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The Juniper Tree

Published
Aug 1986
Main Genre
General Fiction General Fiction
Rating
Pages
192

About This Book

A feminist reimagining of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale about a single mother and an enchanted friendship—from one of most bewitching British writers of the 20th century.

"Comyns's world is weird and wonderful . . . Tragic , comic and completely bonkers all in one, I'd go as far as to call her something of a neglected genius." —The Observer

Bella Winter has hit a low. Homeless and jobless, she is the mother of a toddler by a man whose name she didn't quite catch, and her once pretty face is disfigured by the scar she acquired in a car accident. Friendless and without family, she's recently disentangled herself from a selfish and indifferent boyfriend and a cruel and indifferent mother. But she shares a quality common to Barbara Comyns's other heroines: a bracingly unsentimental ability to carry on. Before too long, Bella has found not only a job but a vocation; not only a place to live but a home and a makeshift family.
 
As Comyns's novel progresses, the story echoes and inverts the Brothers Grimm's macabre tale The Juniper Tree. Will Bella's hard-won restoration to life and love come at the cost of the happiness of others?

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Paperback

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Trade Paperback
Jan 2004 Griffin ISBN 0312302193
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Oct 2011 Capuchin Classics ISBN 1907429190
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Jan 2018 NYRB Classics ISBN 1681371316
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Hardcover

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Hardcover
First Edition Aug 1986 St. Martin's ISBN 0312448589
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eBook

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Jul 2012 Capuchin Classics ISBN B008KYGCNC
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Jul 2012 Stacey Publishing Limited ISBN 1907429573
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Jul 2012 New York Review Books ISBN 1681371324
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eBook
Jan 2018 NYRB Classics ISBN B06XK3SSGH
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