Once on a Time

Description

A wonderful, fairy tale love story, Milne’s Once on a Time is an exciting read for children, adolescents and adults alike. Those who are familiar with Milne’s other books will find this one strange and interesting – and, indeed, the book occupies a special place in Milne’s oeuvre, so special that it hasn’t even been classified yet, even though it was written almost 100 years ago, in 1917.

Apparently, the story is a typical fairy tale. It describes the war between two neighboring kingdoms and it has all the typical characters of fairy tales – the young prince and the young princess, the villain, the good old king and the evil old king – but they are all complex and complicated characters, not the simple, two-dimensional characters that typical fairy tales have. The armor of the young prince is not as shiny as the reader would expect it to be – he is not only brave, but also vain – the princess to be saved is not that helpless after all, and none of the other characters is entirely good or entirely evil. There is scheming, deception and conflict in the story and we also have what is a must have component of any fairy tale: an enchantment, but it is, of course, an enchantment like no other examples of witchcraft in literature.

The complex three-dimensional character depiction, paired with the plot and story weaving characteristic of Milne, makes this story fascinating for readers of any age. According to the author’s own explanations, he did not write a book for children or for adults to read and like; he wrote a book that he would read and like, which would make Once on a Time a book for adults. Except that it is not – it is a book for everyone.
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