For related titles, the reader need only look so far as the folk and fairy tales that have inspired many of her novels: Madame Le Prince de Beaumont's "Beauty and the Beast," the legend of Robin Hood (see F. J. Child's collection and Dobson and Taylor's Rhymes of Robyn Hode, for capable listings and commentary), and Charles Perrault's "Donkeyskin."

Additionally, on her website and elsewhere, McKinley names her literary influences. Andrew Lang, C. S. Lewis, and J. R. R. Tolkien (and, seemingly, Lord Dunsany) are among the masters of British fantasy. In Beauty, McKinley refers to several titles of modern literature that are held in the beast's library (including the works of Oscar Wilde— another author who worked in the fairy tale tradition). In A Knot in the Grain, McKinley refers to contemporary fantasy novels, such as those written by her husband, Peter...