Next Quarter’s Book Pick

Join us in reading this retelling of Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Snow Queen.” In December, Mary and Elizabeth will each share a review of this novel. Then, they will discuss the book and share their discussion here. You can join the discussion as you read by joining our Facebook group!

Keep reading for more information about this book and the fairy-tale which inspires it.

“The Snow Queen” (Snedronningen in the original Danish) is a fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen, first published in 1844 in New Fairy Tales: First Volume: Second Edition. It is told in seven parts for ‘stories’ (‘historier‘ in Danish). You can find the full tale in English for free online.

• ​The 1872 translation by H. P. Paull is available in full here
• The 1949 translation by Jean Hersholt (described by The Hans Christian Andersen Centre as the standard translation) is available in full here

Even if you aren’t certain you’re familiar with the original “Snow Queen” story, the odds are you’ve encountered some media which is directly inspired by it. “The Snow Queen” has been remade into numerous films, television shows, operas, stage productions, ballets, works of literature, and even video games. The Disney film Frozen is an adaptation of “The Snow Queen,” although its final version deviates rather significantly from the original tale.

As she was writing The Raven and the Reindeer, Ursula Vernon noted on her blog that she was “kind of worried that no one who isn’t familiar with the source material will find this story even remotely readable” (“Struggling with the Snow Queen, 25 September 2014, Red Wombat Studio Blog).  Given this, it may be advisable to give the original “Snow Queen” tale a read before diving into Vernon’s retelling.

The 1957 animated film “The Snow Queen” is available for free on Tubi and also on YouTube. It’s a pretty straightforward adaptation of the original Andersen story, albeit a bit simplified.

T. Kingfisher is the pen name under which author Ursula Vernon publishes her adult fiction. She is a writer and illustrator, with a number of publications for children as well as for adults. You can find more information about all of her publications and art at her website: Red Wombat Studio. You can also find her on Twitter under the handle @UrsulaV.

The Raven & The Reindeer is a standalone book, published in 2016. It is not Ursula Vernon’s only novel-length fairy-tale retelling: The Seventh Bride (2015) is a retelling of “Bluebeard,” Bryony and Roses (2015) is a retelling of “Beauty and the Beast,” Summer in Orcus (2016) features the fairy-tale figure Baba Yaga (and is also available to read on Vernon’s website), A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking (2020) is inspired by “The Gingerbread Man,” and her horror novels–The Twisted Ones (2019) and The Hollow Places (2020)–both draw on folkloric elements and themes.