Modern retellings of traditional fairy tales are nothing new. Over the past few years, I’ve read several novels and short stories based on old ones, enjoying many of them enormously, and amongst them the story of Little Red Riding Hood is possibly the one that has cropped up most often. I think most, if not all, adults would be able to tell you the story from memory – even down to the line What big eyes you’ve got, Grandma – such is the way that it has almost become a part of us, as it’s been shared over and over again.

Here, that story has been reinterpreted in a stunning debut from author Beth O’Brien that takes many of the features with which we are all so familiar to weave a thoroughly modern read, with a strong feminist theme, that I really enjoyed. No more is the protagonist a drippy little girl on a mission to take goodies through the woods to her ailing grandmother but instead a strong young woman – one who most definitely doesn’t require saving by a woodcutter but who instead is determined to live her life on her own terms and in whom today’s readers will discover a bold heroine that they will adore.

Red has always loved going into the woods, but now that she is growing into a young woman her mother firmly tells her that her trips need to stop, as even though the wolves there only attack the men of their village, she must follow its rules like all the other women. Three years after her grandmother disappeared within its trees, Red chooses to disobey her mother’s instruction and sets out early to walk there in the hopes of the older woman reappearing. Guided by the trees along its paths, Red instead comes across Caragh, the village’s woodcutter, who takes the time to speak to her about the importance of maintaining the equilibrium of the woods in addition to supplying the village with the wood it needs before Red realises that she needs to return home before her mother gets up.

Reaching the village, Red sets about carrying out her job as a courier while life goes on around her but later that night the villagers are roused from their slumbers by the sound of the wolf siren – the signal that they are likely to come under attack from the wolves who live within the woods – and as everyone assembles, it quickly becomes clear that in addition to the wolves being spotted, the woodcutter is missing.

As the village’s mayor seizes the opportunity to stir up feelings against Caragh, those who live within the village must decide where their loyalties lie – a situation not helped when Red decides upon a plan of her own. Trying to persuade those around her that their enemies are not the wolves but those who live closer to home, Red must do everything within her power to protect her precious woods, but doing so threatens to reveal her deepest secret – one that, if it is discovered – will change her family’s lives forever more…

Red is an individual who has a deep affinity for nature in all its forms and who feels not just totally at home in the woods but an irresistible draw from them. Knowing that her grandmother vanished within their depths does not frighten her at all but leads her rather to be curious about the old woman’s fate and to look for her, secure in the feeling she has that no harm will come to her – a feeling not shared by her mother, who has suffered as a result of the wolves’ actions and who is acutely aware that, like the other women of the village, her freedom is limited and she is expected to follow the harsh rules laid down by the mayor.

From very early on in the story, we learn that Red is partially sighted – a disability that impacts on her life in some ways but that does not limit her ability to act independently of her family, as she demonstrates through her visits to the woods. Written from the author’s personal experience of being visually impaired, the story shows young readers very clearly that sight is not an all or nothing sense – something that I suspect will come as a surprise to many – and through the descriptions of what Red does see within the book, we are able to understand her experience of the world around her that much better.

With chapter heading illustrations from Ayesha L. Rubio to add to the reader’s pleasure, this is a great story for confident readers in Year 4 upwards. My thanks go to publisher HarperCollins and to NetGalley for my advance, virtual read. Wolf Siren hits the shelves on March 27th.