As the glitz and glitter of the holidays draws near, those wanting to snuggle up by the fire with a good book may find just what they’re looking for in folk tales. Set in rural surroundings and forgotten moments, these five fairy tale and folklore retellings remind us that there’s magic to be found all around—if we’re brave enough to look.
THE CHRISTMAS SPIRIT by Alexandrea Weis
When a broken-hearted writer ditches her family for the holidays and escapes to an isolated cabin in the Smoky Mountains, she finds an ancient witch, a Yule cat, and a handsome lodge owner—but being with the brooding stranger may cost her more than she ever imagined in what Library Journal calls, “Ghostly occurrences and ancient folklore make this feel like a modern, romantic twist on A Christmas Carol.”
INTO THE FOREST: TALES OF THE BABA YAGA by Lindy Ryan
Journey into the forest with this Bram Stoker Awards® nominated anthology of short stories from women in horror inspired by the vilest of folkloric women—the Baba Yaga—which Booklist called “Perfect for horror fans who can’t get enough of folklore and fairy-tale retellings that veer in unexpected directions” in a starred review.
THE SALT GROWS HEAVY by Cassandra Khaw
Fans of fairytale revisions will find something to sink their teeth into in Khaw’s retelling of all the things mermaid fables get wrong in this biting novella where a captured mermaid is joined by a mysterious plague doctor in a snow-crusted forest where they must embrace the cruelest parts of their own true nature—a Library Journal Best Horror Book of 2023.
HORSEMAN: A TALE OF SLEEPY HOLLY by Christina Henry
The modern queen of fairy tale and folklore retellings brings Washington Irving’s classic “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” into the modern era in this horrific new tale that reenacted events once survived by Brom Bones, where a child’s headless body is discovered in the woods and the village of Sleepy Hollow faces a terrifying question: could the Horseman in fact be real after all—or does something even more sinister stalk the woods?
THORNHEDGE by T. Kingfisher
From a Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author, a princess trapped in a tower is anything but a damsel in distress in this 2023 Amazon Editors’ pick about changelings, knights, and the cursed things that live on the edge of faerieland.
