On Becoming a Fairy Godmother

by Sara Maitland

The latest collection by a master of the short story breathes new life into old legends and brings the magic of myth back into modern women's lives. What happens to today's mature woman when her children have fled the nest? This collection presents fifteen new 'fairy tales', which include an encounter with a mermaid, an erotic adventure with a mysterious stranger, the story of a woman who learns to fly, and of another who transforms herself into a real fairy godmother.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Fantasy, Fairy Tales

236 pages, Paperback

First published December 15, 2003

About the author

Sara Maitland is a British writer and academic. An accomplished novelist, she is also known for her short stories. Her work has a magic realist tendency. Maitland is regarded as one of those at the vanguard of the 1970s feminist movement, and is often described as a feminist writer. She is a Roman Catholic, and religion is another theme in much of her work.

Reviews

[Fiona · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this collection of fifteen short stories, Sara Maitland delivers a celebration of the menopause. Now, I appreciate that won't appeal to everyone but trust me! If you can identify with the women in these stories, reading them is a joyful experience.

The collection is an interesting mixture of fairy tales, legends, biblical and Greek myths, and history. For example, Cinderella's wicked stepmother muses on the nature of cruelty; Maid Marion takes a realistic view of her relationship with Robin Hood; Eve considers returning to the Garden of Eden; Jocasta reflects upon her marriage to Oedipus, her son. There is also a fair smattering of fantasy, e.g., the woman who finds a tiny mermaid in her downstairs lavatory; the mother who abandons her grown up family to become a pirate.

Easily my favourite story is Helen of Troy's Aerobics Class. Just imagine it!

Double scoop, right, double scoop, left. Jump. Clap. Turn. Is this the face that launched a thousand ships? She asks herself crossly, reaching up with a perfectly manicured hand to wipe her upper lip. For a moment she doubts it.........two three four.

Sara Maitland intrigues and fascinates me. I loved these short stories and will keep them on my shelf forever so that I can be reminded whenever necessary of the often ignored or hidden strength of older women. Go girls!

[Rachel Rice · Rating 3 out of 5]

My first experience of reading Sara Maitland and possibly not my last. This, for me, was a bit of a mixed bag. Essentially, these are 15 feminist retellings of, well, for the majority, fairytales. I'm not quite at the menopausal stage but not far off, and these tales to some degree hit home given my impending ageing process. Her writing style/ prose, etc, is simply sublime and really transports you to different realms with her almost other worldly writing. There were a few I enjoyed more than others, my favourite possibly being her take on Maid Marion, as I have always had a soft spot for Robin Hood stories and any characters connected to those stories 😊( Robin of Sherwood is still one of my favourite tv shows to this day ☺️)

[Tanya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Personal notes on read:
Spring 2020
Favorite stories-
Why I became a plumber
Sailing the High Seas

5.5/10
A lot of the writing style is thick (much is hard to engage me), and the mythology is unfamiliar. But some of the stories are spectacular.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sara Maitland is one of my favorite writers. I think that she has interesting things to say, and she says them so well. That said, this was not my favorite collection of her short stories. There were some terrific standouts, like "The Wicked Stepmother's Lament", "Sailing the High Seas", and "Choosing Paradise". "Foreplay" and "Loving Oedipius" were good, and "Helen of Troy's Aerobics Class" was fun. But there were a few that were uneven, and one or two that could have been left out of the book altogether.

[Terri · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book of stories are from a strong feminist/crone type point of view. Retellings of classic tales and also new stories. Some hit, some miss. I like the story of Cinderella's stepmother's point of view. And another about Helen of Troy. But some just fall flat for me. Were she is going with her writing is interesting though and I am interested in reading more. But not for a while. It seems I need to take these slow.

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful little read. I loved the takes of Cinderella's stepmother and Guinivere. And the tale of the mother becoming a pirate was perfect. However I really did not like the Sybil story and the fairy godmother piece left me a bit cold. Most of the tales (maybe all of them now that I think about it) are told from a middle aged woman's perspective which givess them an interesting feel.

[Pamela Lloyd · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although I liked some of the stories, overall I found this anthology disappointing. Too many of the stories shared the same characteristics of voice and theme, so that I felt like I was reading a series of stories about one woman's past life experiences.

[Ellen Winkler]

very imaginative, fantasy mixed with reality, for example, finding a mini mermaid in your toilet, lots of chuckles, feminist, also the author is British so I have to get the dictionary out to look up a word, such as bairn.