The Goose Girl

Well, as I said in an earlier post, my little sister got me turned on to Shannon Hale's novels.  The Goose Girl, the first of the four Books of Bayern, is based on the Grimm's fairy tale by the same name.  The heroine, 16-year-old Princess Ani of Kildenree, can understand birds, has conversations with her horse Falada, and later discovers that she can hear and talk to the wind.  Her mother is sending her to the neighboring country of Bayern to marry the prince there, and create peace between the two countries.  But on the way, her lady in waiting, Selia (who has the enchantingly convincing gift of people-speaking) and half of her company rebel, saying that Selia should be the princess.  Ani narrowly escapes assassination, but gets separated from Falada.  Hungry and frightened, she follows the voices of birds to a small cottage, where the Bayern woman Gilsa takes her in.  Ani keeps her identity a secret, calling herself Isi, and she is soon on her way to Bayern's capital with Gilsa's son, Finn, for market day.  At the captial, Isi finds a job as a goose keeper amongst a poor group of teenagers from Bayern's large forest who keep the king's animals for a living.  While trying to plan a way to stop Selia, Isi begins to feel at home with the animal keepers, among whom are Enna and Razo (who star in later books). Also, while in the fields, she meets a young man named Geric (who I, for some reason, imagine looking like Ben Barnes), and finds herself falling in love with him.  As the wedding day for the false princess and the prince of Bayern draws near, Isi discovers that Kildenree and Bayern are headed for war, and if she doesn't act fast, it could mean the end of her home country.   Phew, that's a lot!  But each of the 388 pages in this book kept me spellbound.  There are quite a few "aha!", "oh no, this is the end!", and "oh thank heavens" moments.  That, the setting, the characters, and the climactic plot all blend together to make an upscale fairy tale!