Ripening: Why Women Need Fairy Tales Now

by Sharon Blackie

‘Fairy tales matter because at the heart of every one of them is transformation.’

In this world in which all our old certainties seem to be crumbling, many women feel lost. In Ripening, Sharon Blackie insists that fairy tales are precisely the stories we need for such times.

Long before they became bywords for people-pleasing princesses, these old stories – passed down to us through generations by our peasant ancestors – told us everything that women need to learn about the world. They might be set in difficult and dangerous times, but they insist that their heroines face the unfaceable and dig deep for previously unimagined inner resources. They teach us to be savvy, inspire us to grow in confidence, show us how to be bold and claim the future we dream of. 

More than anything, fairy tales are soul-food. They show us how to take hold of our own personal narratives and transform them into stories that might begin with trauma, but end with empowerment. They offer us images of startling resonance and beauty, while showing us how to recognise and make use of the possibilities that rise to the surface when broken systems are cracked open.

Reviews of Ripening: Why Women Need Fairy Tales Now

'Sharon Blackie ventures further than most of us have the courage for, and then comes back with a map' – Melissa Harrison, author of The Stubborn Lights of Things

'She knows her archetypes, knows her Jung, knows her fairytales and knows her neuroscience, and is sick of being patronised by men who don't' – Sunday Times

'Beautifully written and full of wit… Ripening takes a compelling case for the importance of fairy tales to modern life' – Marya Hornbacher, author of Wasted

'If you find yourself on a threshold and are looking for a larger context, or cauldron, in which to forge the meaning of your life, or maybe just a new direction, there's no finer guide' – Elise Loehnen, author of On Our Best Behaviour

'As a midlife woman, I found this wonderful book about fairy tales full of wisdom, insight and inspiration – and I will certainly give it to my teenage daughter as a guide to the possibilities of her unfolding life' – Fiona Robertson, author of Stone Lands