A review by nicoleoftheisland
My Love, My Love, Or, the Peasant Girl by Rosa Guy

4.0

I picked this up because of Once on this Island and it must be said that Lynn Ahrens is an author's lyricist; she frequently uses verbatim text and though I don't know which of the pair picks sources, they have a real gift for finding books that are already musical both literally (songs are sung, dances are danced in the book itself) and more figuratively: you can feel what moments will be musicalised.

This is lovely little fairy tale, The Little Mermaid but with a central character that is more a person than the trope of the Andersen original, with a wonderful undertone of religiosity that lends a bit of magic to the proceedings. The ending is dark, which the musical tries to give an uplifting tone, but the realism here is unsettling and intriguing.