Elizabeth Ann Scarborough's The Godmother puts a new twist in contemporary fantasy with the assertion that fairy godmothers exist here-and-now and they have magical power that allow them to intervene in real-world problems. The story is grounded by being set in and around a social-services agency in Seattle and by making her central character sympathetic and realistic but the author still manages to have a lot of fun with idea. Rose Samson is neither fashion-model beautiful nor a twit and she happily joins forces with Felicity Fortune, a "Godmother" who demonstrates that the basic situations in Grimm's fairy tales are still relevant in our humdrum modern world. The two work with many people including a sweet and smart pair of Hansel and Gretel-like abandoned children named Hank and Gigi, a Snow White ("Sno") who is royal if you count her father's rock-star status and "Cindy," who is suing her stepmother for control of her trust fund. In all their encounters, Rose and Felicity try to blend their magical aid with realistic human initiative and social responsibility. Scarborough's fully-realized settings and the humor built into the mix of magical solutions and grim reality make this work an entertaining and compelling read.
The author of the Nebula Award-winning novel Healer's War returns with an enchanting new tale. When social worker Rose Samson wishes Seattle had a fairy godmother, she never expects her wish to come true. Then she meets a strange woman who accompanies her when she checks up on her clients . . . who brings enough magic to turn lives around.



Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Scarborough's new fantasy adds an interesting riff to a familiar theme: What if fairy godmothers existed today and they had enough magical power to effectively meddle in real-world problems? Though Scarborough (winner of a Nebula for The Healer's War) has lots of fun with this concept, she securely grounds her tale by setting it in and around a believable social-services agency in Seattle and by making her protagonist sympathetic and realistic. Rose Samson is neither stereotypically gorgeous nor foolishly stupid, and she willingly joins forces with Felicity Fortune, a ``Godmother'' who shows her how the archetypes in Grimm's fairy tales are still relevant in our blighted modern world. The two work with, among others, a sweet and smart pair of Hansel and Gretel-like abandoned children named Hank and Gigi, a Snow White (``Sno'') who is royal only by dint of her father's rock-star status and ``Cindy,'' who is suing her stepmother for control of her trust fund. In each case, Rose and Felicity attempt to interweave their magical aid with large doses of human initiative and social responsibility. While this narrative blending of conscience and enchantment is undermined by preachiness and a too earnest desire to avoid simple solutions to complex issues, Scarborough's well-detailed settings and the humor implicit in the clash between magical solutions and grim reality make this tale, while not the author's best, both entertaining and compelling. (Sept.)