Millers' Tales re-imagines three classic fairy tales, weaving them into a single narrative chronicling the early lives of Helen and George Miller, two poor children from a "once upon a time" reminiscent of early 20th Century New York City. It is the first book of the New World Fables trilogy, a family saga spanning a century.
Sold by their parents to a dwarf, Helen and George Miller escape, only to be captured and imprisoned by a sadistic old fortune teller, who runs a candy shop and freak show at a seaside amusement park. With the aid of Bernard the Wolf Boy, they murder their captor and escape again, returning to the father who sold them. Given this start in life, can there possibly be a happily ever after?
While belonging to a genre popularized in recent years by excellent authors like Gregory Maguire and Michael Gruber, Millers' Tales distinguishes itself through its voice and setting. It is a fable, but not necessarily a fantasy. Millers' Tales attempts to do what the original fairy tales did, tell a story about family, growing up, and learning to make one's way in the world, but in the context of metropolitan America rather than that of pre-industrial Europe. In Millers' Tales, children don't become lost in a forest of trees, but of skyscrapers; power is not wielded by burghers, barons, and kings, but by street thugs, bootleggers, and corrupt politicians; and dwarfs, pigs, and wolves turn out to be all too human.
