Anna and Abel couldn’t be more different. They are both seventeen and in their last year of school, but while Anna lives in a nice old town house and comes from a well-to-do family, Abel, the school drug dealer, lives in a big, prisonlike tower block at the edge of town.

Anna is afraid of him until she realizes that he is caring for his six-year-old sister on his own. Fascinated, Anna follows the two and listens as Abel tells little Micha the story of a tiny queen assailed by dark forces.

It’s a beautiful fairy tale that Anna comes to see has a basis in reality. Abel is in real danger of losing Micha to their abusive father and to his own inability to make ends meet.

Anna gradually falls in love with Abel, but when his “enemies” begin to turn up dead, she fears she has fallen for a murderer. Has she?

– Publisher’s Blurb

Uncompromising, Dark, Sinister.

This is a story that draws it’s mood from the original European fairy tales from the likes of Grimm, you know from the start it probably won’t end well.

It’s a complex plot and Michaelis expertly weaves the various elements together. Anna sees something in Able that no one else does, gets behind the persona she shows to the rest of the world, and makes a connection that he has never had before.

But, is there no smoke without fire? He’d do anything to protect his little sister, Micha (who incidentally is wonderful! Just wait till you see how she encourages their first kiss! ). Thing thing is, it’s also all to easy to see just how far he would go to protect her.

And when people who would threaten Abel and Micha’s world start to turn up dead, Anna isn’t sure what to think. Abel is also a gifted storyteller and the plot is woven around the story he creates for Micha, which while a fantastical tale filled with talking animals, & rose girls, seems to mirror the real world as well.

It took me a while to get into this one. It was enjoyable enough, but nothing amazing. Then about a third of the way in I completely fell for it, and was emerged in it totally.

Both Anna and Abel are deeply flawed characters, and make unbelievably bad decisions, but even though you can see the danger in the relationship, you can also see they are more good for each other than they are harmful.

It deals with some very dark events in a brutal and honest manner as the plot reaches the climax, and while it is classified as a YA book, it’s definitely aimed at the older end (16/17+) of that market.

I’ve obviously not read the original German version, but I can’t help but be impressed with Miriam Debbage’s translation, which has maintained dark and vibrant writing, and its Continental setting.

It’s ending like all good fairy tales, may be bleak, but it’s not without hope.

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Buy: The Storyteller by Antonia Michaelis from The Book Depository
My copy was provided by the publisher for review.