Review of The Annotated Hans Christian Andersen (The Annotated Books)

Andersen’s fairy tales are beautiful but disturbing, like the bright flash of a silvery blade in the moonlight. There’s always that sharp edge lurking just under the surface, like the little boy who discovers an infinite coldness on the other side of the windowpane.
Or the girl dancing through the countryside in bloody shoes.
Or the child of the sea who sacrifices everything for a love that can never be hers.
Truly happy endings are sometimes rare in the world of fairy tales, but in Andersen’s case they’re as rare as an honest politician. It’s easy to forgive that dark tendency of his though, because Andersen’s a consummate storyteller and his work is wonderfully show-cased in Maria Tatar’s annotated edition. Definitely worth getting your hands on a copy.