For the Wolf

 

Whitten, H. (2021). For the Wolf. Little, Brown Book Group Ltd. 

A merging of Beauty and the Beast and Little Red Riding hood this first book in a series sees the second born daughter of a royal family sacrificing herself to the Wolf in the Woods for the good of the kingdom only to find that all the stories she was told were a lie and that there are worse things in these woods than wolves.

A New York Times Bestselling debut from an author Kirkus calls "a must-read new voice in fantasy." Kirkus Reviews, June 1, 2021.

See here for a list of content warnings.

Spinning Silver

 

Novik, N. (2019). Spinning Silver. Pan Macmillan. 

A new take on Rumpelstiltskin sees the daughter of a moneylender making a foolish boast that gets overheard by fey creatures who take her at her word. This book draws together three very different heroines from differing social classes to prevent events from tearing apart bother human and fey worlds.

The Bloody Chamber

 

Carter, A. (1995). The Bloody chamber and other stories. Penguin Random House. 

Originally published in 1979 Angela Carter took inspiration from classic fairy tales and rewove them into dark, sensual stories filled with gruesome themes of both horror and liberation.

Through these stories the protagonists face down vampires, elves and humans to make their way through woods both figurative and literal.

Please not this books does contain adult themes and may not be suitable for younger readers. 

The Merry Spinster

 

Ortberg, M. (2019). The Merry Spinster. Little, Brown Book Group Limited. 

In the same vein as The Bloody Chamber Ortberg takes familiar and not so familiar stories and takes them to darker and stranger places in this collection of short stories. 

As a reader you'll be swept along with the Little Mermaid, Cinderella, and Beauty, amongst others into disconcertingly familiar new settings by a gifted writer who understands how to unsettle you with wit and charm.