The Braid Blog

Let’s weave a story, beginning with an author. Let’s call her Farrah Rochon.

Her work has been featured in O, The Oprah Magazine, Cosmopolitan, Entertainment Weekly, Buzzfeed, NPR, The Washington Post, and now here on the Braid Blog. Much like me, Rochon is a Disney fanatic and has honored the Disney-Hyperion series, a collection of twisted tales exploring alternate plots in Disney classics, with her own rendition of popular tales we all grew up watching. In this series she has authored Fate Be Changed: A Twisted Tale about Disney’s Brave (2012) protagonist, Merida; Bemused centering the untold story of the muses from Hercules (1997); and my personal series favorite: Almost There: A Twisted Tale for our favorite Disney princess, Tiana from The Princess and the Frog (2009).

We all know and love Tiana’s valiant story–from the loss of her father to struggling and working hard, to enduring discrimination, to thwarting temptation, losing herself, falling in love, and finally finding herself again. Many of us can interpret and identify with Disney’s only Black princess, especially because she is the only one with such a relatable story. But what if her story was a little different? Tiana was strong and resilient, far-sighted and determined but what if she crumpled beneath the weight of her circumstances and, say… made a deal with the devil? Would we still be able to relate?

In this riveting novel, we’re thrown into the story we already know. You remember the scene in the movie where Tiana is cornered by the Shadow Man, and he–afraid that she would destroy his blood amulet–makes her an offer that is nearly impossible to resist. In the movie, we know that Tiana rejected his offer and smashed the amulet. However, in this twisted tale the offer was not just the restaurant of her dreams but the life of her dreams. A life where her father was still alive. With her back against the wall, Tiana shakes the poor sinner’s hand.

Immediately, she is transported to an alternate reality and when she wakes her restaurant dreams have been actualized, her friends are safe and happy, and it’s as if the years without her father never happened. She couldn’t be happier… until things started to shift. The first anomaly Tiana notices is a strange, thick fog looming above the city of New Orleans, and the next is a mossy blanket crippling the fishing industry along the Mississippi River. Finally, she begins to notice the prickle of shadows at the nape of her neck with every corner she turned. She soon learns that magic costs much more than a simple handshake.

Accompanied by her friends: Charlotte, Louis, who’d gained human legs as part of the deal, and the handsome Naveen, Tiana embarks on a journey to locate Mama Odie in hopes of undoing the damage she’d caused. Many obstacles impeded her path but we see the same resilience in Tiana that we related so much to in the classic film. Though many aspects of the plot twisted, our princess remained determined to right her wrongs and set the balance of magic upright, even if it cost her the one thing that influenced her to shake that poor sinner’s hand. Within these pages, we journey with Tiana from N’awlins to Shre’po’ to confront the Shadow Man’s friends on the other side.

I was utterly glued to the pages of Rochon’s Almost There: A Twisted Tale, and I am absolutely certain that the readers at the Braid Blog will experience a similar attachment. As a southern Louisiana girl myself, I loved the bayou imagery and cultural references; and as a Disney fan, I couldn’t get enough of this alternate storyline. I felt like I had the opportunity to journey with and relate to Tiana all over again. She’s tough but she’s imperfect–like many of us–and though her misdeed granted her the life she deserved, she was able to discern her mistake as bigger than just herself. The little Black girl in me was pleased indeed. Black women are consistently portrayed as the ‘strong Black woman,’ a trope that has grown exhausting over the years. Tiana’s fantastical story makes it a little less weary.

If you’ve already read this book, share your thoughts below; and if not, dive in and return to add your insights! Visit Farrah Rochon’s website below to peruse her catalog and add this book to your shelf. Thank you for reading.

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