The latest entry in the Fairy Tale series focuses on the legend of Bluebeard. Editor Terri Windling’s introduction traces the legend in its various incarnations and elements through time and provides context for the work that follows, an atmospheric and brooding tale of faith, sorcery, and redemption.
Set in the Finger Lakes region of New York in 1843 and rich with historical detail and atmosphere, the story centers around the three Charter sisters, whose widowed father has remarried a stern, religious woman and become enamored of an end-times preacher known as Fitcher. As the final day approaches, the girls’ father uproots them from their native Boston and takes them to remote Jekyll’s Glen, where Fitcher has built a place of refuge in the wilderness. One by one, the girls fall under the spell of the imposing and charismatic Fitcher, each being drawn into the strange world of the Fitcherites (and marriage to their bizarre leader). The story’s darker elements (murder, sorcery, dark occult forces) are relieved by the innocence and strength of its heroine Kate, the youngest of the sisters, who by her courage saves both herself and her family–although none of them is untouched by the experience.
Another fine entry in a rewarding series.