The Tower Room

This is a clever take on the Rapunzel fairy-story by Adele Geras. It’s set in an English boarding school in the 1950s, where three girls are champing at the bit to be released into the real world. Megan’s an ordinary sensible girl, and doesn’t expect all that much – certainly not to fall madly in love with the young lab assistant who insists on climbing up the scaffolding outside her window and introducing her to some new experiences.

While it’s a fairly simple tale, it’s intensely readable and has a few clever twists – for example, in this version, her hair is not cut off by the witch in order to foil the prince, but by Megan herself, with the realisation that it’s her hair, her life, her decision. Love isn’t eternal, the witch isn’t all-powerful, and the coming-of-age isn’t neat or complete, either. A pretty unusual and well-thought out YA novel.