Wicked Enchantment

by Margot Benary-Isbert

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0441886698
• ISBN13: 9780441886692
• Release Date: March 1986
• Publisher: Ace Books
• Length: 160 Pages
• Weight: 0.86 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Charming

The story is very original and contains twists I didn't expect. The illustrations are charming and actually have little clues to them you don't notice until later. I only wish they'd explained the Wicked Owl better.

A True Classic

This is an outstanding book, far more deserving of praise and renown than many others who are far better known. It is a juvenile work, but don't let that put off adults as it is far better written and entertaining most of what is sold as best sellers. This is also a translation from the original German, but an excellent translation that captures well the flavor of the original work and the sense of a strange, small, medieval German village where the villagers are not frightened by ghosts and other strange creatures. I highly recommend this book as classic piece of fantasy. It lacks the recognition it deserves due to being a German work and also one of a sparce few of this author works.

Worth Tracking Down!

This is one of only three out-of-print children's fantasy titles I went to the trouble of tracking down and buying in the days back before it was easy to do so. (The other two are Taash and the Jesters by Ellen Kindt McKenzie and The Silver Curlew by Eleanor Farjeon.) The first reviewer is right--this is a terrifically fun and entertaining read! Its setting and characters are a refreshing change from the usual British Isles medieval mode we see over and over; it takes place in an old town in Germany named Vogelsang which turns out to be full of odds and ends of magic. Heroine Anemone runs away from home, but she doesn't go far; she and her dog hide across town with a family friend who is semi-magical herself: the description of her bed, all stitched with needlework depictions of animals and planets and topped off by an actual beehive whose "humming puts you to sleep," is one of the many wonderful details in this book. Find out why the mayor of Vogelsang has forbidden the sale of eggs right before Easter, and the real identity of Anemone's wicked stepmother and stepbrother. Join in the revolution on behalf of the songbirds, and see how Anemone and her dog end up working for a circus. There's nothing quite like this book on or off the market, and you'll be glad if you can get your hands on a copy!

This is a Teriffic Book!!

...It took me quite awhile to get around to reading it, but after I started I couldn't stop!!! This book is a tale of a girl named Anemone who runs away from the injustice at her house when her father hires a new housekeeper. This housekeeper, Ilsebill, has a bratty son, Erwin, who gets Anemone blamed for everything, and all of her late mother's precious creatures begin to suffer as well. Aunt Gundula, a famous painter in the little town, takes in Anemone and turns her into a boy called Perdu, the perfect disguise. Soon though, everyone from Amenone's dog Winne to her Aunts Lena and Tina (who also come to stay with Aunt Gundula because of a mysterious mystery that their husbands are accused of having to do with) are wrapped up in a spellbinding mystery indeed. It is a mystery of an overpowering mayor, his counsels, a missing foolish virgin and watersprout from the cathedral, and a mysterious tyrant who died years ago. Now they must work to save the little town of Vogelsang, before it's too late! This is an excellent book and even though it is out of print and not a popular title, and though it is hard to explain the exact plot in only a few words, I encourage you to read it!! This book proves the old saying true: "Never judge a book by it's cover" !