''The Coachman Rat'' is an alternative account of the classic

fairy tale A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic (paranormal), magic, incantation, enchantments, and mythical ...

Cinderella "Cinderella",; french: link=no, Cendrillon; german: link=no, Aschenputtel) or "The Little Glass Slipper", is a folk tale with thousands of variants throughout the world.Dundes, Alan. Cinderella, a Casebook. Madison, Wis: University of Wisconsi ...

. It was published in 1989 and written by children's author

David Henry Wilson David Henry Wilson (born 1937, in London) is an English writer. As an author he is best known for his children's stories such as the '' Jeremy James'' series. Wilson has also had a number of plays produced in the United Kingdom, both for childr ...

Plot

The narrative follows the life of Robert, the rat that was transformed into the

coachman A coachman is an employee who drives a coach or carriage, a horse-drawn vehicle designed for the conveyance of passengers. A coachman has also been called a coachee, coachy, whip, or hackman. The coachman's first concern is to remain in full c ...

on that fateful night when Amadea (

) fell in love with

Prince Charming Prince Charming is a fairy tale stock character who comes to the rescue of a damsel in distress and must engage in a quest to liberate her from an evil spell. This classification suits most heroes of a number of traditional folk tales, incl ...

. The majority of the novel is an account of the aftermath of that night, as Robert was transformed back into a rat at midnight of that night—yet retained the ability to speak; he then began a quest to find Mara, the "woman of light" (or

Fairy Godmother In fairy tales, a fairy godmother () is a fairy with magical powers who acts as a mentor or parent to someone, in the role that an actual godparent was expected to play in many societies. In Perrault's ''Cinderella'', he concludes the tale with ...

) in order to become permanently human.

Critical reaction

Kirkus called it "clever" and "well-handled" but "obvious". Pauline Morgan (for the ''Science Fiction Research Association Newsletter'') found it "an allegory for the twentieth century" with the talking rat a curiosity and an outcast. It was also reviewed by ''Library Journal'', which found it a "highly recommended" but somber portrait of "Europe on the verge of the Enlightenment", and by ''

Locus Locus (plural loci) is Latin for "place". It may refer to: Entertainment * Locus (comics), a Marvel Comics mutant villainess, a member of the Mutant Liberation Front * ''Locus'' (magazine), science fiction and fantasy magazine ** ''Locus Award' ...

''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coachman Rat 1989 British novels Works based on Cinderella Fictional mice and rats Fiction about shapeshifting Novels based on fairy tales Parallel literature