Coelho’s treatment of the story is as delightfully amusing as it is deliciously dark. After years of Disneyfication and a ‘softening up’ of this well-known tale for a generation who often find their stories served up with a little more happily-ever-after and a little less goriness, this version takes a direct step in the colder and creepier direction that you might expect from Roald Dahl’s fairy tales or the original Grimm stories. There’s plenty to shock – from the cold and detached reporting of Cinderella’s sudden death to the spooky insertion of pulled-out brains, loosened guts and severed limbs into a star-crossed rags-to-riches love story. There’s an enjoyable streak of dark humour and plenty of wit in both the author’s free verse and Freya Hartas’ stylishly expressive black and white illustrations…