Patrice Kindl was born in Alplaus, New York, which is outside Schenectady, the youngest of four daughters of a mechanical engineer and a stay-at-home mom. In college, which she attended in St. Louis, she studied acting, before dropping out to go to a drama school in New York. After four years of less than success, she moved back upstate, got a job, got married, and eventually — in her late 30s — decided to become serious about writing. Her first novel, Owl in Love, was published to a fair amount of success, and she’s published several more since. Apparently, in the realm of odd trivia, her son is in a band, and the lead singer of that band is one of the few female master falconers in the world.

Alexandria used to be a Goose Girl, until she grudgingly did a good turn for an old woman who turned out to be a fairy godmother. Now she is as beautiful as the dawn (much more beautiful than many dawns, she reassures us), her tears turn to diamonds, and when she combs her hair, gold flakes appear. Of course, this means that the prince of one country (Dorloo) and the king of another (Gilboa) both are desperate for her hand in marriage, so they (well, really the king) lock her in a tower and attempt to convince her that she should marry one of them. Fortunately, her geese — twelve of them, all female — rescue her from that situation — but now she’s on the lam. What can she do? Will she ever get back to her simple life?

Not to be confused with Shannon Hale’s longer, more lyrical book of a similar name, this is an absolutely delightful witty gem of a story. Our narrator, Alexandria (normally called “Goose Girl”) is unreliable, but in the best possible way. She’s fourteen and a spitfire, and constantly changes her mind. She’s also quite smart, and utterly engaging as a character. While her story is absolutely complete in one volume, she’s one of the handful of characters I wish would show up in future stories by the author. I suspect that she is going to grow up to be a very contrary woman.

The Goose Girl’s story isn’t the same tale that Shannon Hale used; I’m not sure if it’s a different story, or if Ms. Kindl just combined many elements of different fairy tales (magically growing hair; diamonds as teardrops; ogres; twelve princesses; humans turned into animals) into her own story. Either way, I enjoyed the plot, which had a significant number of twists and turns. I liked seeing exactly what the Goose Girl was going to do, even with the hyperbole attached. For example, there is one scene where Alexandria needs to grow her hair very long to get out of a trap — like a mile long — and then, when she tells it to shorten and it finally catches up with her, there are several human beings taking a ride on her fast-moving tresses.

Our narrator speaks in a fairy-tale sort of dialect (“But what do I care for custom? ‘Tis my own story I am telling and I will tell it as I please.”) which, for me, added to the humor of the story. It’s obvious that the whole tale is at least as tongue-in-cheek as the Jacky Faber novels, if not more. The addition of the somewhat ridiculous speech patterns meant that I do think this book would be exceptionally fun to read aloud, especially in a dramatic over-the-top princess voice. Fans of Patricia C. Wrede’s Enchanted Forest Chronicles will probably enjoy this greater, although it’s written for a slightly younger audience. Definitely recommended. 4.5/5 stars.