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All the Ever Afters
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In the vein of Wicked, The Woodcutter, and Boy, Snow, Bird, a luminous reimagining of a classic tale, told from the perspective of Agnes, Cinderella's "evil" stepmother. We all know the story of Cinderella. Or do we? As rumors about the cruel upbringing of beautiful newlywed Princess Cinderella roil the kingdom, her stepmother, Agnes, who knows all too well about hardship, privately records the true story. . . . A peasant born into serfdom, Agnes is separated from her family and forced into servitude as a laundress's apprentice when she is only ten years old. Using her wits and ingenuity, she escapes her tyrannical matron and makes her way toward a hopeful future. When teenaged Agnes is seduced by an older man and becomes pregnant, she is transformed by love for her child. Once again left penniless, Agnes has no choice but to return to servitude at the manor she thought she had left behind. Her new position is nursemaid to Ella, an otherworldly infant. She struggles to love the child who in time becomes her stepdaughter and, eventually, the celebrated princess who embodies everyone's unattainable fantasies. The story of their relationship reveals that nothing is what it seems, that beauty is not always desirable, and that love can take on many guises. Lyrically told, emotionally evocative, and brilliantly perceptive, All the Ever Afters explores the hidden complexities that lie beneath classic tales of good and evil, all the while showing us that how we confront adversity reveals a more profound, and ultimately more important, truth than the ideal of "happily ever after."
All the Murmuring Bones
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Long ago Miren O'Malley's family prospered due to a deal struck with the mer: safety for their ships in return for a child of each generation. But for many years the family have been unable to keep their side of the bargain and have fallen into decline. Miren's grandmother is determined to restore their glory, even at the price of Miren's freedom.
A spellbinding tale of dark family secrets, magic and witches, and creatures of myth and the sea; of strong women and the men who seek to control them.
The Bear and the Nightingale
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Katherine Arden's bestselling debut novel spins an irresistible spell as it announces the arrival of a singular talent with a gorgeous voice. "A beautiful deep-winter story, full of magic and monsters and the sharp edges of growing up."--Naomi Novik, bestselling author of Uprooted Winter lasts most of the year at the edge of the Russian wilderness, and in the long nights, Vasilisa and her siblings love to gather by the fire to listen to their nurse's fairy tales. Above all, Vasya loves the story of Frost, the blue-eyed winter demon. Wise Russians fear him, for he claims unwary souls, and they honor the spirits that protect their homes from evil. Then Vasya's widowed father brings home a new wife from Moscow. Fiercely devout, Vasya's stepmother forbids her family from honoring their household spirits, but Vasya fears what this may bring. And indeed, misfortune begins to stalk the village. But Vasya's stepmother only grows harsher, determined to remake the village to her liking and to groom her rebellious stepdaughter for marriage or a convent. As the village's defenses weaken and evil from the forest creeps nearer, Vasilisa must call upon dangerous gifts she has long concealed--to protect her family from a threat sprung to life from her nurse's most frightening tales. Praise for The Bear and the Nightingale "Arden's debut novel has the cadence of a beautiful fairy tale but is darker and more lyrical."--The Washington Post "Vasya [is] a clever, stalwart girl determined to forge her own path in a time when women had few choices."--The Christian Science Monitor "Stunning . . . will enchant readers from the first page. . . . with an irresistible heroine who wants only to be free of the bonds placed on her gender and claim her own fate."--Publishers Weekly (starred review) "Utterly bewitching . . . a lush narrative . . . an immersive, earthy story of folk magic, faith, and hubris, peopled with vivid, dynamic characters, particularly clever, brave Vasya, who outsmarts men and demons alike to save her family."--Booklist (starred review) "An extraordinary retelling of a very old tale . . . The Bear and the Nightingale is a wonderfully layered novel of family and the harsh wonders of deep winter magic."--Robin Hobb
Beauty
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The New York Times-bestselling author of Rose Daughter reimagines the classic French fairy tale of Beauty and the Beast. I was the youngest of three daughters. Our literal-minded mother named us Grace, Hope, and Honour. . . . My father still likes to tell the story of how I acquired my odd nickname: I had come to him for further information when I first discovered that our names meant something besides you-come-here. He succeeded in explaining grace and hope, but he had some difficulty trying to make the concept of honour understandable to a five-year-old. . . . I said: 'Huh! I'd rather be Beauty.' . . . By the time it was evident that I was going to let the family down by being plain, I'd been called Beauty for over six years. . . . I wasn't really very fond of my given name, Honour, either . . . as if 'honourable' were the best that could be said of me. The sisters' wealthy father loses all his money when his merchant fleet is drowned in a storm, and the family moves to a village far away. Then the old merchant hears what proves to be a false report that one of his ships had made it safe to harbor at last, and on his sad, disappointed way home again he becomes lost deep in the forest and has a terrifying encounter with a fierce Beast, who walks like a man and lives in a castle. The merchant's life is forfeit, says the Beast, for trespass and the theft of a rose--but he will spare the old man's life if he sends one of his daughters: "Your daughter would take no harm from me, nor from anything that lives in my lands." When Beauty hears this story--for her father had picked the rose to bring to her--her sense of honor demands that she take up the Beast's offer, for "cannot a Beast be tamed?" This "splendid story" by the Newbery Medal-winning author of The Hero and the Crown has been named an ALA Notable Book and a Phoenix Award Honor Book (Publishers Weekly).
Beauty's Rose
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Margot's been invited to the medieval town of Chapais, France for a reunion of the town's descendants. She plans to stay with her aunt, who lives above the family bookshop inside the ancient walled city.
Little does she know that three fairies have called her there to help a beastly teenage boy break the curse that has plagued his family for generations.
Proud and arrogant, the boy pushes everyone away until Margot finds a way to reach him.
But when they get close to breaking the curse, the romantic summer turns into a nightmare.
Can they set the beast free before it's too late?
Beauty's Rose is the latest installment in the Fairy-tale Inheritance Series of historical fairy tales. Set in the 1980s, it is inspired by the 1756 version of Beauty and the Beast by French novelist Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont.
Bluebeard's Egg and Other Stories
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With the publication of the best-selling The Handmaid's Tale in 1986, Margaret Atwood's place in North American letters was reconfirmed. Poet, short story writer, and novelist, she was acclaimed "one of the most intelligent and talented writers to set herself the task of deciphering life in the late twentieth century."* With Bluebeard's Egg, her second short story collection, Atwood covers a dramatic range of storytelling, her scope encompassing the many moods of her characters, from the desolate to the hilarious. The stories are set in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1980s and concern themselves with relationships of various sorts. There is the bond between a political activist and his kidnapped cat, a woman and her dead psychiatrist, a potter and the group of poets who live with her and mythologize her, an artist and the strange men she picks up to use as models. There is a man who finds himself surrounded by women who are literally shrinking, and a woman whose life is dominated by a fear of nuclear warfare; there are telling relationships among parents and children. By turns humorous and warm, stark and frightening, Bluebeard's Egg explores and illuminates both the outer world in which we all live and the inner world that each of us creates. *Le Anne Schreiber, Vogue
Boy, Snow, Bird
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In the winter of 1953, Boy Novak arrives by chance in a small town in Massachusetts looking, she believes, for beauty—the opposite of the life she’s left behind in New York. She marries Arturo Whitman, a local widower, and becomes stepmother to his winsome daughter, Snow.
A wicked stepmother is a creature Boy never imagined she’d become, but elements of the familiar tale of aesthetic obsession begin to play themselves out when the birth of Boy’s daughter, Bird, who is dark-skinned, exposes the Whitmans as light-skinned African-Americans passing for white. And even as Boy, Snow, and Bird are divided, their estrangement is complicated by an insistent curiosity about one another. In seeking an understanding that is separate from the image each presents to the world, Boy, Snow, and Bird confront the tyranny of the mirror to ask how much power surfaces really hold.
Dazzlingly inventive and powerfully moving, Boy, Snow, Bird is an astonishing and enchanting novel. With breathtaking feats of imagination, Helen Oyeyemi confirms her place as one of the most original and dynamic literary voices of our time.
Cinderella's Dress
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Not all magic disappears at midnight.On the home front in 1944, Kate Allen wants to do her part for the war effort. She'd prefer filling in for the window dressers at the department store where she works, but her mother keeps sending her on auditions for roles she never gets.When relatives arrive from war-torn Poland with a mysterious steamer trunk and an even more mysterious story, Kate's aunt, who is suffering from dementia, tries to convince Kate she is in line to be the next keeper of the wardrobe for Cinderella's family-the real Cinderella.If the family secret is true, this might be the most important role Kate has ever auditioned for. Will she get to the truth before the truth is forgotten?CINDERELLA'S DRESS is a fairy tale set in the world of department store modeling and window design, spotlighting the importance of family and tradition in a world of constant change.
Cinderella's Shoes
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Now that Kate Allen knows about her family's unique connection to a fairy tale, she sets her sights on finding the magical glass slippers. The Kolodenkos claim Cinderella's shoes have been lost to the family, but Kate is convinced she knows where they are. Or at least, who might know where they are.
With her dad still missing, Kate could use a pair of shoes with the power to reunite loved ones. But to find the famous glass slippers, she'll have to get around the tight-lipped Kolodenko family and travel to post WWII Poland.
As official keeper of the wardrobe for Cinderella's heirlooms, she's learning that balancing alliances between Cinderella's heirs and the stepsister's descendants may cost her more than she's willing to give up.
Can she stop a family feud that has lasted for centuries?
Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister
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Is this new land a place where magics really happen? From Gregory Maguire, the acclaimed author of Wicked, comes his much-anticipated second novel, a brilliant and provocative retelling of the timeless Cinderella tale. In the lives of children, pumpkins can turn into coaches, mice and rats into human beings.... When we grow up, we learn that it's far more common for human beings to turn into rats.... We all have heard the story of Cinderella, the beautiful child cast out to slave among the ashes. But what of her stepsisters, the homely pair exiled into ignominy by the fame of their lovely sibling? What fate befell those untouched by beauty . . . and what curses accompanied Cinderella's exquisite looks? Extreme beauty is an affliction Set against the rich backdrop of seventeenth-century Holland, Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister tells the story of Iris, an unlikely heroine who finds herself swept from the lowly streets of Haarlem to a strange world of wealth, artifice, and ambition. Iris's path quickly becomes intertwined with that of Clara, the mysterious and unnaturally beautiful girl destined to become her sister. Clara was the prettiest child, but was her life the prettiest tale? While Clara retreats to the cinders of the family hearth, burning all memories of her past, Iris seeks out the shadowy secrets of her new household--and the treacherous truth of her former life. God and Satan snarling at each other like dogs.... Imps and fairy godmotbers trying to undo each other's work. How we try to pin the world between opposite extremes! Far more than a mere fairy-tale, Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister is a novel of beauty and betrayal, illusion and understanding, reminding us that deception can be unearthed--and love unveiled--in the most unexpected of places.
The Faery Reel (Collection)
This "wondrous" collection of fantasy tales from Neil Gaiman, Patricia A. McKillip, and others "is a treasure chest. Open it and revel in its riches" (Kirkus Reviews, starred review). For this enchanting anthology--a World Fantasy Award finalist--editors Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling "asked their contributors to reimagine Fäerie" in the present day, or "search its more dimly lit pathways," and the authors have responded with bountiful imagination. The title piece is a poem by Neil Gaiman, but most of the others are longer pieces, "like shards of stories you want to hear more of." Jeffrey Ford "limns the heartbreaking tale" of fairies who live in sandcastles built by young children; Ellen Steiber's 'Screaming for Fairies' "sketches the lineaments of desire." Bruce Glassco "finds a different voice for Tinkerbell and Captain Hook in 'Never Never.'" Tanith Lee's 'Elvenbrood' tale is eerie and "chilling." Gregory Maguire, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, Patricia A. McKillip, and Emma Bull's stories all "enchant" and bewitch. Delia Sherman's 'CATNYP' is "both funny and deeply clever, warming the cockles of anyone who has ever had dealings with a research library, especially New York Public's" (Kirkus Reviews, starred review). This companion volume to The Green Man: Tales from the Mythic Forest is "a rewarding choice for those who like the traditional with a twist" (Booklist).
Fairy Tale
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As the pandemic descended, King asked himself: "What could you write that would make you happy?" Here's the result, inspired by a sudden vision he had of an immense but empty, shattered city, with life pulsing just beneath the surface. His protagonist is Charlie Reade, whose mother died in a hit-and-run when he was ten and whose father subsequently disappeared into drink. At 17, self-sufficient Charlie befriends a dog named Radar and his crusty, reclusive master, Howard Bowditch, for whom he starts doing odd jobs. A cassette Bowditch leaves for Charlie at his death shares a secret: that funny shed at the back of his house contains a portal to another world, where a battle between good and evil is roaring. Boy and dog pass through the portal for the adventure of their lives.
Gingerbread
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The prize-winning, bestselling author of Boy Snow Bird, What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours, and Peaces returns with a bewitching and imaginative novel.
Influenced by the mysterious place gingerbread holds in classic children's stories, beloved novelist Helen Oyeyemi invites readers into a delightful tale of a surprising family legacy, in which the inheritance is a recipe.
Perdita Lee may appear to be your average British schoolgirl; Harriet Lee may seem just a working mother trying to penetrate the school social hierarchy; but there are signs that they might not be as normal as they think they are. For one thing, they share a gold-painted, seventh-floor walk-up apartment with some surprisingly verbal vegetation. And then there's the gingerbread they make. Londoners may find themselves able to take or leave it, but it's very popular in Druhástrana, the far-away (or, according to many sources, non-existent) land of Harriet Lee's early youth. The world's truest lover of the Lee family gingerbread, however, is Harriet's charismatic childhood friend Gretel Kercheval —a figure who seems to have had a hand in everything (good or bad) that has happened to Harriet since they met.
Decades later, when teenaged Perdita sets out to find her mother's long-lost friend, it prompts a new telling of Harriet's story. As the book follows the Lees through encounters with jealousy, ambition, family grudges, work, wealth, and real estate, gingerbread seems to be the one thing that reliably holds a constant value. Endlessly surprising and satisfying, written with Helen Oyeyemi's inimitable style and imagination, it is a true feast for the reader.
The Girl in the Tower
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A remarkable young woman blazes her own trail, from the backwoods of Russia to the court of Moscow, in the exhilarating sequel to Katherine Arden's bestselling debut novel, The Bear and the Nightingale. Katherine Arden's enchanting first novel introduced readers to an irresistible heroine. Vasilisa has grown up at the edge of a Russian wilderness, where snowdrifts reach the eaves of her family's wooden house and there is truth in the fairy tales told around the fire. Vasilisa's gift for seeing what others do not won her the attention of Morozko--Frost, the winter demon from the stories--and together they saved her people from destruction. But Frost's aid comes at a cost, and her people have condemned her as a witch. Now Vasilisa faces an impossible choice. Driven from her home by frightened villagers, the only options left for her are marriage or the convent. She cannot bring herself to accept either fate and instead chooses adventure, dressing herself as a boy and setting off astride her magnificent stallion Solovey. But after Vasilisa prevails in a skirmish with bandits, everything changes. The Grand Prince of Moscow anoints her a hero for her exploits, and she is reunited with her beloved sister and brother, who are now part of the Grand Prince's inner circle. She dares not reveal to the court that she is a girl, for if her deception were discovered it would have terrible consequences for herself and her family. Before she can untangle herself from Moscow's intrigues--and as Frost provides counsel that may or may not be trustworthy--she will also confront an even graver threat lying in wait for all of Moscow itself. Praise for The Girl in the Tower "[A] magical story set in an alluring Russia."--Paste "Arden's lush, lyrical writing cultivates an intoxicating, visceral atmosphere, and her marvelous sense of pacing carries the novel along at a propulsive clip. A masterfully told story of folklore, history, and magic with a spellbinding heroine at the heart of it all."--Booklist (starred review) "[A] sensual, beautifully written, and emotionally stirring fantasy . . . Fairy tales don't get better than this."--Publishers Weekly (starred review) "[Katherine] Arden once again delivers an engaging fantasy that mixes Russian folklore and history with delightful worldbuilding and lively characters."--Library Journal
The Green Man (Collection)
Drawing on the mythology of the Green Man and the power of nature, Neil Gaiman, Jane Yolen, and others serve up "a tasty treat for fantasy fans" (Booklist). There are some "genuine gems" in this "enticing collection" of fifteen stories and three poems, all featuring "diverse takes on mythical beings associated with the protection of the natural world," most involving a teen's coming-of-age. Delia Sherman "takes readers into New York City's Central Park, where a teenager wins the favor of the park's Green Queen." Michael Cadnum offers a "dynamic retelling of the Daphne story." Charles de Lint presents an "eerie, heartwarming story in which a teenager resists the lure" of the faerie world. Tanith Lee roots her tale in "the myth of Dionysus, a god of the Wild Wood." Patricia A. McKillip steeps her story in "the legend of Herne, guardian of the forest. Magic realism flavors Katherine Vaz's haunting story. Gregory Maguire takes on Jack and the Beanstalk, and Emma Bull looks to an unusual Green Man--a Joshua tree in the desert" (Booklist). These enduring works of eco-fantasy by some of the genre's most popular authors impart "a real sense of how powerful nature can be in its various guises" (School Library Journal). "A treasure trove for teens and teachers exploring themes of ecology and folklore." --Kirkus Reviews "The stories are well-written and manage to speak to both the intellect and the emotions." --SF Site
A Knot in the Grain
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Stories from the world of The Hero and the Crown and other magical places by a New York Times-bestselling Newbery Medal winner. Robin McKinley returns to the mythical setting of The Hero and the Crown and The Blue Sword in this "thrilling, satisfying, and thought-provoking collection" featuring two stories set in the world of Damar, plus three other fantasy tales featuring adventurous, pragmatic, and heroic young women (Publishers Weekly). There's mute Lily, in "The Healer," who has the power to help others, and receives a startling opportunity to find her voice when a mysterious mage stumbles into town. And Queen Ruen, who is at the mercy of a power-hungry uncle until she encounters a shape-changer in "The Stagman." In "Touk's House," a maiden who has grown up with a witch and a troll has a chance to become a princess, but she must decide whether she would really live happily ever after. When a curse follows Coral to her new husband's farm in "Buttercups," the pair has a choice: Succumb to defeat or find a way to turn a disastrous enchantment into a fruitful new venture. Finally, travel to upstate New York with Annabelle. In the title story, her family moves shortly after her sixteenth birthday, and just as she starts to adjust to her new life in a small town, a plan to build a superhighway threatens her new home. But a strange box hidden in a secret attic in the new house may be the answer. This is a delightful assortment of tales from an author with "a remarkable talent for melding the real and the magical into a single, believable whole" (Booklist).
Mirror Mirror
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"Entertaining...profound....A novel for adults that unearths our buried fascination with the primal fears and truths fairy tales contain." --Christian Science Monitor The acclaimed author who re-imagined a darker, more dangerous Land of Oz in his New York Times bestselling series The Wicked Years, offers a brilliant reinvention of the timeless Snow White fairy tale. Setting the story amid the cultural, political and artistic whirlwind of Renaissance Italy--and casting the notorious Lucrezia Borgia as the Evil Queen--Mirror Mirror will enthrall a wide array of book lovers ranging from adult fans of Harry Potter to readers of the sophisticated stories of Angela Carter. The year is 1502, and seven-year-old Bianca de Nevada lives perched high above the rolling hills and valleys of Tuscany and Umbria at Montefiore, the farm of her beloved father, Don Vicente. But one day a noble entourage makes its way up the winding slopes to the farm -- and the world comes to Montefiore. In the presence of Cesare Borgia and his sister, the lovely and vain Lucrezia -- decadent children of a wicked pope -- no one can claim innocence for very long. When Borgia sends Don Vicente on a years-long quest, he leaves Bianca under the care -- so to speak -- of Lucrezia. She plots a dire fate for the young girl in the woods below the farm, but in the dark forest salvation can be found as well ... A lyrical work of stunning creative vision, Mirror Mirror gives fresh life to the classic story of Snow White -- and has a truth and beauty all its own.
Mr. Fox
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Fairy-tale romances end with a wedding, and the fairy tales don't get complicated. In this book, the celebrated writer Mr. Fox can't stop himself from killing off the heroines of his novels, and neither can his wife, Daphne. It's not until Mary, his muse, comes to life and transforms him from author into subject that his story begins to unfold differently.
Mary challenges Mr. Fox to join her in stories of their own devising; and in different times and places, the two of them seek each other, find each other, thwart each other, and try to stay together, even when the roles they inhabit seem to forbid it. Their adventures twist the fairy tale into nine variations, exploding and teasing conventions of genre and romance, and each iteration explores the fears that come with accepting a lifelong bond. Meanwhile, Daphne becomes convinced that her husband is having an affair, and finds her way into Mary and Mr. Fox's game. And so Mr. Fox is offered a choice: Will it be a life with the girl of his dreams, or a life with an all-too-real woman who delights him more than he cares to admit?
The extraordinarily gifted Helen Oyeyemi has written a love story like no other. Mr. Fox is a magical book, endlessly inventive, as witty and charming as it is profound in its truths about how we learn to be with one another.
The Ocean at the End of the Lane
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A brilliantly imaginative and poignant fairy tale from the modern master of wonder and terror, The Ocean at the End of the Lane is Neil Gaiman’s first new novel for adults since his #1 New York Times bestseller Anansi Boys. This bewitching and harrowing tale of mystery and survival, and memory and magic, makes the impossible all too real...
The Path of Thorns
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A lush and twisted dark fairy tale suffused with witchcraft, dark secrets and bitter revenge from the award-winning author. Exquisite, haunting and at times brutal, readers of Naomi Novik and Erin Morgenstern will be entranced.
Asher Todd comes to live with the mysterious Morwood family as a governess to their children. Asher knows little about being a governess but she is skilled in botany and herbcraft, and perhaps more than that. And she has secrets of her own, dark and terrible – and Morwood is a house that eats secrets. With a monstrous revenge in mind, Asher plans to make it choke. However, she becomes fond of her charges, of the people of the Tarn, and she begins to wonder if she will be able to execute her plan – and who will suffer most if she does. But as the ghosts of her past become harder to control, Asher realises she has no choice.
From the award-winning author of All the Murmuring Bones, dark magic, retribution and twisted family secrets combine to weave a bewitching and addictive tale.
The Princess Bride
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William Goldman's modern fantasy classic is an exceptional story about quests—for riches, revenge, power, and, of course, true love—that's thrilling and timeless for readers of all ages.
The Sleeper and the Spindle
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In a beautiful collaboration, New York Times bestselling and Newbery and Carnegie Medal-winning author Neil Gaiman and Kate Greenaway-winning illustrator Chris Riddell have created a thrillingly reimagined fairy tale, "told in a way only Gaiman can" and featuring "stunning metallic artwork" (GeekInsider.com). The result is a beautiful and coveted edition of The Sleeper and the Spindle that the Guardian calls "a refreshing, much-needed twist on a classic story." In this captivating and darkly funny tale, Neil Gaiman and Chris Riddell have twisted together the familiar and the new as well as the beautiful and the wicked to tell a brilliant version of Snow White's (sort of) and Sleeping Beauty's (almost) stories. This story was originally published (without illustrations) in Rags & Bones (Little, Brown, 2013). This is the first time it is being published as an illustrated, stand-alone edition, and the book is a beautiful work of art.
Sleeping Beauty's Spindle
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Hidden for generations, Sleeping Beauty's cursed spindle resurfaces... In 1894 Vermont, Briar Rose is determined to keep her orphaned siblings together. She's set her sights on marrying an ambitious young man to take them out of the cotton mills and back to the Old Country. Trouble is, he no longer cares for her. Childhood chum Henry Prince would like to step in, but sweet as he is, can't offer what her family needs. When a peddler gives Briar a spindle made from fairy wood said to have magical properties, she has a chance to keep her family together. Desperate to increase her production at the mill, she sneaks the spindle onto her spinning frame. But Briar has no idea of the power she has unleashed. One by one, the mill girls succumb to a sleeping sickness. To save everyone, Briar must find the strength to break the curse and defeat the evil fairy for good. For in a world where fairies lurk and curses linger, love can bleed like the prick of a finger. Sleeping Beauty's Spindle is for fans of sweet romance, fairy tales, and women's history.
Snow White's Mirror
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Billie's uncle is convinced the stories his sister tells about the Bergmann family history are true.
A magic mirror.
A family of dwarfs.
And he'll do anything to command the mirror, even if it means using unsuspecting Billie.
Socialite Billie likes a treasure hunt as much as the next girl, so she follows her uncle to an out-of-the-way mining town in Arizona where she meets an odd array of characters, including one rugged boy unlike any she's met before.
More than anything, Billie hopes the magic mirror holds a cure to her mother's mysterious illness. But after making a critical mistake, Billie risks walking away from this baffling town with nothing.
It's up to her to solve the problem that has been plaguing her family for centuries, or lose it all... including the boy who stole her heart.
Set in an early 1900s mining boomtown, it's Victorian era meets the Wild West.
Spindle's End
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The evil fairy Pernicia has set a curse on Princess Briar-Rose: she is fated to prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel and fall into an endless, poisoned sleep. Katriona, a young fairy, kidnaps the princess in order to save her; she and her aunt raise the child in their small village, where no one knows her true identity. But Pernicia is looking for her, intent on revenge for a defeat four hundred years old. Robin McKinley's masterful version of Sleeping Beauty is, like all of her work, a remarkable literary feat.
Spinning Silver
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NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * "One of the year's strongest fantasy novels" (NPR), an imaginative retelling of the Rumpelstiltskin fairy tale from the bestselling author of Uprooted. NEBULA AND HUGO AWARD FINALIST * NAMED ONE OF PASTE'S BEST FANTASY BOOKS OF THE DECADE * ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The New York Public Library With the Nebula Award-winning Uprooted, Naomi Novik opened a brilliant new chapter in an already acclaimed career, delving into the magic of fairy tales to craft a love story that was both timeless and utterly of the now. Spinning Silver draws readers deeper into this glittering realm of fantasy, where the boundary between wonder and terror is thinner than a breath, and safety can be stolen as quickly as a kiss. Miryem is the daughter and granddaughter of moneylenders, but her father's inability to collect his debts has left his family on the edge of poverty--until Miryem takes matters into her own hands. Hardening her heart, the young woman sets out to claim what is owed and soon gains a reputation for being able to turn silver into gold. When an ill-advised boast draws the attention of the king of the Staryk--grim fey creatures who seem more ice than flesh--Miryem's fate, and that of two kingdoms, will be forever altered. She will face an impossible challenge and, along with two unlikely allies, uncover a secret that threatens to consume the lands of humans and Staryk alike. ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The New York Times Book Review, NPR, Time, Tordotcom, Popsugar, Vox, Vulture, Paste, Bustle, Library Journal "A perfect tale . . . A big and meaty novel, rich in both ideas and people, with the vastness of Tolkien and the empathy and joy in daily life of Le Guin."--The New York Times Book Review "Gorgeous, complex, and magical . . . This is the kind of book that one might wish to inhabit forever."--Publishers Weekly (starred review) "Cool and clever and . . . dire and wonderful."--Laini Taylor, author of Strange the Dreamer "The Rumpelstiltskin fairy tale has never been as captivating. . . . Spinning Silver further cements [Novik's] place as one of the genre greats."--Paste
Uprooted
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NEBULA AWARD WINNER * HUGO AWARD FINALIST * "If you want a fantasy with strong characters and brilliantly original variations on ancient stories, try Uprooted!"--Rick Riordan "Breathtaking . . . a tale that is both elegantly grand and earthily humble, familiar as a Grimm fairy tale yet fresh, original, and totally irresistible."--Publishers Weekly (starred review) ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: NPR, BuzzFeed, Tordotcom, BookPage, Library Journal, Publishers Weekly Agnieszka loves her valley home, her quiet village, the forests and the bright shining river. But the corrupted Wood stands on the border, full of malevolent power, and its shadow lies over her life. Her people rely on the cold, driven wizard known only as the Dragon to keep its powers at bay. But he demands a terrible price for his help: one young woman handed over to serve him for ten years, a fate almost as terrible as falling to the Wood. The next choosing is fast approaching, and Agnieszka is afraid. She knows--everyone knows--that the Dragon will take Kasia: beautiful, graceful, brave Kasia, all the things Agnieszka isn't, and her dearest friend in the world. And there is no way to save her. But Agnieszka fears the wrong things. For when the Dragon comes, it is not Kasia he will choose. Praise for Uprooted "Uprooted has leapt forward to claim the title of Best Book I've Read Yet This Year. . . . Moving, heartbreaking, and thoroughly satisfying, Uprooted is the fantasy novel I feel I've been waiting a lifetime for. Clear your schedule before picking it up, because you won't want to put it down."--NPR
Wicked
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This is the book that started it all! The basis for the smash hit Tony Award-winning Broadway musical, Gregory Maguire's breathtaking New York Times bestseller Wicked views the land of Oz, its inhabitants, its Wizard, and the Emerald City, through a darker and greener (not rosier) lens. Brilliantly inventive, Wicked offers us a radical new evaluation of one of the most feared and hated characters in all of literature: the much maligned Wicked Witch of the West who, as Maguire tells us, wasn't nearly as Wicked as we imagined.
The Winter of the Witch
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NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * Following their adventures in The Bear and the Nightingale and The Girl in the Tower, Vasya and Morozko return in this stunning conclusion to the bestselling Winternight Trilogy, battling enemies mortal and magical to save both Russias, the seen and the unseen. "A tale both intimate and epic, featuring a heroine whose harrowing and wondrous journey culminates in an emotionally resonant finale."--Publishers Weekly (starred review) NAMED ONE OF PASTE'S BEST FANTASY BOOKS OF THE DECADE Vasilisa Petrovna is an unforgettable heroine determined to forge her own path. Her gifts and her courage have drawn the attention of Morozko, the winter-king, but it is too soon to know if this connection will prove a blessing or a curse. Now Moscow has been struck by disaster. Its people are searching for answers--and for someone to blame. Vasya finds herself alone, beset on all sides. The Grand Prince is in a rage, choosing allies that will lead him on a path to war and ruin. A wicked demon returns, determined to spread chaos. Caught at the center of the conflict is Vasya, who finds the fate of two worlds resting on her shoulders. Her destiny uncertain, Vasya will uncover surprising truths about herself as she desperately tries to save Russia, Morozko, and the magical world she treasures. But she may not be able to save them all. Praise for The Winter of the Witch "Katherine Arden's Winternight Trilogy isn't just good--it's hug-to-your-chest, straight-to-the-favorites-shelf, reread-immediately good, and each book just gets better. The Winter of the Witch plunges us back to fourteenth-century Moscow, where old gods and new vie for the soul of Russia and fate rests on a witch girl's slender shoulders. Prepare to have your heart ripped out, loaned back to you full of snow and magic, and ripped out some more."--Laini Taylor "Luxuriously detailed yet briskly suspenseful . . . a striking literary fantasy informed by Arden's deep knowledge."--Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
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A Wild Winter Swan
by
Following her brother's death and her mother's emotional breakdown, Laura now lives on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, in a lonely townhouse she shares with her old-world, strict, often querulous grandparents. But the arrangement may be temporary. The quiet, awkward teenager has been getting into trouble at home and has been expelled from her high school for throwing a record album at a popular girl who bullied her. When Christmas is over and the new year begins, Laura may find herself at boarding school in Montreal. Nearly unmoored from reality through her panic and submerged grief, Laura is startled when a handsome swan boy with only one wing lands on her roof. Hiding him from her ever-bickering grandparents, Laura tries to build the swan boy a wing so he can fly home. But the task is too difficult to accomplish herself. Little does Laura know that her struggle to find help for her new friend parallels that of her grandparents, who are desperate for a distant relative's financial aid to save the family store. As he explores themes of class, isolation, family, and the dangerous yearning to be saved by a power greater than ourselves, Gregory Maguire conjures a haunting, beautiful tale of magical realism that illuminates one young woman's heartbreak and hope as she begins the inevitable journey to adulthood.
Winter Garden
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Mesmerizing from the first page to the last, Kristin Hannah's Winter Garden is one woman's sweeping, heartbreaking story of love, loss, and redemption. At once an epic love story set in World War II Russia and an intimate portrait of contemporary mothers and daughters poised at the crossroads of their lives, it explores the heartbreak of war, the cost of survival and the ultimate triumph of the human spirit. It is a novel that will haunt the reader long after the last page is turned. 1941. Leningrad, a once magical city besieged by war, cut off from aid, buried in snow. A city full of women desperate to save their children and themselves... 2000. Loss and old age have taken a terrible toll on Anya Whitson. At last, she will reach out to her estranged daughters. In a halting, uncertain voice, she begins to weave a fable about a beautiful Russian girl who lived in Leningrad a lifetime ago... Nina and Meredith sit spellbound at their mother's bedside, listening to a story that spans more than sixty years and moves from the terrors of war-torn Leningrad under siege to modern-day Alaska. In a quest to uncover the truth behind the story, Nina and Meredith discover a secret so shocking, so impossible to believe, it shakes the foundation of their family and changes who they believe they are. "Another powerful story of family love, and strong women...a fascinating story that weaves fairy tales into reality, fairy tales that don't always have the expected endings."--The Herald-News "...a gripping read. Hannah's audience will find plenty to discuss in this enthralling entry."--Booklist
Hunted
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A thoroughly thrilling Beauty and the Beast story for the modern age, expertly woven with spellbinding romance, intrigue, and suspense that readers won't soon be able to forget. Beauty knows the Beast's forest in her bones--and in her blood. After all, her father is the only hunter who's ever come close to discovering its secrets. So when her father loses his fortune and moves Yeva and her sisters out of their comfortable home among the aristocracy and back to the outskirts of town, Yeva is secretly relieved. Out in the wilderness, there's no pressure to make idle chatter with vapid baronessas...or to submit to marrying a wealthy gentleman. But Yeva's father's misfortune may have cost him his mind, and when he goes missing in the woods, Yeva sets her sights on one prey: the creature he'd been obsessively tracking just before his disappearance. The Beast. Deaf to her sisters' protests, Yeva hunts this strange creature back into his own territory--a cursed valley, a ruined castle, and a world of magical creatures that Yeva's only heard about in fairy tales. A world that can bring her ruin, or salvation. Who will survive: the Beauty, or the Beast?
Briarheart
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A fresh and feminist reinterpretation of Sleeping Beauty Miriam may be the daughter of Queen Alethia of Tirendell, but she's not a princess. She's the child of Alethia and her previous husband, the King's Champion, who died fighting for the king, and she has no desire to rule. When her new baby sister Aurora, heir to the throne, is born, she's ecstatic. She adores the baby, who seems perfect in every way. But on the day of Aurora's christening, an uninvited Dark Fae arrives, prepared to curse her, and Miriam discovers she possesses impossible power. Soon, Miriam is charged with being trained in both magic and combat to act as chief protector to her sister. But shadowy threats are moving closer and closer to their kingdom, and Miriam's dark power may not be enough to save everyone she loves, let alone herself.
Stardust
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An enchanting adult fairy tale about a young man who travels beyond the boundaries of his small village to find a fallen star and win the heart of the woman he loves--the basis for the hit motion picture starring Michelle Pfeiffer, Sienna Miller, Claire Danes, and Robert DeNiro--Gaiman's glorious fable is now available in a special keepsake edition. Here is a gift of Stardust--beautifully packaged, with a special new introduction by the author--that every Neil Gaiman devotee will want to receive.
The Sisters of the Winter Wood
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In a remote village surrounded by vast forests on the border of Moldova and Ukraine, sisters Liba and Laya have been raised on the honeyed scent of their Mami's babka and the low rumble of their Tati's prayers. But when a troupe of mysterious men arrives, Laya falls under their spell -- despite their mother's warning to be wary of strangers. And this is not the only danger lurking in the woods. As dark forces close in on their village, Liba and Laya discover a family secret passed down through generations. Faced with a magical heritage they never knew existed, the sisters realize the old fairy tales are true. . .and could save them all. Discover a magical tale of secrets, heritage, and fairy tales weaving through history that will enchant readers of The Bear and the Nightingale, Uprooted and The Golem and the Jinni.
The Light of the Midnight Stars
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Experience an evocative combination of fantasy, history, and Jewish folklore in this lush and lyrical fairytale-inspired novel from the author of The Sisters of the Winter Wood. Deep in the Hungarian woods, the sacred magic of King Solomon lives on in his descendants. Gathering under the midnight stars, they perform small miracles and none are more gifted than the great Rabbi Isaac and his three daughters. Hannah, bookish and calm, can coax plants to grow even when the weather is bitterly cold. Sarah, defiant and strong, can control the impulsive nature of fire. And Levana, the fey one, can read the path of the stars to decipher their secrets. But darkness is creeping across Europe, threatening the lives of every Jewish person in every village. Each sister will have to make an impossible choice in an effort to survive--and change the fate of their family forever.
The Goose Girl
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In this first book in New York Times bestselling, Newbery Honor-winning author Shannon Hale's beloved YA fantasy series Books of Bayern, Princess Ani must become a goose girl before she can become queen. Anidori-Kiladra Talianna Isilee, Crown Princess of Kildenree, spends the first years of her life listening to her aunt's stories and learning the language of the birds, especially the swans. As she grows up, Ani develops the skills of animal speech, but she never feels quite comfortable speaking with people. So when Ani's mother sends her away to be married in a foreign land, she finds herself at the mercy of her silver-tongued lady in waiting, who leads a mutiny that leaves her alone, destitute, and fleeing for her life. To survive, Ani takes on work as a royal goose girl, hiding in plain sight while she develops her forbidden talents and works to discover her own true, powerful voice.
The Princess Bride
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Here William Goldman's beloved story of Buttercup, Westley, and their fellow adventurers finally receives a beautiful illustrated treatment. A tale of true love and high adventure, pirates, princesses, giants, miracles, fencing, and a frightening assortment of wild beasts--The Princess Bride is a modern storytelling classic. As Florin and Guilder teeter on the verge of war, the reluctant Princess Buttercup is devastated by the loss of her true love, kidnapped by a mercenary and his henchman, rescued by a pirate, forced to marry Prince Humperdinck, and rescued once again by the very crew who absconded with her in the first place. In the course of this dazzling adventure, she'll meet Vizzini--the criminal philosopher who'll do anything for a bag of gold; Fezzik--the gentle giant; Inigo--the Spaniard whose steel thirsts for revenge; and Count Rugen--the evil mastermind behind it all. Foiling all their plans and jumping into their stories is Westley, Princess Buttercup's one true love and a very good friend of a very dangerous pirate.
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