The one who needs rescuing isn’t always the one in the tower.
Rapunzel can throw a knife better than any man. She paints beautiful flowering vines on the walls of her plaster houses. She sings so sweetly she can coax even a beast to sleep. But there are two things she is afraid her mother might never allow her to do: learn to read and marry.
Fiercely devoted to Rapunzel, her mother is … Rapunzel, her mother is suspicious of every man who so much as looks at her daughter and warns her that no man can be trusted. After a young village farmer asks for Rapunzel’s hand in marriage, Mother decides to move them once again—this time, to the large city of Hagenheim.
The journey proves treacherous, and after being rescued by a knight—Sir Gerek—Rapunzel in turn rescues him farther down the road. As a result, Sir Gerek agrees to repay his debt to Rapunzel by teaching her to read. Could there be more to this knight than his arrogance and desire to marry for riches and position?
As Rapunzel acclimates to life in a new city, she uncovers a mystery that will forever change her life. In this Rapunzel story unlike any other, a world of secrets and treachery is about to be revealed after seventeen years of lies. How will Rapunzel finally take control of her own destiny? And who will prove faithful to a lowly peasant girl with no one to turn to?
“The Golden Braid is a delightful, page-turning retelling of the story of Rapunzel. Dickerson brings this familiar fairy tale to life with a fresh and unique plot that is full of complex characters, a sweet romance, and danger at every turn. Rapunzel’s search to understand her place in the medieval world is a timeless identity struggle that modern readers will relate to. Her growing courage and faith are inspirational and will have readers cheering her on and sad to see the story come to an end.”
—Jody Hedlund, bestselling author of An Uncertain Choice
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This was really a wonderful read and a fresh look at the story of Rapunzel with a Christian view. It’s one in a large series from Melanie Dickerson and I’m looking forward to reading all of them.
“The Golden Braid” by Melanie Dickerson has everything—page-turning adventure, sweet romance, and fairy tale enchantment. I loved how the characters connected with those from Dickerson’s other books, and as always, I enjoyed discovering elements from the original fairy tale. But what made this such a golden story was the brave heroine, Rapunzel, and her chivalrous knight Sir Gerek. Highly recommend.
The inspirational messages were woven together beautifully. Delightful story and charming message of God’s faithfulness in any situation. A beautiful love story and the characters were wonderfully drawn. Truly enjoyed it.
You of my favorite from this author!
Melanie Dickerson did it again. With the publication of her newest novel, The Golden Braid, I returned to Hagenheim and immersed myself in the once familiar fairy tale of Rapunzel. Read my review of The Huntress of Thornbeck Forest here. This time around I got to hang out with Rapunzel and learn the back story of why she was taken from her parents and raised by Gothel. The Golden Braid had everything I have come to know and love about Dickerson’s writing.
First, the setting. I love how Dickerson stays true to the time period with the clothes everyone wears and the horses and carts to carry things. As in some of her other fairy tale stories, Dickerson shows the importance of education and how sad that in the past education wasn’t valued or shared. Only the wealthy were taught to read and write and do math. I really liked returning to Hagenheim and meeting some of the characters from the previous books.
As for the characters Rapunzel and Gerek, I enjoyed getting to know them. Rapunzel is a trapped young lady, wanting to be loved because she felt like her first round parents didn’t want her. Gothel filled her mind with lies by stating her birth parents abandoned her when she was three years old. Rapunzel had a hole in her heart that she wanted filled. Luckily, she found God and realized his love and helped close the gap in her heart. However, Gerek believed he would abuse his wife just because that is what his father did. I’m glad that he realized he was sent away when he was six to be a page and he watched how Duke Wilhelm and Lady Rose showed love for each other.
The conflict was interesting and kept me on the edge of my toes. I did have a problem about fifty-six percent into the book (according to my Kindle). Duke Wilhelm went away while another King came to visit with all his guards. The guards overtook the castle and stored Lady Rose and the remaining children in the solar. Then the King tried to force the oldest daughter to marry him. If you have read any of Dickerson’s other fairy tales novels, this should sound really familiar. It does. It happened in another book practically the same way. The story does change course after the conflict is fixed, then it moves into Dickerson’s imagination. Even though I kept flipping the pages thinking to myself that I have already read this scene, it didn’t stop me from reading the rest of the story to completion.
In true fairy tale fashion, Melanie Dickerson’s The Golden Braid captured my love with the description setting and memorable characters. I loved Dickerson’s ability to bring familiar fairy tales to life.
I received a complimentary copy of Melanie Dickerson’s The Golden Braid from Thomas Nelson and the opinions stated are all my own.
Great Fantasy YA Novel
What a wonderful story. A young woman who has been raised by a woman who she thought of as her mother and they traveled all off the time. Her mother was a midwife, but Rapunzel always wanted to learn and the one thing she had not done was to read. Her mother always made her keep her hair covered so men would not look at her longly. While they were on their way back to the village that her mother was from and do find out so was she, they were attacked by highway robbers, and was saved by a Knight. When he caught one of the prisoners, he was being attacked Rapunzel saved his life, he is ingured and the monks help him to be healed and she ends up helping teach her to read. She becomes a maid servant at the castle, and while there it is attacked and she is taken captive, and then her adopted mother kidnaps her and the knight has to rescue her again. It is a wonderful historical christian romance.
What a beautifully written story. A book that you do not want to end. I loved everything about this book. Beautiful.
Loved
I really enjoyed reading this book – it was not what I expected. Very worth-while!!
Enjoyable retelling of Rapunzel. There were a few moments when I felt the descriptions of events or persons didn’t match other things going on–for instance, the facial descriptions not matching the dialogue or the actions of the characters not matching other things going on. Lack of continuity, perhaps.
Enjoyable read.
Fantastic beyond words and couldn’t put it down!!