Here are 100 books that Vasilisa the Wise fans have personally recommended if you like
Vasilisa the Wise.
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I’ve always loved fairy tales, but it was only when I got to Leeds University that I discovered you could enjoy them as an adult. I remember enthusiastically signing up for the “Romance, Ballad and Fairy Tale” module with the inimitable Professor Wawn. I’m now a keen amateur folklorist with an ever-growing collection of books. I use them A LOT in my own writing, and enjoy connecting with my fellow enthusiasts, particularly at the Todmorden Folklore Centre, Yorkshire.
I’ve been a fan of Jen Campbell since first watching her YouTube channel.
She is very knowledgeable about fairy tales, and as a queer, disabled person, keen to challenge some of the genre’s othering tropes. (I’ve met her, too!). I especially like how Jen makes the Irish merman tale “The Souls Trapped Under the Sea” more obviously gay, but in a child-friendly way, and has the merman communicate underwater using sign language.
The book has a good selection of tales from across the continents, and the illustrations are just the right mix of creepy and cosy.
Fourteen of the most gruesome fairy tales from around the world are re-told for contemporary readers and restored to their original, grisly versions.
Jen Campbell's collection of terrifyingly gruesome tales lends a modern edge to fairy tale collections for young readers. Drawing on her extensive knowledge of fairy tale history, Campbell's stories undo the censoring, gender stereotyping and twee endings of more modern children's fairy tales, to return both classic and little-known stories to their grim versions, whilst celebrating a diverse range of characters.
Featuring 14 short stories from around the globe, The Sister Who Ate Her Brothers is…
We are all surrounded by darkness. And we are all drawn to the light.
The Orkney Islands north of Scotland are steeped in stories of selkies, seal folk who swim in cold ocean waters and shed their skins to sing and dance on land.
I’ve always loved fairy tales, but it was only when I got to Leeds University that I discovered you could enjoy them as an adult. I remember enthusiastically signing up for the “Romance, Ballad and Fairy Tale” module with the inimitable Professor Wawn. I’m now a keen amateur folklorist with an ever-growing collection of books. I use them A LOT in my own writing, and enjoy connecting with my fellow enthusiasts, particularly at the Todmorden Folklore Centre, Yorkshire.
I was recommended this book at a local festival of African and Caribbean culture, by a storyteller who performed two of the tales from it - with music!
I love it that the tales come from many countries in the Caribbean, and reflect the many cultures that have gone into its melting pot, including West African, Indian and Indigenous peoples.
Even better, I don’t just get the tales, I get to hear about the tellers. Between the stories are recollections of the Windrush Generation, who emigrated from the Caribbean to Britain in the 1950s and 60s. As a British reader, I really appreciate that.
Professional storyteller Wendy Shearer has gathered together stories from many Caribbean islands and countries, drawing on oral history and written texts to bring these folk tales to life. Many stories are of West African origin, kept alive through rhythm and song. These tales and their languages were blended with European and East Indian folklore, with royalty, heroes and spirits exacting revenge. Alongside the stories are newly collected reminiscences of migration to Britain from Caribbean countries during the Windrush years. These first-hand accounts mirror the themes found in the folk tales with love and loss, magic and mystery, caution and justice.
I’ve always loved fairy tales, but it was only when I got to Leeds University that I discovered you could enjoy them as an adult. I remember enthusiastically signing up for the “Romance, Ballad and Fairy Tale” module with the inimitable Professor Wawn. I’m now a keen amateur folklorist with an ever-growing collection of books. I use them A LOT in my own writing, and enjoy connecting with my fellow enthusiasts, particularly at the Todmorden Folklore Centre, Yorkshire.
I remember the excitement when the news broke in 2009 that five hundred previously unknown German fairy tales had been discovered in an archive in Bavaria.
I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it. And I still love it now. As an amateur folklorist, I like the unembellished rawness of the tales. It can be weird at times, but it brings me closer to the original tellers all those years ago.
And the little commentaries and notes on each tale, comparing them with similar tales and giving each their Aarne-Thompson-Uther classification number. Super helpful, both for studying and retelling the tales.
A rare discovery in the world of fairy tales - now for the first time in English.
With this volume, the holy trinity of fairy tales - the Brothers Grimm, Charles Perrault, and Hans Christian Andersen - becomes a quartet. In the 1850s, Franz Xaver von Schoenwerth traversed the forests, lowlands, and mountains of northern Bavaria to record fairy tales, gaining the admiration of even the Brothers Grimm. Most of Schoenwerth's work was lost - until a few years ago, when thirty boxes of manu scripts were uncovered in a German municipal archive.
Wishes are dangerous. They can bring you a night out, a gown, even a pair of slippers. Or something you never should have wished for in the first place.
After the royal wedding, the girl in the glass slippers has everything she ever wanted: an escape from a life of…
I’ve always loved fairy tales, but it was only when I got to Leeds University that I discovered you could enjoy them as an adult. I remember enthusiastically signing up for the “Romance, Ballad and Fairy Tale” module with the inimitable Professor Wawn. I’m now a keen amateur folklorist with an ever-growing collection of books. I use them A LOT in my own writing, and enjoy connecting with my fellow enthusiasts, particularly at the Todmorden Folklore Centre, Yorkshire.
As a Yorkshire lass, how could I not love a book of tales from my native soil and stones? I actually helped crowdfund this book, so was one of the first to read it.
I love that many of the tales are associated with real local places. I get very excited when it mentions somewhere I know well. I was especially happy to find a gender-reversed Rapunzel (or "Man In A Tower") story in here. You don’t normally get many of those.
A collection of rarely heard fairy tales from across Yorkshire, plus some local folklore. It has around fifty tales of dragons, giants, hobs, fairies, witches and other folk, or fairy, tales based in Yorkshire.
Most of these are unchanged, or with very minor changes, to the versions found in old (out of copyright) books, though I've tended to soften the dialect to make them easier to read. A few, however, have had slightly more significant changes as the older versions I found were a little brief, and I took a mixture of these and newer versions to retell the story.…
I’ve always had a soft spot for history—in particular, mysteries, myths, and legends. If it’s strange, unexplained, obscure, supernatural, or downright weird, I’m all in. And Celtic folklore, it turns out, excels at exploiting the dark intrigue of human antiquity. Backdropped by a landscape that makes literally anything seem impossible, these stories tell us as much about fairies, merfolk, and other mystical creatures as they do about ourselves. Like so many legends around the world, Celtic mythology is a mirror. One that exposes our deepest fantasies. Reflecting the dark, dangerous side of humanity’s desires back onto itself, and making us question who the real monsters really are.
Three sisters vanish as kids and mysteriously return with no memories of what happened and a lot of strange quirks… in other words, the perfect set-up for a modern story about changelings! Initially, I was skeptical about this one because—while I shamelessly loved Twilight back in the day—I’ve also been kinda burned out from all the froofy falling-in-love-with-magical-creatures/worlds books that surfaced in its aftermath. (And c’mon. That cover? It practically screams froofy tortured teen magic.)
But let’s just say the marketing team failed here because while this book was beautiful, it was also kinda rotten, incredibly atmospheric, and genuinely creepy in places. The perfect read for a dark, modern twist on a traditional myth.
'A gorgeous, grisly modern fairy tale.' - THE GUARDIAN
'Dark and delicious. House of Hollow hums with malice and mystery. I devoured it whole.' - KIRAN MILLWOOD HARGRAVE
** SHORTLISTED FOR THE YA BOOK PRIZE 2022 **
The Hollow sisters - Vivi, Grey and Iris - are as seductively glamorous as they are mysterious. They have black eyes and hair as white as milk. The Hollow sisters don't have friends - they don't need them. They move through the corridors like sharks, the other little fish parting around them, whispering behind their backs.
I never expected to write a zombie story, let alone a novella series. I don’t usually do scary. I avoid horror movies and choose books with pretty covers. I think that’s why my books, like those on this list, walk the line of horror without plunging all the way in. There’s a delight in being spooked, but not if it leads you to recurring nightmares. I want books that will set my heart racing, but don’t plant a lingering fear. The books on this list will raise the hair on your arms, but won’t keep you up at night…unless, of course, it’s because you can’t put them down.
Full disclosure: I’m a sucker for retellings, as you may have noticed since this book is the second retelling to make my list.
This book retells the 12 Dancing Princesses, exploring the family’s curse more in-depth. That means it’s filled with gothic settings, plenty of tragedy, and the requisite family secrets. It’s the perfect spooky story to keep you up all night (because you won’t be able to put it down).
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Get swept away by this “haunting” (Bustle) YA novel about twelve beautiful sisters living on an isolated island estate who begin to mysteriously die one by one. This dark and atmospheric fairy tale inspired story is perfect for fans of Yellowjackets.
"Step inside a fairy tale." —Stephanie Garber, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Caraval
In a manor by the sea, twelve sisters are cursed.
Annaleigh lives a sheltered life at Highmoor with her sisters and their father and stepmother. Once there were twelve, but loneliness fills the grand halls now that four of…
I’m the best-selling romance author of 29 books which span six series. I love creating whole worlds for readers to enter and spend time with smoking-hot bodyguards, motorcycle club members, ex-military bad boys, sexy cowboys, and MMA fighters. Although I love pretty much everything about writing for a living, I do get special joy from having characters from one series wander into a different series and interact with a totally different group of people – keeping track of all the relationships definitely keeps me on my toes! I have three new books coming out this year, so I’m really looking forward to sharing some new stories with my wonderful readers.
I always find it ironic (and amusing) when critics sneer that romance writing is formulaic, emotionally shallow, and focused on sex only. Thankfully, Jordan shows them how it’s done right: in every one of her 10+ series, she writes with gut-wrenching emotional depth and her characters are complex, imperfect human beings. Zander introduces us to a group of eight men raised together in a single foster home and who now consider each other brothers. Rough around the edges and on different life paths as adults, they’re all gallant heroes at heart. Zander is the gruffest, least-affable of the brothers, a man who seems unlikely to own up to a mistake or show emotion… but Jordan brings him to life in ways that are simultaneously beautiful and heartbreaking.
Zander. Serious to a fault, he had no time for anything other than focusing on running his bar, Grimm’s. Until he saw her… and pushed her away… right into danger.Racked with guilt over what happened, he could not stay away from her hospital room. Hoping Sleeping Beauty could hear him and know that he was near.What started as guilt, became so much more. But, when Rosalie awoke, would she remember the night he pushed her away? Or just remember the man who rescued her?A Heroes at Heart novel. These men, raised in the loving foster home by the benevolent Miss…
Wolves are magickal to me. Their spirituality, their raw wild power, so fierce and brave, and yet there’s a gentleness present. I find them inspiring. Reading the wolf classics like Call of the Wild and White Fang gave me a foundation. Recently, I toured a wolf conservation in New York State and fell in love with a white wolf there. She pranced like a princess and had the eyes of an angel. Afterward, I became passionate about wolves and their mystery. Reading and writing about wolves sparked me into exploring them at a deeper level. I have a wandering notion that I was a wolf in a past life.
Absolutely thought-provoking. Lots of shudders. Real chills. Famous fairy tales like Jack and the Beanstalk, Cinderella, and Goldilocks are wild, dark, and grim. I was haunted long after I closed the book. If it’s true that fairy tales are embedded in our subconscious minds, these stories pretty much ripped the darkness up so that I was cringing.
Some of it went a bit far into madness and disturbing, but the reach struck me as highly inventive. Macabre, yes indeedy. I actually don’t read this level of horror, but the experience of these extreme fairy tales was a new adventure. Blazing. This is a one-of-a-kind adult fairy tale book, for sure.
"..these stories kept me nose-deep into the book from beginning to end.”
Hold a mirror to a shadow and you will see the world of dark and twisted fairy tales, written for adults to re-imagine familiar characters in a sinister light. For generations these tales have magnetized a moral compass for children across the earth. The time has come to reset the poles.
Thrown into a world of adult madness, the fairy tales must mature to defend themselves from a relentless censorship. Restrictions to their expression…
I don’t read books with explicit scenes, and I don’t write them either. I’ve read hundreds of novels in this genre and written several of my own. I believe closed-door romances can be just as tension-filled and fun as those with spice. I love the closed-door romance community and have a passion for sharing books that make me laugh, cry, and swoon.
I absolutely loved the way that Emma wrote these characters. I related to Seraphina and fell for Rafe’s charm time and time again. They’re a couple that’s perfect for each other.
Some book couples you read and think they may not make it past the last page, but I could see these two together forever. The whole book made me swoon and laugh.
I grew up on fairy tales and folklore in the Appalachian Mountains. Stories of adventure and dusty fairy tale books in my grandmother’s attic were my entertainment. The library trips we took “into town” added to my reading. I discovered that the step from fairy tales to classics wasn’t as wide as folks argue. Years later, when I went off to college, I became an English major, then a graduate student, and then started teaching literature at college. From childhood to adulthood, magic and fiction were my life... which led to selling a book of my own. Over the last 17 years, I’ve been writing fantasy.
Long before Harry Potter came The Secret of Platform 13, and the idea of a railroad station where a magical doorway existed.
I grew up in a town built on the railroad. My grandfather worked as a mechanic at the railyard. My field trips were to train museum or train-related locations, so the idea of hidden portal there made perfect sense to my childhood heart.
Trains take us places, why not a magical world? It simply makes sense to me to find a magical world beyond a train station.
Under Platform 13 at King's Cross Station there is a secret door that leads to a magical island . . .
It appears only once every nine years. And when it opens, four mysterious figures step into the streets of London. A wizard, an ogre, a fey and a young hag have come to find the prince of their kingdom, stolen as a baby nine years before.
But the prince has become a horrible rich boy called Raymond Trottle, who doesn't understand magic and is determined not to be rescued.
Shortlisted for the Smarties Prize, The Secret of Platform 13…
