The Golden Braid by Melanie Dickerson

The Golden Braid

by Melanie Dickerson   YA Fiction Thomas Nelson  Litfuse, Thomas Nelson, and Melanie Dickerson are excited to bring to you Melanie's newest fairy tale retelling, The Golden Braid. The one who needs rescuing isn't always the one in the tower. . . . Rapunzel can throw a knife better than any man. She paints beautiful flowering vines on the walls of her plaster houses. She sings so sweetly she can coax even a beast to sleep. But there are two things she is afraid her mother might never allow her to do: learn to read and marry. Fiercely devoted to Rapunzel, her mother is suspicious of every man who so much as looks at her daughter and warns her that no man can be trusted. After a young village farmer asks for Rapunzel's hand in marriage, Mother decides to move them once again---this time, to the large city of Hagenheim. The journey proves treacherous, and after being rescued by a knight---Sir Gerek---Rapunzel, in turn, rescues him farther down the road. As a result, Sir Gerek agrees to repay his debt to Rapunzel by teaching her to read. Could there be more to him than his arrogance and desire to marry for riches and position? As Rapunzel acclimates to life in a new city, she uncovers a mystery that will forever change her life. In this Rapunzel story unlike any other, a world of secrets and treachery are about to be revealed after seventeen years. How will Rapunzel finally take control of her own destiny? And who will prove faithful to a lowly peasant girl with no one to turn to?

Meet the Author

Melanie Dickerson is an award-winning author who earned her bachelor's degree in special education from The University of Alabama. She has taught in Georgia, Tennessee, Germany, and the Eastern European country of Ukraine. A member of American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) and Romance Writers of America (RWA), she now spends her time writing and taking care of her husband and two daughters near Huntsville, Alabama.    Here's my review of this wonderful retelling of the story of Rapunzel: First, I would like to extend a heartfelt “Thank you” to Melanie Dickerson and her publisher for sending me a copy of "The Golden Braid" to review for them. I am truly grateful for this generosity. I really appreciate the time, effort and expense it takes to make a reviewer copy available to me. “The Golden Braid” by Melanie Dickerson is a beautifully retold version of the Rapunzel story.  In this version, Rapunzel is uprooted from her home when she receives a marriage proposal and her mother, who is suspicious of all men, makes them relocate.  The beautiful Rapunzel and her mother are rescued from an attack by a handsome, but grumpy, knight.  When Rapunzel sneaks away from home (and her over-protective mother) to learn to read, the monk takes her to her recuperating rescuer, Sir Gerek.  Rapunzel learns as well as she does everything else (knife throwing, painting, singing).  As her abilities increase, so does her desire for more out of life, as well as her need to be free of her mother’s control. This is a charming story with fleshy characters, a rich plot, delightful dialogue and a thick backbone of godliness that sweeps the reader away to far off places and a long gone era.  The imagery is so vivid, it plays like a movie in my mind as I read.  “The Golden Braid” is an enjoyable young adult novel that is easily devoured as a standalone book or in concert with Melanie’s other novels of Hagenheim.  I can’t recommend these books highly enough.