‘Pelt’ by Angela Readman

Although ‘Pelt’ is, technically, a reimagining of ‘Little Red Riding Hood’, Readman instead shines a spotlight on Little Red Riding Hood’s grandmother, giving us a sense of what she experienced when inside the body of the wolf. A beautifully written tale of transformation, it confirms to me that Readman is one of the best writers of magical realism in the UK today.

First published in The Forgotten and the Fantastical 5, Mother’s Milk Books, 2019. Collected in The Girls Are Pretty Crocodiles & Other Fairy Tales, Valley Press, 2022