Tale of the Flying Forest
I wrote Tale of the Flying Forest (Little, Brown, 2024) during the initial Covid-19 lockdown from March to May of 2020. At the time, I was teaching English as a Foreign Language to kids all over the world and I needed to be at my computer for most of the day. I typically had about 15 minutes between students, which wasn’t enough time to do chores, make sourdough starter, or go for a walk. During those brief pauses in my teaching schedule, I decided to write the adventure I desperately wished I could have. And I knew from the moment I began to write the story of my main character, Anne Applebaum, that her adventure would be a fairy tale.
As a child, I loved fairy tales and I was especially enchanted by the ones that featured a heroine who saves the day rather than a hero. “Hansel and Gretel” and “The Snow Queen”, both of which featured brave girls who rescue their friends and family, were my favorites. While I’d hesitate to call Tale of the Flying Forest a retelling of either of those stories, readers who are familiar with the works of the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen will probably see their influence in my book! There is a wicked witch in a candy house who steals children, a talking raven that gives advice (and snarky comments), a boy with a heart unlike any other, and a girl who would go to the ends of her world to save her brother.
Another reason I was drawn to fairy tales when I was younger because they often feature characters who are lost, alone, or ignored and underestimated by the worlds they lived in. They’re girls trapped in terrible living situations, youngest sons, animals, orphaned children, and poor families. As a Jewish Latina who never saw herself in fiction as a kid, I wanted Tale of the Flying Forest to reflect this focus on people who ordinarily get pushed to the margins. More than that, I wanted to frame them not as unwanted, but as those who can tap in to magic with the greatest ease.
Fairy tales aren’t without their issues, particularly for me as a Jewish person. Antisemitism is woven through many of the most well-known stories from Western and Central Europe, like “Hansel and Gretel” and “Rumpelstiltskin”, and I was determined to change this. That’s I made my main characters Jewish children and incorporated Jewish prayers, folklore, and figures from the Torah (the Old Testament) into the world I built. I wanted to give Jewish kids a portal fantasy in the vein of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe they could see themselves in, and to offer a window into the richness of Jewish life for non-Jewish readers.
The other element of Tale of the Flying Forest that reflects its fairy tale origins is the voice of the narrator. Fairy tales were once told orally, meaning the voice of the teller was almost as important as the story itself! They would draw the listener into a new world and offer them what wisdom they could. Many of my favorite children’s books, from The Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King to “A Series of Unfortunate Events” by Lemony Snicket, do just that! It’s why I wanted to the narrator of Tale of the Flying Forest to be a character in and of themselves, whispering the story to readers and sharing secrets with them.
Every good fairy tale needs magic and in Tale of the Flying Forest, magic is grounded in music. It felt natural to have this be a part of the fantasy world I build, as many Jewish prayers are chanted or sung rather than spoken. My word choice also reflects the musical quality of the fantastical flying forest my heroine finds herself in, where the right song can create wonders… or horrors.
Tale of the Flying Forest is a love letter to fantasy, to the Jewish heritage that is so important to me, and to music of all kinds. It is a story about family and having faith—in both ourselves and our loved ones. In the end, fairy tales belong to everyone and we can use them to make sense of our own world… or to escape into a better one for a little while.
So tell me, if you were to tell a fairy tale, what would it be like?
Listen to R. M. Romero talk about her name
Listen to an audiobook excerpt from Tale of the Flying Forest
Explore R. M. Romero’s author page on TeachingBooks
Text and images are courtesy of R. M. Romero and may not be used without express written consent.
Leave a Reply