The Wild Swans - Jackie Morris

A beautiful, lyrical and lovely extended version of the fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen. The Wild Swans by Jackie Morris is an enchanting retelling, complete with delicate watercolour paintings throughout. It is a story about love and bravery, about how to listen, and about how, when we do not listen, we hear what we wish to hear.

A girl loses her beloved brothers when they are turned into swans by her wicked stepmother. She embarks on a vital quest with one purpose: to find them and turn them back into boys again.

But the task is complicated. She must pick nettles with her bare hands and turn them to yarn, to spin and knit into shirts for each of the eleven brothers. And all the while she cannot speak, for if she does, even so much as a whisper, it will be like a knife in the heart of each swan-boy. And so she knits, silent. And where there is silence people will put words.

With stunning illustrations and a beautiful re-working of an old fairy tale, this book brings out modern resonances in a traditional tale: how silence can be misconstrued, how malice gains power when no-one speaks against it, how secrecy sows mistrust, the false value that is put on physical beauty... a stunning heirloom book to give or read aloud to older children.

Hardback: 384 Pages

Reading Age: 12-15

Illustrated: Throughout

Sustainably printed

Dimensions: 176 x 141 mm