When I first started collecting books for the Once Upon a Time Challenge, The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale was one of the first on my list. Not only had I read lots of glowing reviews for her book, I also had read and enjoyed her adult novel, Austenland.
The Goose Girl is the story of Anidori-Kiladra Talianna Isilee, Ani for short, who is the Crown Princess of Kildenree. She was born with the gift of animal-speaking, and with the help of her Aunt, learns how to talk with the swans surrounding a nearby pond. Her mother, the Queen, doesn’t believe in the old folklore of animal-speaking and decides to marry off Ani to a prince in a neighboring kingdom, Bayern, to avoid war. On her almost three month journey to Bayern, her lady-in-waiting Selia and some of her guards attempt to assassinate Ani. After narrowly escaping, she realizes that Selia has planned to take Ani’s place as the new Princess in Bayern and to hide her secret, will declare war on Kilendree.
In the meantime, Ani needs to earn money in order to take the long journey back home to warn her Mother about the impending war. She begins working as the Goose Girl, in which of course she is naturally inclined and quickly learns to speak to the geese. She also begins to realize that even nature has a language all it’s own.
Ani sat under the beech and listened to the wind. It sought out trees, running around their trunks and weaving through their branches, the way a cat arches under a hand, seeking a good scratch. When it touched her skin, she could feel the rumbling, wispy voice that let images of its wanderings whisper out into sound. Not speaking to her, but just speaking, its existence alone a language.
The Goose Girl was a delightful read. I really enjoyed how Hale developed the character of Ani so well. She matures from a shy little girl at the beginning of the book, to a strong woman, ready to lead a kingdom. The supporting characters were also strong, adding immensely to the book.
Hale writes in the Q&A at the back of the book the following “I’m so impressed with writers who grip the reader from the very beginning, but I can’t seem to do it. I’m cursed to have to build a story slowly, it seems.” This would be my only minor quibble with The Goose Girl, the fact that it took me a while to really get into the story. Once I got through the first quarter though, I was totally hooked. The second in the series, Enna Burning, will definitely be on my TBR list.
Above image copied from here.
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