Melanie Dickerson offers another delightful medieval retelling of a classic fairytale — this time with Aladdin’s story in “The Orphan’s Wish.”
Ala ad’din is rescued from the Holy Land in 1401 by a priest, who takes the young orphan boy to Hagenheim in Lower Saxony, renaming him Aladdin. The priest provides both academic and spiritual training to Aladdin, allowing him to one day grow into a fine man. After his death, though, the boy ends up in Hagenheim’s orphanage, where he meets Lady Kirstyn, the young daughter of Duke Wilhelm.
As they grow older, Aladdin and Kirstyn grow closer and develop a deep friendship. As he reaches his teen years, Aladdin realizes he loves Kirstyn but fears he, a foreign orphan boy, will never be good enough for the duke’s daughter.
Aladdin leaves Hagenheim to make a future for himself, meeting businessman Cedric Kaufmann who quickly takes in Aladdin, making him a partner in his business.
But as the young orphan’s fortune and reputation quickly grow, and even though everything he touches seems to turn to gold, he continues to question his worth and ability to win the fair Kirstyn’s heart and her father’s approval of their love.
When a dangerous and terrifying event affects Kirstyn, Aladdin quickly jumps to her rescue. Will he be able to rescue her? And will the two youngsters ever be reunited and be able to overcome their self doubts and worries to come together forever.
Dickerson, as always, does a fantastic job of taking a well-known fairytale and adapting it to a different time and a different world. She offers just the right amount of romance mixed with thrills — this time with threats, kidnappings, murders and evil deeds. She also does a great job of developing her characters, even beyond the lovable Aladdin and Kirstyn. Readers will fall in love with young orphan Abu, whom Aladdin rescues; and will be intrigued by characters like Herr Kaufmann, who employs Aladdin and treats him like a son, and the orphan Anna, whose attempt at helping her just might backfire on Kirstyn.
“The Orphan’s Wish” is much more than just a fun revamping of a fairytale, though. It offers up many golden lessons. It reminds us to always turn to God in times of need; the value of our scars and the lessons we can learn from them; we don’t need to fear evil; the importance of loyalty; overcoming the thought that we are never good enough; the concept of deception versus honesty; and the fact that God will bless integrity.
This story is ultimately an awesome reminder of God and who He is — reminding us of God’s redemption and the peace that we can receive from Him, and that only God and His spirit can soothe a broken heart.
“The Orphan’s Wish” is a fun and delightful story. Readers will also enjoy brief visits from characters of Dickerson’s other novels.
Five stars out of five.
Thomas Nelson provided this complimentary copy for my honest, unbiased review.