Rosie Little’s Cautionary Tales for Girls

By Danielle Wood
MacAdam/Cage

Danielle Wood’s work, Rosie Little’s Cautionary Tales for Girls, is a collection of short stories in which Rosie Little, a feisty female character, is the main thread. Rosie is always either the subject of the story or the narrator of stories about people in her life. This Aussie chick shares all with the reader, from losing her virginity and failed attempts at love to being a career woman. She and Woods’ other characters are real, life-like women, each with her own set of dreams and desires and her own obstacles to face and overcome.

Perhaps one of Woods’ cleverest portraits is of Eve, the painter whose own life and art mirrors the Judeo-Christian mythology of "the Fall." Or the story of Rosie’s cousin, a kind-hearted overweight woman with elephantiasis who struggles with how to tell her well-meaning loved ones to stop giving her elephant-themed gifts.

The book is fun, tightly-packed and powerful. Women of all ages will love and treasure the stories it tells. Not only that, but the places where Wood touches on serious issues like domestic violence and abortion will make us stop and think about our lives and the important parts of them. Rosie Little's Cautionary Tales for Girls is an excellent read and I am sorely tempted to give copies to every woman I know.

Review by April Boland

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Rosie Little's Cautionary Tales for Girls