She is the only character whose story is told in the first person. Having access to the mother’s perspective makes her at once more human and scarier. There is a chapter in particular where this is shown so chillingly and realistically that I doubt I’ll ever forget it. Donna Jo Napoli does not shy away from showing the effects of this imprisonment and isolation on the mind of the young girl. Zel is kept in the tower for two years, completely isolated except for her mother’s daily one hour visits. Konrad due to his obsession with Zel, the mother due to fear and guilt, Zel due to the effects of isolation. At the start of the book, the tone is simple, even light, but it grows increasingly dark and becomes downright disturbing as each of the main characters deals with a different kind of madness. As a result of this, her mother locks her away in a tower.ĭonna Jo Napoli uses multiple points of view to tell this story: the mother’s, Zel’s and Konrad’s (the young Count). After that visit, Zel begins to show some interested in the boy, portraying him in her pictures. During that time, Zel soothes the horse of a young count who comes to the smithy, and the young man takes a liking to her. Zel’s mother leaves her alone in the smithy for a while, so that she may get her a surprise birthday present. Shortly before her thirteenth birthday, they go to the market in a nearby town.

Zel is a happy child with a great fondness for animals and a talent for drawing. Zel and her mother live alone in an isolated mountain house. This retelling of “Rapunzel” takes place in sixteenth century Switzerland.

Zel by donna jo napoli