title: Kissing the Witch: Old Tales in New Skins
author:  Emma Donoghue 
description: At age 28 Emma Donoghue is already a marvel. The author of two critically acclaimed novels, a fascinating work of lesbian history, and a series of successful stage plays, Donoghue can apparently do anything. With <i>Kissing the Witch</i>, a collection of revisionist fairy tales, she has proven once again that she is a great writer. In these 13 interconnected tales she finds new meanings in old stories: Cinderella runs off with her fairy godmother, Snow White's awakening is more erotic than romantic, and Rapunzel discovers that her freedom, although not her salvation, is in her hair. Donoghue writes about women, some lesbians and some not, and makes them the center of her fantastical world. The bold, daring boys of the Grimm tales are not here, but in their place are vibrant, knowing, and brave women and girls who are finding out what the world holds for them.
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  Born in 1969, Emma Donoghue is an Irish writer who spent eight years in
  England before moving to Canada. Her fiction includes _Slammerkin_ , _Life
  Mask_ , _
  
  
  Touchy Subjects_ and the international bestseller _Room_ (shortlisted for the
  Man Booker and Orange Prizes).
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ALSO BY EMMA DONOGHUE
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  The Sealed Letter
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Room
  
  
  
  
  
  Landing
  
  
  
  
  
  Touchy Subjects
  
  
  
  
  
  Life Mask
  
  
  
  
  
  The Woman Who Gave Birth to Rabbits
  
  
  
  
  
  Slammerkin
  
  
  
  
  
  Kissing the Witch: Old Tales in New Skins
  
  
  
  
  
  Hood
  
  
  
  
  
  Stir-fry
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Emma Donoghue
  
  
  
  
  
  Three and a Half Deaths
  
  
  
  
  
  Picador
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ![](docimages/logo.jpg)
  
  
  First published 2011 by Picador  
  
  
  an imprint of Pan Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited  
  
  
  Pan Macmillan, 20 New Wharf Road, London N1 9RR  
  
  
  Basingstoke and Oxford  
  
  
  Associated companies throughout the world  
  
  
  [www.panmacmillan.com](http://www.panmacmillan.com)
  
  
  ISBN 978-1-4472-1304-8
  
  
  Copyright © Emma Donoghue 2001, 2011
  
  
  The right of