The Castle Corona

Rather like a Hans Andersen story re-written by A A Milne in his King’s Breakfast mode, this amiable fable never really gets going. Set in a never-never land ruled by a dozy king, the story of two poor orphans who eventually discover they are of royal blood is too corny to carry much conviction. The peasants with whom they have been living are described as poor and often hungry, but rebellion is never in the air and everything at court still bumbles along comfortably enough, helped by a resident story-teller and two royal hermits. Even the happy ending is more inconsequential than resolving. The total effect is of a fine writer taking a vacation from the normally tougher literary aims she sets herself and then bringing home the literary equivalent of those holiday snaps that alas are so much more interesting to those who take them than they are to everyone else.