These four long stories are based on classic fairy-tale conventions and archetypes.
She takes the perspective the only good mother is six feet under and explores relationships of and with mothers.
Fairy-tale conventions are here - the curse, the thorn, the abandonment and loss, the inability to meet expectations.
Both children and adults show enhanced insight into the behaviour of others and have their own quirky way of interpreting that and responding to it.
The text is precise, delivering suggestions of behaviour and its outcomes in small bite-sized pieces.
Description of people and places is likewise unadorned.
These are stories that explore the underside of the human existence, very smartly linking each to a classic tale, and are not for the fainthearted, clever though they are.
• Willie Campbell is a Dunedin educator.
