Description
Letters from an Imaginary Country is a compilation of short stories from award-winning author Theodora Goss. Known for her novels that use offspring from fictional characters, Goss is extremely adept at shorter fiction. Scattered throughout her 16 short stories are names and places that are very familiar. The beauty of Goss’s creations is that those names and places take on new life. From the descendants of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde to a reporter rediscovering the Land of Oz, Goss breathes new life into old stories.
As fun as these stories are, it feels like Goss could have gone further to explore and challenge the original works. Many of the characters descended from the monsters of old and have their own lives. In Goss’s tales, these monsters remain monsters. Goss doesn’t try to expand, explain, or rectify their character. She does tell compelling stories, but these stories could have been told with any characters. When borrowing from the classics, I wish she had used more of the classic characters themselves, and not just new personalities connected to the old names.
