Zel

Donna Jo Napoli

Nov 1998 · Sold by Penguin

About this ebook

High in the mountains, Zel lives with her mother, who insists they have all they need -- for they have each other. Zel's life is peaceful and protected -- until a chance encounter changes everything. When she meets a beautiful young prince at the market one day, she is profoundly moved by new emotions. But Zel's mother sees the future unfolding -- and she will do the unspeakable to prevent Zel from leaving her..."Will leave readers spellbound."-- Publishers Weekly, starred review

Ratings and reviews

Zel is a fleshed out story that follows the tenets and story of Rapunzel by the Brothers Grimm. It's a pretty good read, definitely looking to suit a more feminine audience. The book suffers from a major achilles heel however, the style of switching view points from character to character is jarring. They alternate from chapter to chapter, and sometimes change view points from 1st and 3rd person within the same chapter!

About the author

Donna Jo Napoli is the author of Crazy Jack, The Magic Circle, Stones in Water, and many other books. She is the chairperson of the linguistics department at Swarthmore College.