Fairytales for Wilde Girls (Allyse Near, Random House)

It’s a big call to compare an author to Margo Lanagan, Neil Gaiman and Holly Black—even more so when that author is just 22 and about to publish her first novel. Melbourne writer Allyse Near makes her literary debut with Fairytales for Wilde Girls. At first the unusual style and shortness of chapters gives the impression that this is a collection of loosely linked stories rather than a cohesive narrative that the reader can lose themselves in completely. And yet piece by piece, that’s exactly what happens. The seemingly random parts pull together and the reader is plunged deep into the dark forest in which much of this modern-day fairytale takes place. Near’s writing is clever and sharp, with just the right amount of reality and whimsy, blended with the dark fantasy of masters such as Gaiman and Angela Carter, both of whom are counted among Near’s influences. There’s nothing predictable about this story, from the style of the writing to the characters to the story itself. It’s a cobbled path leading deep into a forest, where the reader is never quite sure what each stone will bring. This is a brilliant debut that will appeal to both adult and young-adult fantasy lovers.

Bec Kavanagh is a Melbourne-based writer and reviewer

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Category: Reviews