Rosie Little's cautionary tales for girls - Danielle Wood

These are not, I should say at the outset, tales written for the benefit of good and well-behaved girls who always stick to the path when they go to Grandma's. Skipping along in their gingham frills - basket of scones, jam and clotted cream upon their arms - what need can these girls have for caution? Rather, these are tales for girls who have boots as stout as their hearts, and who are prepared to firmly lace them up (boots and hearts both) and step out into the wilds in search of what they desire?

Beguiling, clever and funny, Rosie Little's Cautionary Tales for Girls is a sheer delight.

Taking her cues from the Brothers Grimm and Scheherazade, Rosie - a thoroughly modern Little Red Riding Hood - tell us her stories of love and desire, men and women, heartache and happiness. Rosie knows better than most that some men are wolves at heart, that the snake in the grass is to be avoided, that women who live purely for their men are little better than plastic mannequins, and that fairy tale endings are, often, in the end, only fairy tales. Despite that, stout-hearted and stout-booted Rosie also shows us that there is a way out of the deep dark forests of our own making, even if it is sometimes a matter of following what appears to be breadcrumbs.

With playfulness, wit, simplicity and directness, Rosie offers her clear-eyed, slyly funny and rueful take on life, love and everything in between.