Synopses & Reviews
At the turn of the quattrocento, when the mysteries of the new world threaten the belief systems of the old, a girl with hair as black as a raven's wing, and skin as white as snow, comes of age. The Papal States are ravaged by marauding forces of condottieri, Savaronola is burned at the stake, and the famous Borgia family recipe for poison has to be located in the Vatican files.
A Snow White story of affecting poetry and romance, Mirror Mirror constitutes the world of the Renaissance as a troubled and magical time in which Vatican corruption, Atlantic exploration and conquest, and the secrets husbanded in Byzantine monasteries come to bear on the life of Bianca Nevada. This abandoned girl of Tuscany has had the misfortune to fall under the charge of one of history's most mysterious villainesses, Donna Lucrezia of the Borgias. It's all here: why the eighth dwarf left his brothers, why the hunter spared Bianca's life, and what happened to the deer who gave her heart to be brought as proof of the girl's murder...The novel continues in the spellbinding tradition of Maguire's earlier novels, as Bianca Nevada comes out of the shadows, to ask of the reader: Well? Who is the fairest of us all?
Synopsis
- Maguire's Wicked is now available on audio--see page 2.- PerfectBound e-book available (see HarperCollins hardcover catalog).
Synopsis
"A brilliant achievement."
--Boston Herald
"Entertaining...profound....A novel for adults that unearths our buried fascination with the primal fears and truths fairy tales contain."
--Christian Science Monitor
Gregory Maguire, the acclaimed author who re-imagined a darker, more dangerous Land of Oz in his New York Times bestselling series The Wicked Years, offers a brilliant reinvention of the timeless Snow White fairy tale: Mirror Mirror. Setting his story amid the cultural, political and artistic whirlwind of Renaissance Italy--and casting the notorious Lucrezia Borgia as the Evil Queen--Maguire and Mirror Mirror will enthrall a wide array of book lovers ranging from adult fans of Harry Potter to readers of the sophisticated stories of Angela Carter.
Synopsis
The world was called Montefiore, as far as she knew, and from her aerie on every side all the world descended.
The year is 1502, and seven-year-old Bianca de Nevada lives perched high above the rolling hills and valleys of Tuscany and Umbria at Montefiore, the farm of her beloved father, Don Vicente. There she spends her days cosseted by Primavera Vecchia, the earthy cook, and Fra Ludovico, a priest who tends to their souls between bites of ham and sips of wine.
But one day a noble entourage makes its way up the winding slopes to the farm -- and the world comes to Montefiore. In the presence of Cesare Borgia and his sister, the lovely and vain Lucrezia -- decadent children of a wicked pope -- no one can claim innocence for very long. When Borgia sends Don Vicente on a years-long quest to reclaim a relic of the original Tree of Knowledge, he leaves Bianca under the care -- so to speak -- of Lucrezia. She plots a dire fate for the young girl in the woods below the farm, but in the dark forest there can be found salvation as well ...
The eye is always caught by light, but shadows have more to say.
Synopsis
“A brilliant achievement.”
—Boston Herald
“Entertaining…profound….A novel for adults that unearths our buried fascination with the primal fears and truths fairy tales contain.”
—Christian Science Monitor
Gregory Maguire, the acclaimed author who re-imagined a darker, more dangerous Land of Oz in his New York Times bestselling series The Wicked Years, offers a brilliant reinvention of the timeless Snow White fairy tale: Mirror Mirror. Setting his story amid the cultural, political and artistic whirlwind of Renaissance Italy—and casting the notorious Lucrezia Borgia as the Evil Queen—Maguire and Mirror Mirror will enthrall a wide array of book lovers ranging from adult fans of Harry Potter to readers of the sophisticated stories of Angela Carter.
About the Author
Gregory Maguire received his Ph.D. in English and American Literature from Tufts University. His work as a consultant in creative writing for children takes him to speaking engagements across the United States and abroad. He is a founder and codirector of Children's Literature New England, Incorporated, a non-profit educational charity established in 1987. The author of numerous books for children, Mr. Maguire is also a contributor to Am I Blue?: Coming Out From the Silence, a collection of short stories for gay and lesbian teenagers.