{4.5\/5} “The thing about a mirror is this: The one who stares into it is condemned to consider the world from her own perspective. Even a bowed mirror works primarily by engaging the eyes, and she who centers herself in its surface is unlikely to notice anyone in the background who lacks a certain status, distinction. Or height. Like a dwarf, for instance. Or a young child.”<\/p>\n
Mirror Mirror<\/strong> by Gregory Maguire, published in 2003<\/p>\n In 1502 in Italy Vincente de Nevada is a farmer who’s doing well — he has a few people who work for him. And he has a daughter, Bianca. One day he pulls a mirror from a lake, which is strange but the mirror appears to be in good condition. Soon after his lord Cesare Borgia demands that Vincente undertake an impossible quest — retrieve the Apples of the Tree of Knowledge, which he claims are in a monastery.<\/p>\n After reimagining the story of The Wizard of Oz<\/strong> and Cinderella<\/strong>, Maguire turns his attention to Snow White<\/strong>.<\/p>\n As in Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister<\/strong>, he sets the story in a particular historical period in order to tell the story he wants to tell.<\/p>\n The dwarves in this story are rock creatures who live at a different speed than humans.<\/p>\n Maguire’s use of language is glorious — you’ll want to read it slowly.<\/p>\n