Trying to describe the metaphysical dimensions of Anne’s book is difficult but a welcomed challenge. Best way to imagine it is as a Tardis of a book. If I had to choose three words to describe it, I would use humorous, whimsical, and wise.

The 7.5” x 9.25” quality-covered paperback has thick pages with over 100 color and monochrome relief block print illustrations throughout. The 185-page book is broken down into sections:

Traditional European Fairy Tales
The Bible
Classical Myths
Other Myths, Legends, & Folklore
A generous note section with information on the stories, block prints, and other artwork.

Anne uses the historical stories as a jumping off place for her own inquisitive nature and uses incisive analyses to tweak the stories into being able to regard them with fresh eyes. Anne puts deep thought into each as she refashions them.

Tales that are known to most include:
Little Red Riding Hood
The Princess & the Pea
Snow White
The Frog Prince
Sleeping Beauty
Jack & the Beanstalk
Baba Yaga
Rumplestiltskin
Rapunzel
The Peaceable Kingdom
Adam & Eve
Pharoah’s Plagues
Solomon’s Test
Cain & Abel
Pandora
Sphinx Riddles
Medusa
Persephone
Sirens
Scheherazade
Hanging Gardens of Babylon
Unicorn
Hey Diddle Diddle

I truly do love every page of Anne’s book, so when it comes to choosing favorite stories, I will restrict myself to choosing one from each of the main categories. From fairy tales, I choose, “Incident at Bullion Mill,” which is a re-telling of Rumplestiltskin. From Bible stories, I choose, “Good,” which is a re-imagining of The Book of Genesis. From classical myths, I choose, “Siren Song,” which gets into the origins and thought process of The Siren. Under others, I chose, “The Unicorn Maiden’s Tale.” I also have to say I adored the ghost story, “King of Shadows.”

There are several poems in multiple forms, and I was impressed with Anne’s sestina forms, which, as anyone who has written poetry knows, is a very challenging form to compose well.

I highly recommend, _Beyond Pomegranate & Thorns_. It is a quality volume that is one I will be returning to again and again. Thank you, Anne, for creating this treasure of work. Visit Anne’s website by clicking the link under the top image to learn more about Anne and her work.