In this dark, genre-defying picture-book adaptation of Snow White, acclaimed artist Beatrice Alemagna tells the story from the point ofviewof the jealous stepmother queen, to complicate the questionof goodness and set into high relief the shadow side, with itscapacityfor evil,of human life. Once upon a time, a child was born with skin as white as snow, lips as red as blood, and hair as black as ebony: the princess Snow White. She ispossessed of beauty and innocence, but there in the shadows lurks a queen who will remarry her widower father, a queenwho is as empty andenvious, asnarcissistic and fractured as isevery life that gets stuck intheendless reflecting pool or mirror of the self. Void of love, it is hatred that animates her. But like all true fairy tales, this story doesn't ask us to judge and condemn the queen and herhatred, but rather to consider the kinds ofbehaviors and situations that invite evil, and where true innocence or goodness might lie.