Since I was a bit disappointed in Emma Donoghue’s “Life Mask”, I turned my attention to another book, called “Loreley” and written by Kai Meyer. He’s a German author of mystery / fantasy / thriller novels, a little bit more rooted in reality than Philip Pullman and far better than anything Dan Brown writes :P .

“Loreley” tells the fairy tale of the Loreley rock at the Rhine a bit differently. It is widley popular in Germany and speaks of a beautiful witch with long blonde hair. She sits on the rock while combing her lucious locks and sings such wonderful melodies that every fisherman on the river below is too preoccupied to notice the raging waters and drowns. Kai Meyer uses the same ingredients mostly (an enchanted rock, a beautiful witch and people robbed of their free will) to tell another story altogether.

The girls Ailis lives on the castle of Reichenberg and is best friends with the count’s daughter called Fee. But then Ailis witnesses a strange hunting party chasing a seemingly innocent little girl and everything changes. The deadly spell of the Loreley threatens to not only destroy the friendship (and maybe more) between Ailis and Fee, but the whole kingdom…

Not only has Kai Meyer an immense writing talent, the stories he invents in his mind are fantastic and grippingly real at the same time. Themes of love, friendship, loss and adulthood are woven into the events which, as always, end in a lot of gore – so be warned.

I especially liked the fact the Ailis is obviously in love with Fee, who also realizes this but never acts on it. Ailis’ love is what keeps her going through all the hardship she has to endure, and it is never depicted as something out of the ordinary.

SPOILER!
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Even though Ailis has to kill Fee in the end to win the fight, and thus they obviously don’t get together, Ailis lives to tell the tale – no dead lesbian :) .
/SPOILER

Bottom line: if you want to read a gripping fairy tale with underlying tones of lesbian love (and why wouldn’t you :P ?!), buy Kai Meyer’s “Loreley”.