The Goose Girl

I was quickly captivated by the story of Princess Ani and her magical gift of animal speak. I related to her insecurity of being an outcast, feeling different, and finding refuge within the natural world. Her fast-paced story engages with both colorful and menacing characters as she confronts parental conflict, loss, betrayal, and true love.

Inspirational to read as she faced these challenging obstacles and evolved into self-acceptance, realizing that her differences and gifts were actually her greatest allies. This story explores bonds to animals and nature, parental conflict, betrayal, determination, insecurities around being different, acceptance, and listening to one’s… show more.

There is a special kind of joy in seeing a new talent burst onto the scene with a brilliant debut, and that was what I felt when I found Shannon Hale's gorgeous take on this old tale, one first collected by the Brothers Grimm.

Though I knew the bones of the story, I was completely drawn into the complex world that Shannon created from such sparse material and awash with admiration for how she made it all her own. There are three more entries in The Books of Bayern, and each is an absolute gem.

Sometimes you read a book that lingers with you for years—this is that book.

The Goose Girl is an enchanting, beautifully poetic read that captures the essence of everything that makes fairy tales magical. It’s a bit longer than most fairy tale retellings, but it makes the pages count, and it develops sweet relationships between the characters.

This is also the start of a series, with later books covering the side characters and giving them their own chances to shine. 10/10.

This book is based on the Grimm’s fairytale, which is only a few brief paragraphs long, but the author brings such a luscious language of storytelling that fills you with a sweet, gentle magic. Princess Ani was born with a word on her tongue and a gift to speak the language of horses. By the very first sentence of this novel, I was captivated. It’s such a beautiful imagining, I lived in this book for days after I finished it. I love it when books can do that to you. 

This is an old favourite of mine. Based on the Grimm’s fairy tale of the princess who became a goose girl before she could become queen, this story follows Ani – our princess – as fate forces her to disguise herself among her enemies and discover her destiny. The magic of this novel is in how Ani can speak and understand the language of animals. It’s charming and cosy and completely unputdownable.

“Some people are born with the first word of a language resting on their tongue though it may take some time before they can taste it.” The Goose Girl shouldn’t really be here. It is one of the countless examples of traditional fairytales retold. But, as it happens, it’s my favourite of the old stories, and this is a refreshingly new version still firmly embedded in fairy-tale land. It begins with a princess who can speak the language of animals, and who wouldn’t want to be able to do that?

Shannon Hale’s The Goose Girl is a fairytale retelling in which a princess is engaged to marry a prince of a far-off kingdom. On the way there, she’s betrayed by her lady-in-waiting, who takes her place and leaves her to die. The princess makes it to the kingdom and becomes a goose-keeper, only to befriend and fall in love with the prince on her own. This is another Bildungsroman I read for the first time as an adult, and I couldn’t believe more people weren’t talking about it. Hale’s prose is like her storytelling—it flows slow and sweet like honey.… show more.

What happens when the legends of the past turn out to be true? The Goose Girl is Shannon Hale’s take on the fairytale of the same name, but Hale takes the old story to new levels, by putting her princess, Ani, in a world where the forces of nature have their own language. Learn to speak that language, and you can be powerful, but those powers are dangerous and come at a cost. I loved this book for the beauty of the world Hale creates and the rich journey she takes each of her characters on as they learn to… show more.