StoryGraph Saturday is a weekly thing where I randomly choose a book from my To Read pile on StoryGraph and show it off to remind me that it’s there and to show it to you in case you find it interesting, too.
White as Snow
by Tanith Lee
Fantasy
320 pages
Published December, 2001
From The StoryGraph:
Once upon a time there was a mirror. . . .
So begins this dark, unusual retelling of the story of Snow White by the writer reviewers have called the Angela Carter of the fantasy field–a whole novel based on a beloved story, turning it into a dark and sensual drama full of myth and magic.
Arpazia is the aging queen who paces the halls of a warlord’s palace. Cold as winter, she has only one passion–for the mysterious hunter who courts the outlawed old gods of the woodland. Coira is the princess raised in the shadow of her mother’s hatred. Avoided by both her parents and half-forgotten by her father’s court, she grows into womanhood alone . . . until the mirror speaks, and blood is spilled, and the forest claims her.
The tragic myth of the goddess Demeter and her daughter, Persephone, stolen by the king of the underworld, is woven together with the tale of Snow White to create a powerful story of mothers and daughters and the blood that binds them together, for good or ill. Black queen. White maid. Royal huntsman. Seven little folk who live in the forest. Come inside, sit by the fire, and listen to this fairy tale as you’ve never heard it told before.
Once upon a time there was a mirror, and a girl as white as snow. . . .
I’ve been wanting to read fantasy novels by female authors I’ve heard of before but have largely overlooked- like Tanith Lee, C.S. Friedman, or Storm Constantine. I did a few quick searches of my library’s catalog, and I found a few titles I think will give me a good sample of Tanith Lee’s work. I’m going to read this and other titles by female fantasy authors from the 1980s and 1990s in the new year, which is approaching altogether too quickly.
Traveling in Books 
I recall reading something by Tanith Lee and really enjoying it, though it was so long ago I don’t recall what it was. But since then I’ve slowly been collecting some of her books both in print and ebook. I don’t have this one, though. I hope you enjoy it!
I recently read her short story ‘Beauty’ in a short story collection I was otherwise meh about. It was a really compelling tale.
I am having fun with the Liveship Traders by Robin Hobb right now, they came out a little too late for your time brackets though—the late 90s. Another one I loved, but that doesn‘t show up on any best-of-lists, which is a shame, is The Witches of Eileanan series by Kate Forsyth, also from the late 90s. I had a go at Le Guin with mixed results. Lee is missing from my catalogue, except for some short stories that I did not enjoy.
I’m not particularly concerned about a specific time range. I tried the Liveship Traders way back when, and I didn’t really care for it. I’ve tried other books by Hobb, too, and didn’t like them very much, so I don’t think she’s an author for me. I’ll have to look up The Witches of Eileanan. I haven’t heard of that one.