Book: The Djinn in the Nightengale's eye

Author: A G Byatt

Review:  As one might guess from the title, this book is in the form of a fairy tale meets real life.  I was a bit confused when I started reading, because ther are three tales that prelude the actual story.  I assume that they are included to add something to the story, but then the author also includes more classic tales with the main story.  Dr Gillian Perholt is a naratologist.  In other words, she knows lots of fairytales.  She is getting older, and her husband left her for a younger woman, but she didn't really mind that much.  She finds a Gin in a bottle, who of course gives her three wishes.  In their discourse, the genie tells his own tale which consists primarily of unrequited love.  Gillian wishes for a younger body, but not an overly young body, her own when she was about 35.  She is taken by the Gin's tales of love, and wishes that he would love her.  The Gin tells her a tale about wishing, and it becomes obvious that she should grant him his freedom as her final wish.