Niffenegger Lets Fly With An Adult Fairy Tale In 'Raven Girl'
Niffenegger deftly modulates the degree to which contemporary trappings find their way into her tale. Where magical transformations abound in classic fairy tales, the transformation at the heart of Raven Girl employs a more prosaic but no less miraculous sort of wizardry, as the Doctor describes to his patient while showing her slides on his computer:
"The images showed ... similarities between wing bones and arm bones. How the wing might attach to the shoulder; the muscles and tendons that must serve new purposes. The stem cells that must be reprogrammed to grow wings rather than arms. The sequence of surgeries: amputations, attachments. Neurons must be trained to fire, nerves must be rerouted. The brain must recognize the new wings, the immune system must not reject them."