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by Charles Perrault (Author)
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'She promised her godmother that she would not fail to leave the ball before midnight, and away she went, beside herself with delight...'
Charles Perrault's time-honoured stories have been passed down from the seventeenth century to the present day, giving us the classic fairy tales that people of all ages know and adore: Cinderella, with the glass slipper that will fit her foot alone; the princess who is cursed to sleep for a hundred years until true love's kiss wakes her; Little Red Riding Hood and the wolf, and many, many more.
Like the Brothers Grimm after him, Perrault took childhood fears and turned them into inspiriting fantasies. Full of humanity and a surprising wit, the impact these fables has had on imaginations young and old cannot be overstated.
Author Biography
Charles Perrault was born in Paris in 1628, the fifth son of wealthy parents. He was sent to a prestigious school and aged twenty-three, after a fleeting attendance at the University of Orléans, became a lawyer. Abandoning this career, he became an author and in doing so created the genre of the fairy tale, based on existing European folk tales. He is most famous for 'Cinderella', 'Puss in Boots' and 'Little Red Riding Hood', and his versions influenced the Brothers Grimm 200 years later. He was a key player in the French literary scene of the seventeenth century, and died in 1703.
