This is a retelling of East of the Sun and West of the Moon. To readers unfamiliar with the Norwegian fairy tale, think of "Beauty and the Beast" with an extra adventure tacked on to the end. (The main character is even named Rose.)
I'll discuss Pattou's version at the end, but the bare bones of the fairy tale goes something like this: In exchange for her family's future well being, the youngest daughter offers to live with a bear in a distant castle, whom she suspects to be a prince under a spell. On a visit home (this is a very gentle confinement: our heroine has servants, good food, and can visit her parents if she promises to return), her mother and sisters question her easy acceptance of everything (rightly so, in my opinion) but can not convince her to stay home and forget the bear.
Here is where the story diverges from Beauty and the Beast. Finally, the girl's mother and sisters convince her that her situation is weird, to say the least. They tell her to sneak up on the bear after dark with a candle and see if, as she suspects, he really does turn into a man at night. Our heroine agrees with predictable results: the bear's human form is very nice but she spills wax on his shirt and wakes him up.
The bear's response is one of the things I've never understood about the fairy tale. Shortly put, "You've ruined everything, now I have to marry a troll and it's all your fault! Bye." When pressed for details, the bear (now in human form) explains about the spell and says if she had waited only one night more, it would have been broken. Now, of course, he has to marry the Troll Queen. He leaves wearing nothing but the night shirt with wax stain, but before he does, he mentions that the troll kingdom lies "east of the sun and west of the moon."
This is very helpful and our heroine sets out immediately to rescue the bear. She has many adventures and finally hitches rides with the west wind and his brother the north wind to get to the Troll palace. After some more adventures, she rescues the prince (with no help from him), kills the queen, and destroys the palace, but not before rescuing some travelers waiting to be eaten. They return home (somehow), The prince formerly known as the bear marries her, and they live happily ever after.
*********************************************************
What makes Pattou's version interesting:
Pattou brings the stock characters of the tale to life and creates backgrounds and motivations for everyone Rose meets, from her family to the Queen to the new patron who helps her family after she leaves with the bear. The book is narrated by several different characters in turn, making for a facinating read. The bear's chapters, for instance, are told in poems.
The best part, though, was finding out how Pattou incorporated all of the unanswered questions of the original tale in. Why did Rose and her family first agree to let her go but later wanted her to stay? Who was the prince and how could he go missing without anyone caring? Why was the Bear living all alone in his house? What did Rose do with herself there? How does Rose find the troll palace? How does she get home? How can you ride on the back of the West Wind? What kind of troll would want to marry a human? Why would a queen willing to wait a hundred years to marry a man agree to let Rose have one more shot at him when she's already won?
If you liked "Wicked" by Gregory Maguire, you'll like the Troll Queen. She hates that her hands are so rough compared to a human's skin and doesn't understand why the rules of her land say she can't marry whom she likes but must allow a human girl a chance at her prince.
My only criticism of this book is that it ends so abruptly. I understand the the book is nearly 500 pages long, but I would have liked a longer chapter about the trip home and what happens to her family.
