Geraldine McCaughrean

Dina Rabinovitch talks to Geraldine McCaughrean about Peter Pan in Scarlet for the Guardian.

McCaughrean makes some interesting points towards the end of the interview about Tinkerbell and Peter. Here's what she has to say:

"In the US, she's discovered, they are obsessed with Tinkerbell - drawn, in her words, 'to the saccharine and cutesy'. In the UK, on the other hand, it's Peter all the way.

'I don't dislike Tinkerbell,' she says, 'but the fairy aspect is the bit that least interested me. I'm most interested in characters who inhabit that sliding scale between good and evil - I don't like it when the hero's just all good, and the villain's all bad. I wanted to bring out the ambiguity of Peter; it's his dark side that's of interest to me.'"

But doesn't Tinkerbell have a dark side as well? What do you think?

Weekend Reviews (2)

A few more review have popped up here and there this Sunday morning. This is what I've found:

Nicola Smith reviews, you've guessed it, Peter Pan in Scarlet for the Independent. ("McCaughrean's book, like Barrie's, is as refreshingly dark and unsentimental as a book about fairies and lost babies can be, and it's hard to see how she could have done it better. ")

Barkbelly, by Cat Weatherwill, is the Washington Post "Book of the Week." (It "has something for readers who love fantasy, folk tales and adventure -- in other words, just about everyone.")