Synopsis: Having lived in Iraq, Elizabeth Laird has gathered a wealth of folktales spiced with humour and rose-scented enchantment. Here are nine stories of boastful tailors, magical quests and lively animal tales – elegantly retold and playfully illustrated by Shelley Fowles to reveal the true traditional heart of Iraq.

Review: Frances Lincoln’s latest addition to their series of folktales from around the world is a feast of fun. Award-winning novelist Elizabeth Laird re-tells traditional Iraqi stories with verve and humour, drawing on her first-hand experiences of life in the country (experiences she reflects on more fully in her fascinating introduction). The collection is varied, mixing comic folktales with animal stories, yet united by the resourcefulness and cunning of its protagonists. While boasters and bullies, misers and idlers all receive their just desserts, trickery is represented in a much more favourable light. Here, the wise and sharp-witted can reform the difficult, overcome the oppressor and win wealth, fame, and even a husband!

What is particularly welcome about these stories are the host of strong female characters. In the title story, it is the girl who must embark on a quest to find and save the life of her beloved; in ‘Lazy Ahmed’ and ‘The Suit of Stone’, when the menfolk land themselves in dire trouble with the caliph, it is their quick-thinking wives and daughters who must rescue them. Simply yet richly told, this would be an ideal collection to add diversity to KS2 class libraries and to provide comparison with trickster tale traditions from other cultures.

Nicolette Jones in The Sunaday Times

2007-11-20