Whilst walking by my local Waterstones, I came across a book in the window display that caught my eye; it featured a drawn image of a girl wearing a hijab and the teal/blue foil cover shone in the sunlight. Reading the cover I saw that it was a fairytale and so in I went, read the blurb and bought the book. Rumaysa : A Fairytale is a book with a trio of interconnected reworked fairytales based on popular stories including Rumaysa (Rapunzel), Cinderayla (errr, Cinderella) and Sleeping Sara (yup, you guessed it... Sleeping Beauty).

The heroine from the first story, Rumaysa, goes on a journey to be reunited with her long lost parents and along the way goes on a Polly from the classic 80s British kid T-bag adventures/ Littlest Hobo-esque where she helps people along the way whilst trying to finds her own way home. It's all lovely stuff with diversity, female empowerment and self-determination at the forefront as the 3 female leads all fight against various forms of oppression and control. Now, before you roll your eyes and think it's all 'woke' nonsense I can say that it's all quite subtle, not preachy or heavy handed and carries a universal message of kindness and respect that will appeal to anyone.

I whiled away a lovely couple of hours, face masked and exfoliated, appreciating the cultural touchstones it mentions like Eid, jalebis and hijabs which made me feel all warm inside. In the first tale it says, "It was the only book Rumaysa owned where the characters had similar names to her and shared her skin colour," and I agree that books like this are important for younger readers to see themselves represented in the mainstream.

The book is sweet and well-intentioned with well told stories. Don't get me wrong- it's no Pullman, Rowling or Dahl- but for its target audience and for this 40 year old British-Asian guy, it was an enjoyable read.

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