The Restless Girls

by Jessie Burton, Angela Barrett (Illustrator)

Overview

A dazzling, feminist fairytale from the bestselling author of The Miniaturist and The Muse. This inspirational story about family, sisterhood, imagination and bravery is a modern classic to be handed down from mother to daughter for generations

'A fierce fairytale for the rebel girl' KIRAN MILLWOOD HARGRAVE
'A complete revelation' THANDIE NEWTON
'A magical modern retelling of an old fairytale ... Exquisite' JACQUELINE WILSON
'Wild, wise, generous, ferocious' KATHERINE RUNDELL

For her twelve daughters, Queen Laurelia's death in a motor car accident is a disaster beyond losing a mother. Their father, King Alberto, cannot bear the idea of the princesses ever being in danger and decides his daughters must be kept safe at all costs. Those costs include their lessons, their possessions and, most importantly, their freedom.

But the eldest, Princess Frida, will not bend to his will without a fight and she still has one possession her father can't take: the power of her imagination. And so, with little but wits and ingenuity to rely on, Frida and her sisters begin their fight to be allowed to live.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781526618474
Publisher:	Bloomsbury USA
Publication date:	07/27/2021
Pages:	160
Product dimensions:	6.25(w) x 8.38(h) x 0.52(d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Jessie Burton was born in 1982 and went to school in south London. Her favourite subjects were story writing, sleeping and ice-cream eating. After studying at Oxford University she went on to the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. She worked as an actress and a PA before her first novel, The Miniaturist, was published. The Miniaturist was translated into 38 languages and has sold over a million copies around the world. Her second novel, The Muse, was published in July 2016 and is also a no.1 bestseller.

Angela Barrett studied at Maidstone College of Art and the Royal College of Art. She has taught Illustration at Cambridge College of Technology and Drawing at Chelsea College and is widely regarded as one of the UK's finest illustrators. She won the 1988 Smarties Book Prize for Can It Be True? and has been shortlisted three times for the Kurt Maschler Award and once for the Kate Greenaway Medal.

Editorial Reviews

A magical modern retelling of an old fairytale – the exquisite text and illustrations work in perfect harmony” —Jacqueline Wilson

“It's critical what we read our kids ... Jessie Burton has very cleverly has taken a fairytale that was already standing and loved, but has reframed it. It's asking you to think of yourself and value yourself in terms other than the way you look, and just that – that one tiny aspect of the book – alone, was, to me, just a complete revelation” —Thandie Newton

“The Restless Girls is wild, wise, generous, ferocious kind of story. It's a tale to read to your children (of both genders) over and over, and for them to read to theirs. It's a book that glows” —Katherine Rundell, author of The Explorer

“A beautifully realised, whirling adventure full of the dark glitter of growing up, The Restless Girls is a fierce fairytale for the rebel girl – and boy – generation” —Kiran Millwood Hargrave, author of The Girl of Ink & Stars

“A story of love, loss, grief, and a desperate yearning for freedom, told with breathtaking compassion and wisdom” —Louise O'Neill, author of The Surface Breaks

“[Burton] fleshes out this traditional fairytale with personality ... Angela Barrett's illustrations, meanwhile, add an exotic visual richness to Burton's painterly descriptions of the princesses' enchanted underworld” —Irish Times

“A riveting feminist retelling, filled with excitement, imagination, magic, and just the right touch of darkness. These twelve fierce heroines will be a pleasure to return to again and again” —Madeline Miller

“This re-telling was refreshing and empowering and utterly impossible to put down … An exciting and magical tale of joy, love and the courage of twelve girls to be wholly themselves” —Dr. Alaa Murabit

“A feminist fairytale about finding one's inner lioness and about picking a battle very much worth fighting …This brilliant reimagining of Grimms' tale The Twelve Dancing Princesses completely subverts the fairytale genre. Gone are insipid, demure 'weaker sex' princessy-princesses and enter feisty and passionate girls who trail-blaze their way into a better life ... This would be perfect for children in upper key stage 2 and would work well alongside our sequences for The Sleeper and The Spindle, The Lost Happy Endings and The Princess' Blankets” —The Literary Curriculum

“I have spent years reading princess books to my daughter but changing the words as I go along so they make the female characters stronger and representative and basically not victims. This book did it for me so I can just relax and read the book without worrying about what negative images I am putting into my daughter's brain whilst she can enjoy a book about princesses. This was refreshing and wonderful and a joy to read!” —The Green Parent

From the Publisher

…a story of female empowerment, agency and sisterhood…The ways in which Burton diverges from the source text are both satisfying and unexpected…The Restless Girls is one of the prettiest books I've seen in a long time. Barrett's artwork is exquisite, and provides another layer to the story that is not explicitly explored in the text…

The New York Times Book Review - Kelly Barnhill

02/25/2019

In Burton’s debut, a retelling of “The Twelve Dancing Princesses,” the sisters carry on after the death of their mother, “a woman of many words and driver of a racing car.” Blaming his wife’s death on her curiosity and sense of adventure, King Alberto secures his daughters in a windowless room with only a portrait of their mother, “as if to remind the girls what might happen if they ever tried to go faster than was appropriate.” But a door behind it leads to a joyous celebration where the siblings dance until dawn. Discovering that his daughters’ slippers are ruined each night, as if from dancing, the King demands their secret be revealed. Burton offers a richly imagined feminist fairy tale, laden with allusions to contemporary concerns about autonomy, gender roles, and power dynamics, that is extended in Barrett’s lush scenes of the clever sisters and their revels. Ages 8–12. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

11/01/2018

Gr 4–6—The traditional tale of 12 princesses who secretly dance each night until their shoes are ruined is retold and fleshed out as an illustrated short novel. Each girl has a special talent ranging from artistic and agricultural to mechanical and botanical skills. After their fiercely supportive, sage mother's death, the girls are locked away by their father, the king; "not a bad man, but a lost one." Soon they discover a portal to a world behind a portrait of their mother, and they bravely going deeper into the magical realm headed by a wise lioness. In this version, it is the eldest sister, Frida, who proves that intellect and wisdom are enough to succeed. She leaves but returns to the kingdom in an airplane to assume leadership. This retelling includes more contemporary elements, while still offering a classic fairy-tale sensibility. The princesses are given names and particular skills though the only truly distinctive character is Frida. The richly described settings, however, make this a fine read aloud. VERDICT A pleasant addition where contemporary fairy-tale retellings are in demand, especially those with a feminist viewpoint.—Maria B. Salvadore, formerly at District of Columbia Public Library

School Library Journal