Review - Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan

Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf 2008
Hardback 436 pages



I am a huge fan of fairy tales. And I'm not talking about your disneyized versions of Cinderella or Snow White, I'm talking about the dark almost malevolent Grimm Brothers. I think my fascination for these dark tales is what influenced my desire to study German history in the first place.

Tender Morsels may be written by an Australian, but her story is so akin to the darker Tales of Grimm that it is impossible not to see a connection. The story is beautifully written, with plenty of magic and wisdom to delight any lover of the more classic fairytale. A word of caution: though this is marketed as fiction for Young Adults, the subject matter is very mature. It deals with the rape and abuse of a young girl, Liga, first my her widowed father and then on his death, a group of town boys. From this abuse Liga is granted respite by a benevolent spirit in a "world of her dreams" where fear and danger are unknown. There she raises her two girls, until the world of quiet is disturbed by the outside world. Liga and her daughters then must deal with the past that she has been hiding from for years and her daughters must adjust to a new world with dangers they have never known before.