologically plausible nature of (most of) the magic. I also enjoyed the use of other author's Rapunzel poems to illuminate different perspectives on the story.