Reccomended Post -- Nairam of Sherwood: Rise of the Female Robin Hood

A very good friend of mine wrote an excellent post dealing with the growing Maid Marian phenomenon. I highly reccomend you read it through, for it's a good review on both how history and current culture affects literature, and the art of Christian femeninity.

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"I’ve noticed a trend in Robin Hood literature lately. I first noticed it on Figment, when, out of curiosity, I searched for “Robin Hood.” Basically the results could be divided into two categories: 1) BBC fanfiction and 2) girl Robin Hoods.

One in particular struck me: it was about a girl (assumedly Marian) who has taken on the name of her friend, runs a band, and wears a hood to disguise her gender. The book started out with her finding him in the forest.

This isn’t an isolated case. One of the reasons I dislike Hawksmaid is that it makes Marian the mastermind of plans. Rowan Hood has a version of Robin that I very much like, but apparently the reason his disguises always worked before was because Rowan’s mother protected him. So Rowan has to rescue him. At the end of the first book, Rowan establishes her own band. Even BBC Robin Hood, which I like, has a Marian who dresses up and plays a Robin Hood-like role.

It wasn’t until I saw this picture of my childhood Maid Marian turned into a wanted outlaw that I fully realized this trend. My first reaction was...." [Read the rest of the article here]

Though you can find this out on her blog, R.G. Nairam has written a retelling of Robin Hood called Forest of Lies. It has not been published yet, but I've read the manuscript, and it's an excellent and insightful story that I hope will be available to the public soon. It's definitely a book the world could stand to read. Nairam is also a close friend of mine whom I love very much. <3

Dia duit,
~Penny