Once upon a time, there was a fairy tale character who didn’t believe her story. So, she changed it... 

The Magic Feather challenges the easy assumptions of fairy tales and other well-known stories. A witch may be a witch, but has she no heart, no hunger? In these poems, the characters may be fierce or funny, rebellious or rueful, but they refuse to be fictitious. They argue, explain, and rationalize. The moral assumptions of traditional tales are exposed. These maidens and heroes, queens and crones refuse to sit still; they fulfill the magic in their bloodlines. 

About The Magic Feather 

“Marjorie Tesser’s twenty-first century take on traditional myths and fairytales is charming, inventive, and full of bold ideas and images that turn the tables on the originals. Well-written and sometimes comic but always serious, these are women for our times!” --Hettie Jones 

“Tesser takes readers into the untold stories of fairies, Dorothy in Oz, Alice in Wonderland, Red Riding Hood; the mothers, grandmothers, princesses, and queens each offer their own take never celebrated in Mother Goose and other gatherings of popular fables. The Magic Feather takes a feminist perspective reminiscent of Anne Sexton’s Transformations and the contemporary anthology The Poets’ Grimm.” --Tara Betts, author of Arc & Hue