Genevieve Valentine

A reimagining of the "Twelve Dancing Princesses" traces the story of a family of flappers who work in a 1920s speakeasy until their suspicious father decides to marry them off, prompting a confrontation with a bootlegger from the eldest sister's past. By the award-winning author of Mechanique.

A Novel

The Girls at the Kingfisher Club

Colleen

I came across this book on the Historical Fiction new release section. The cover and title caught my eye, and when I read the description I was hooked! The Girls at the Kingfisher Club is a retelling of the Twelve Dancing Princesses set in the Roaring 20's which is one of my favorite historical periods. I love when someone comes up with a clever way of retelling a legend or fairy tale. And frankly, it was refreshing to see a retelling of something other than Cinderella. The Twelve Dancing Princesses was one of my favorite stories growing up, but it seems mostly forgotten now. I loved the premise of twelve cloistered daughters sneaking out to go dancing at night. It was a clever, believable, and non-magic version of a classic fairy tale.

The writing itself took some getting use to. It was very stylized, and I don't think I've ever read anything with that many parenthesis. It jumped around in a non-linear fashion with flashbacks to previous events, although I was still left wondering about their mother and wish that her character had been elaborated more. The plot was still compelling and I had no problem reading this in a couple of days. But the ending was a little slow and not as cheery as I was hoping. Overall, it was a good read but not as extraordinary as I was hoping.

Connor 

4.5 because this was a DELIGHT? What a BEAUTIFUL BOOK. It kept the glitz you expect of The Twelve Dancing Princesses, but grounded it enough that, while this felt very fairy tale, it also felt juuuust this side of possible.

Kelsey Lynn

A very satisfying interpretation of the fairytale 12 dancing princesses. A very simple fairytale with a slightly simple and very mysoginistic Grimm story, about princesses who sneak out and dance all night. The king summons men to find out how they escape and where they go, and if he suceeds in three nights he gets the pick of the lot to marry. 
In this rendition we have 12 sisters stuck inside by a father who wanted a son, and sneak out at night to dance at speakeasys during the 20s/30s. It spans 8 years and you see the passage of time in their clothes. 
I enjoyed the almost lyrical transitions between the girls points of views, and I found myself not struggling at all witj 12 main girls. It's primarily told from the oldests point of view (who in the fairytale was chosen) as she becomes a strong cold woman as she watches over her sisters. Whats great is that we actually see the thawing out of her personality as she realizes and accepts that her sisters have become strong women. 
 Subtle princes and slight romance (all in the background and all minor) plus dynamic believable characters and a dash of good writing made this one a great and.satisfying read.

Natalia Hernandez

Dejé una reseña en español en mi blog: natified.com/2015/08/04/2015-en-libro...

The Girls in the title are the Hamilton sisters, there are twelve of them! And they all sneak out at night and go dancing at the Kingfisher Club, because they are only happy when they're dancing. It's the 1920s so they are the talk of town, the 12 girls who dance but never let romance get in the way.

I LOVED this book. It's short and a super fast read. The writing style is captivating and at one moment I saw myself as Joey from Friends and really wanted to put the book in the freezer because I was so scared of what would happen to the sisters, I couldn't deal with it. I love it when that happens.

Kwan Ann Tan

I have an endless soft spot for retellings of the 12 Dancing Princesses. This one was heartwarming and lovely; short but so sweet.

Melody Izard

Based on a fairy tale I had never read and did not get the itch to read after suffering through this book. The story could have been, should have been told in a couple of paragraphs. 

I like the 20s and I like the days of prohibition. But I we just got such a shallow view of these poor captive girls. 

The middle had hope. But then it fizzled again.

“Dressed up in the thrill and sparkle of the Roaring Twenties, the classic fairy tale of ‘The Twelve Dancing Princesses’ has never been more engrossing or delightful. Valentine’s fresh, original style and choice of setting make this a fairy tale reimagining not to be missed” (Library Journal, starred review). Jo, the firstborn, “The General” to her eleven sisters, is the only thing the Hamilton girls have in place of a mother. She is the one who taught them how to dance, the one who gives the signal each night, as they slip out of the confines of their father’s Manhattan townhouse and into the cabs that will take them to the speakeasy. Together they elude their distant and controlling father, until the day he decides to marry them all off. The girls, meanwhile, continue to dance, from Salon Renaud to the Swan and, finally, the Kingfisher, the club they've come to call home. They dance until one night when they are caught in a raid, separated, and Jo is thrust face-to-face with someone from her past: a bootlegger named Tom whom she hasn’t seen in almost ten years. Suddenly Jo must balance not only the needs of her father and eleven sisters, but her own as well. With The Girls at the Kingfisher Club, award-winning writer Genevieve Valentine takes her superb storytelling gifts to new heights, joining the leagues of such Jazz Age depicters as Amor Towles and Paula McLain, and penning a dazzling tale about love, sisterhood, and freedom.

Alice

The Girls at the Kingfisher Club is one of those books that fill your head with a beautiful setting. The description is alive, it saturates the room you’re in with colors and emotions.

It is a DELIGHT.

⋆clever fairy tale retelling
⋆1920s sparkles
⋆sister love
⋆realistic characters
⋆growth
⋆interesting story format
⋆romance that makes sense
⋆powerful feminism

Valentine has a peculiar style that might not be everyone's cup of tea, but if it is yours, oh my... Prepare to be swept off your feet.

I've talked about it in more depth over here.

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Kate

I didn't expect this to be a five-star book for me, but I absolutely love fairytale retellings and this turned out to be no exception. The Girls at the Kingfisher Club is about abuse and recovery and tenacity and self-sufficiency and sisters and freedom, all themes that grab my heart, and it was beautifully done. It was much darker than I expected, in a wonderful way - "twelve dancing princesses as flappers" could easily be very frivolous, I think, but this was poignant and frightening and visceral. With twelve main characters it was impressive how real and separate each one was from the others, and how uniquely the relationships between each of them functioned. Jo is an excellent protagonist; the reader isn't spared from her less admirable qualities nor from the consequences those qualities have, but to me she was wholly empathetic. I loved that she wasn't immanently likable all the time, and that she wasn't particularly concerned with being so - she was too busy protecting her sisters and dealing with what was dealt her. I don't know what it is about fairytale retellings that caters to what I love so well, but The Girls at the Kingfisher Club is another example of the beauty of the genre.

The Girls at the Kingfisher Club A Novel

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