Encyclopedia of Fantasy (1997)
Comyns, Barbara
Tagged: Author.
Working name of UK writer Barbara Comyns-Carr (1909-1992), most of whose work deals in heightened but nonfantastic terms with claustrophobic family-romance scenarios. In her best-known work, The Vet's Daughter (1959), this claustrophobia is literally transcended – though only briefly – through its young protagonist's ability to levitate (see Talents); in the end, forced to perform for money in a Carnival setting, she plummets fatally to earth. The Juniper Tree: Adapted from a Children's Fairy Story of the Same Name by the Brothers Grimm, Which is far too Macabre for Adult Reading (1985) is a contemporary Twice-Told version of the Folktale (see also Grimm Brothers). [JC]
Barbara Comyns-Carr
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