Once Upon a Marigold by Jean Ferris

As a fairy tale this book has everything: A young commoner of mysterious origin, raised by a conscientious troll and two faithful dogs. A young princess with a curse. A queen with dubious plans to marry off said princess. A doddering king. And a young love made stronger by p-mail (pigeon mail). This may sound like your typical fairy tale, but that’s where the “typical” part of this fairy tale ends. What results from Jean Ferris’ imagination is a very comical twist on the traditional fairy tale. One in which you may guess early on what the end result is going to be for our two main characters but will read on in delight just to find out for sure. Along the way you’ll get some brief lessons in Greek mythology and learn some truly awful jokes.

At 272 pages this book is actually a very quick read. I typically don’t finish books in one day but I was so thoroughly engrossed in this entertaining tale that I cuddled up in bed with my dog and was through most of the book in just a few hours. The recommended age on the back of this book is 10 and up and that is probably fairly accurate, although this would be a marvelous story to read aloud to even younger children. While not overly complex, this is a sophisticated children’s book and one that any fairy-tale loving adult would enjoy. I’m looking forward to checking out more of Ferris’ novels. I highly recommend this book.

I came across a mention of this book on Neil Gaiman’s blog. He was discussing an email that he had received which triggered a memory of this book that he had read as a child…”And then I got that strange tingly feeling you get when someone mentions a book you’d loved once and half-forgotten almost for forever — in this case The Winter of Enchantment, which was on the shelves in my local library when I was about eleven, and which I remember as being utterly magical, although the actual what-happened is a confused sort of jumble of magic mirrors and cats and the four seasons and victoriana…. “. What ensued was a massive online search for the mysterious author, Victoria Walker, who had written two childrens’ novels several decades ago and then seemingly disappeared into thin air. The wonder of the internet prevailed, however, and the author was discovered. This post explains it all and makes for a very interesting read.

This book is IMPOSSIBLE to find! It went out of print years ago and is currently selling for extremely high prices on ebay and other used book sites. I was able to find a copy through an out of town library due to my wife’s job connections. Its sequel, The House Called Hadlows, is even harder to find.

I really enjoyed reading this book. It reads like a first novel in some ways but is a delightful, quick read. It is especially enjoyable in light of the fact that the author just basically sat down and wrote this on a whim. The characters were fun and the numerous magical/fantastical elements made it easy to see why children growing up when this book was around would have fallen in love with it and remembered it after all these years. I found the personification of the wind and the four seasons to be one of the most delightful things I’ve read in a children’s book in a long time. If you enjoy childrens’ fantasy of any sort you will enjoy this book. If you can come across a copy I would highly recommend it. I’m hoping that the increased interest in the book will cause the current owner of the rights to think of republishing both volumes.