The Witch's Apprentice and Other Stories

by

Ekta R. Garg

Clever and entertaining stories that lean slightly to the left and right of classic fairy tales.

Fairytales. We all grew up listening to them told over and over, in all forms of artistic media: storytelling, plays, dance, and film. In Ekta R. Garg's reimaginings, she takes these well-known, familiar gems and gives us, in the words of Paul Harvey, "the rest of the story." 

The Witch's Apprentice and Other Stories is a small compilation of tales created in response to the author's question of "why" a character acted the way they did in the famous story or "why" a situation arose in the first place. For instance, remember when, in The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy's house falls on and kills the Wicked Witch of the East? Garg answers the question of why the witch was in the roadway where the house landed. What follows is a fun and completely reasonable explanation with an unexpected twist that ties the popular L. Frank Baum novel to another familiar but unrelated tale. Garg works similar magic on the fairy tales of The Pied Piper of Hamelin, The Emperor's New Clothes, Goldilocks, Sleeping Beauty, and the nursery rhyme "Jack and Jill." The results are imaginative, surprising, and spun gold. 

I recommend THE WITCH'S APPRENTICE AND OTHER STORIES to readers who enjoy fairytale reimaginings. 

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advance Review Copy through WOW! Women On Writing Book Tours.