The Golden Braid

Mother just didn’t understand what it was like to be young and to want to do things, to learn things, to meet new people. Mother was content to speak only with Rapunzel, to be always with her. What if she never did make a close friend? Was she destined to be alone with her mother until one of them died. To never marry or have children?

Book: The Golden Braid by Melanie Dickerson, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2015

Genre: Fairy Tale

Target Audience: Girls 16+

Subjects: Truth, Ethics, Love, Charity

Summary: Alone. That’s how Rapunzel feels most of the time. Her mother has denied her opportunities to get close to anyone. They move whenever someone begins to show too much interest in Rapunzel. No education for her outside of that she could scrounge out for herself. This move is different though. They are close to a big city. Opportunities can be found in a city that have never been available before – most importantly the opportunity to seek reading lessons. The opportunity comes in a surprising form though! On the road to the city, Rapunzel and her mother are attacked by a thief and then rescued by a knight – a highly educated knight… with an injury that will keep him from working for weeks! Carefully sneaking out of the house at just the right times, Rapunzel learns to read and opens her eyes to a world outside of the one her mother has created for her. When she finally finds the courage to break away, she learns that nothing is as she once thought and this knowledge places her in great danger.

Notes: The latest in the collection of Fairy Tales by Melanie Dickerson, The Golden Braid is a Rapunzel story. Like Rapunzel it has a girl kidnapped by a woman claiming to be her mother. Unlike Rapunzel, she is only locked in a tower for a short time. Rather than a prince, it’s a mere knight who has to come to her rescue. Due to her confined lifestyle, Rapunzel does not know all that much of Scripture. She knows what she has heard from some various parsons. Gerek has been able to actually read and even own Scripture. When Rapunzel is kidnapped, Garek fasts and prays and follows God’s leading to find her. Early on in the story he tells Rapunzel he is afraid of having a relationship with a woman due to his father killing his mother. She tells him that God can make him into any kind of man, no matter what his parents did. Rapunzel feels unloved but another woman shares how looking to a husband to fill our great need for love will not fill us. Only God can fill the ultimate need we have. She encourages Rapunzel to read Scripture and recognize God’s love written there.

Spiritual Content Recommendation Scale: 5/5

Reviewer: J:-)mi

1 John 3:16 - This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.

Thank you to the author for providing me with a free review copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion. I enjoyed it!