Six-Gun Snow White

By Catherynne M. Valente

A New York Times bestselling author offers a brilliant reinvention of one of the best-known fairy tales of all time with Snow White as a gunslinger in the mythical Wild West.

Forget the dark, enchanted forest. Picture instead a masterfully evoked Old West where you are more likely to find coyotes as the seven dwarves. Insert into this scene a plain-spoken, appealing narrator who relates the history of our heroine’s parents—a Nevada silver baron who forced the Crow people to give up one of their most beautiful daughters, Gun That Sings, in marriage to him. Although her mother’s life ended as hers began, so begins a remarkable tale: equal parts heartbreak and strength. This girl has been born into a world with no place for a half-native, half-white child. After being hidden for years, a very wicked stepmother finally gifts her with the name Snow White, referring to the pale skin she will never have. Filled with fascinating glimpses through the fabled looking glass and a close-up look at hard living in the gritty gun-slinging West, this is an utterly enchanting story…at once familiar and entirely new.

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Published Nov 10, 2015

160 pages

Average rating: 7.67

6 RATINGS

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Community Reviews

Mercedes Yardley
Apr 24, 2023
10/10 stars
"A stepmother is like a bullet you can't dig out."

I'm not partial to the Western genre so I thought this would be a hard sell, but it was gorgeous. Utterly gorgeous. Six-Gun Snow White is full of beautiful, lush prose interspersed with grit. I loved everything about this. I actually pulled into a park and intended to read a few chapters, but I tore through this lovely novella in one sitting. Snow White in this tale isn't the helpless maiden we're familiar with, but a brave, quiet woman used to being on her own. I love how the different characters (the prince, the dwarfs, the mirror, etc) are portrayed in a somewhat recognizable way that manages to make them fresh and unique. Definitely worth your time.
LiziB
Feb 23, 2023
10/10 stars
This was such a kick-ass book -- story of Snow White through a Pecos Bill filter with some native American mythology thrown in. Definitely going to look for the author's other stuff.

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