France, with its diverse regional cultures, glorious castles, gorgeous countryside and tumultuous history, lives and breathes fairy tale in a uniquely powerful way.įrench Fairy Tales collects and retells five stories from stories from different parts of France: some well-known, others newly translated into English. Not just because it’s where many of the most well-known and beloved fairy tales were first written down in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, or because it’s where the term ‘conte de fées’ was invented. In future posts, I’ll reveal the identity of the five stories I chose to translate and retell, tell you something about their sources and inspiration, and join with Lorena in writing about a very special magical place in France, which not only inspired the setting of my retelling of a great classic fairy tale, but also became the primary source for Lorena’s creation of the extraordinary visual world of the book.įrance is classic fairytale territory. So, for this very first post about French Fairy Tales, and to set the scene as it were, here, below, is the back cover blurb for the book.

With magical, extraordinary illustrations by Lorena Carrington, the book will be published by Serenity Press in late October, and I am so looking forward to its release! (You can also pre-order it right now from the Serenity Press bookstore). Over the next month or so, I’ll be posting bits and pieces about my forthcoming collection, French Fairy Tales.

My Brother Will by Sophie Masson