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Title | The Godmother
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Author | Elizabeth Ann Scarborough
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Cover Art | Tara McGovern
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Publisher | Ace Books - 1995
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First Printing | Ace Books - 1994
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Title | The Godmother's Apprentice
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Author | Elizabeth Ann Scarborough
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Cover Art | Tara McGovern
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Publisher | Ace Books - 1996
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First Printing | Ace Books - 1995
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Title | The Godmother's Web
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Author | Elizabeth Ann Scarborough
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Cover Art | Tara McGovern Benson
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Publisher | Ace Books - 1999
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First Printing | Ace Books - 1998
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Category | General
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Warnings | None
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Main Characters | Felicity Fortune, Rose Samson, Snohomish Quantrill, Puss, Cindy Ellis, Grandmother
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Main Elements | Fairy tales, Celtic folklore, Native American folklore Godmothers, Fey
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Website | EAScarborough.com
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 The Godmother
One day in Seattle, social worker Rose Samson donned a crystal pendant from her friend's vintage clothing shop and made a wish for a fairy godmother to save "the whole damned city."
Enter Felicity Fortuen, with her silver hair, strange clothes, and magical powers. She is Rose's wish come true. She shines a light of hope on this city of lost souls. And she lives in every heart that ever dared to dream...
The Godmother's Apprentice
Dear Rosie,
Well, here I am. Ireland is beautiful, and Felicity Fortune's house is pretty nice. There's something weird about the pool though, and the cat talks to me. I'm not kidding. Felicity has turned out to be an odd one too. She keeps disappearing, and I could have sworn I saw her dancing at the bottom of that pool. (Sigh.) I just wish I could get started on this godmothering stuff...
Sno Quantrill will soon get her wish. And the adventure of a lifetime.
The Godmother's Web
It was Cindy Ellis's habit to help out whenever she could - sometimes, even, to her own detriment - so there was nothing unusual about her journey to Arizona, to train a horse as a favour to a friend. But along the way, she met a woman, with a rainbow-coloured blanket folded over her arm and a spindle in her hand, who would take Cindy on the ride of her life. Together, they will visit a world torn apart by poverty and sorrow, a world the old woman watches over closely. They will encounter the power of magic. And this Godmother, spindle in hand, will spin a web of love strong enough to capture all who dare step inside...
A coworker gave me these books to read with a good recommendation. So I figured, why not. This coworker usually refers happy, humourous fantasy books so I started in on the first expecting something similar. No, on the contrary the book was almost depressing. The horrors that haunt the streets of big cities, the poverty, the perversity, from pedophiles to street gangs, this book covered all the stuff we like to pretend isn't there. No wonder Rose, a social worker, needed the help of a fairy godmother.
If you expected Felicity to simply wave her wand and make things alright, you'll be disappointed once more. I'm not saying this isn't a "happy ever after" fairy tale, but rather that it is only that kind of story for some of the people of Seattle. Most will have to continue to live with their misery. See godmothers only have a small ration of magic that they are allowed to use, and there is an awful lot of bad stuff going on out there.
On the other hand I like how the characters all find themselves falling into the archetypes of various fairy tales. There's Sno with the evil step mother...and the poisoned joint? Cindy with the evil step sisters...and the glass horseshoe? And yet, each fairy tale is different, they aren't simply reliving someone else's story, and they all interleave, sharing each others villains and heroes. It was quite interesting.
The second book I enjoyed even more. Now, I'm not that familiar with the Celtic tales and I tended to get mixed up with which mythological character was which. But the story was more upbeat and more fantastical. Talking swans, a cat funeral and a flying horse are just some of the things you'll meet in this book.
I really enjoyed these stories, and as my coworker did before, I will recommend them to others.
May 2007
I was surprised when in a used bookstore I came across a third book in the series I wasn't even aware of. I had to pick it up and read it of course. At first I found I didn't like it, I can't even really explain why, I just found it kind of boring. Don't get me wrong, I found the Navajo and Hopi lore fascinating, but the actual plot just didn't interest me. But for whatever reason, I kept on reading right to the end. And found I liked the ending enough that overall I liked the book.
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