![]() She lives a sheltered, isolated life within the palace in Golvahar. The novel’s setting draws strongly on its Persian influences to build a rich, strongly-drawn world of mythical protective birds, demons, legendary wicked kings, and people doing their best. ![]() ![]() Girl, Serpent, Thorn draws – as the author acknowledges in her afterword – on Nathaniel Hawthorne’s 19th-century story “Rappacini’s Daughter” and on the deep and fantastic well of the eleventh-century Persian epic Shahnameh. ![]() Its pair of protagonists, Lynet and Mina, had to navigate the lies and emotional inaccessibility – and abuse – of their respective fathers, before being able to form healthier relationships going forward or to resolve the conflict between them and within their kingdom. Girls Made of Snow and Glass drew on the folktale inspirations of the Snow Queen and Snow White, though not always directly: its imagery dwelt in snow and mirrors, in the contrast between cold and warmth. It’s a delightful and energetic book, one that effortlessly avoids any hint of a sophomore slump to present us with a vivid world, a compelling cast, and a narrative that managed to deftly surprise me at least once. Girl, Serpent, Thorn is Melissa Bashardoust’s second novel, after 2017’s Girls Made of Snow and Glass. ![]() Girl, Serpent, Thorn, Melissa Bashardoust ( Flatiron Books 978-4-9, $18.99, 328pp, hc) July 2020. ![]()
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