Suggest me historical fiction inspired by fairy tales
I’d appreciate your recommendations for stories that draw inspiration from fairy tales but are set in historical periods.
A little dash of fantasy aspects is allowed. 😄
For those who love fairy tales reimagined, ‘Uprooted’ by Naomi Novik is a novel I often recommend. It’s a captivating story inspired by Eastern European folklore, with a strong and relatable heroine who discovers her own power in a world filled with magic and danger.
Greatgreenbird on
*The Fox Wife* by Yangsze Choo – I had the good fortune to read an advanced copy of this (it’s due out in February) and it definitely fits the bill, since it’s centred on folktales around foxes and the end of the Qing dynasty in China.
*Deathless* by Catherynne Valente – the Russian folktale of Koschei the Deathless but set in the Russian Revolution.
Canidae_Vulpes on
Pans Labyrinth by Cornelia Funke and Guillermo del Toro
scandalliances on
Kate Forsyth is great for this.
Bitter Greens is about Rapunzel — it interweaves the fairytale and the story of the woman who first recorded the story, Charlotte-Rose de Caumont de La Force, in the 1600s.
The Beast’s Garden retells The Singing, Springing Lark in Nazi Germany.
Beauty in Thorns is a Sleeping Beauty retelling set in the time of the Pre-Raphaelites (mid-1800s).
The Wild Girl is about the life of Dortchen Wild, who married Wilhelm Grimm and told him and his brother many of the fairy tales that they recorded.
Not by Kate Forsyth:
Strands of Bronze and Gold by Jane Nickerson is Bluebeard set in the antebellum South.
The same author also has a Civil War set retelling of Tam Lin, The Mirk and Midnight Hour.
The Girls at the Kingfisher Club by Genevieve Valentine is The Twelve Dancing Princesses set in the Prohibition era.
Heart’s Blood by Juliet Marillier is Beauty and the Beast set in 12th-century Ireland.
boredaroni on
Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maguire
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For those who love fairy tales reimagined, ‘Uprooted’ by Naomi Novik is a novel I often recommend. It’s a captivating story inspired by Eastern European folklore, with a strong and relatable heroine who discovers her own power in a world filled with magic and danger.
*The Fox Wife* by Yangsze Choo – I had the good fortune to read an advanced copy of this (it’s due out in February) and it definitely fits the bill, since it’s centred on folktales around foxes and the end of the Qing dynasty in China.
*Deathless* by Catherynne Valente – the Russian folktale of Koschei the Deathless but set in the Russian Revolution.
Pans Labyrinth by Cornelia Funke and Guillermo del Toro
Kate Forsyth is great for this.
Bitter Greens is about Rapunzel — it interweaves the fairytale and the story of the woman who first recorded the story, Charlotte-Rose de Caumont de La Force, in the 1600s.
The Beast’s Garden retells The Singing, Springing Lark in Nazi Germany.
Beauty in Thorns is a Sleeping Beauty retelling set in the time of the Pre-Raphaelites (mid-1800s).
The Wild Girl is about the life of Dortchen Wild, who married Wilhelm Grimm and told him and his brother many of the fairy tales that they recorded.
Not by Kate Forsyth:
Strands of Bronze and Gold by Jane Nickerson is Bluebeard set in the antebellum South.
The same author also has a Civil War set retelling of Tam Lin, The Mirk and Midnight Hour.
The Girls at the Kingfisher Club by Genevieve Valentine is The Twelve Dancing Princesses set in the Prohibition era.
Heart’s Blood by Juliet Marillier is Beauty and the Beast set in 12th-century Ireland.
Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maguire
The Baron in the Trees by Italo Calvino
Baltasar and Blimunda by José Saramago