Book Review – Once Upon a Winter: A Folk and Fairy Tale Anthology
Synopsis
A shape-shifting spirit haunts a family in England during the depths of winter.
A woman must locate a snowflake for a magical trickster to save her frozen true love.
A witch knocks upon a young man’s door to take his life on Christmas day.
A small boy meets a faerie housed within a snowdrop.
Once upon a time stories travelled from place to place on the tongues of merchants and thieves and kings alike. Under the blanket of night, they were exchanged between children, and passed on to their children, and their children after them. Details were altered from one generation to the next until thousands of tales existed where once there were few.
In the spirit of these age-old stories comes Once Upon a Winter, a seasonal anthology of folk and fairy tales from 17 authors across the globe. It covers the Gothic, the romantic, the whimsical, the frightening and everything in-between, and features both intriguing twists on classic tales and exciting original stories.
The first of four planned seasonal anthologies from Macfarlane Lantern Publishing, Once Upon a Winter is sure to have a story for just about everyone. Grab your copy in time for Christmas today!
Inside this anthology:
The Biting Cold by Josie Jaffrey
The Match Girl by Rebecca F. Kenney
Santa Claus is Coming to Town by Bharat Krishnan
A Pea Ever After by Adie Hart
The Snowdrop by H. L. Macfarlane
Silverfoot’s Edge by Ella Holmes
The Storm Hags by Caroline Logan
The Boggart of Boggart Hole Clough by Jake Curran-Pipe
Around the Hawthorne Tree by Jenna Smithwick
The Best Girl this Side of Winter by Laila Amado
The Snow Trolls by S. Markem
Lord of the Forest by Katherine Shaw
Queen of the Snows by Joyce Reynolds-Ward
Long Meg and the Sorcerer’s Stones by M. J. Weatherall
The Frost of Mercy by A. J. Van Belle
Wintercast by R. A. Gerritse
You Can’t See Me by Kate Longstone
My rating:
Review
I received this book in exchange for an honest review.
I am often wary of anthologies, as the stories can cover such a wide range and don’t always fit my tastes. Well with this one, I needn’t have worried. I liked most of the stories, and loved more than a few! I definitely think wintery fairytales is the way forward for me 😀 There’s such a great spread of ideas in this, but all still managing to come together really nicely.
It starts really strong, with The Biting Cold by Josie Jaffrey – a stunning eco story, and evolves through traditional fairy tales, folk warnings and even a little comedy. My favourites were The Biting Cold, A Pea Ever After by Adie Hart, The Snow Drop by H. L. Macfarlane and Lord of the Forest by Katherine Shaw. All for different reasons – Josie’s eco story really made me think about the environment, Adie’s feminist retelling of the Princess and the Pea was brilliantly lighthearted and wonderfully inclusive, The Snow Drop was romantic and sweet, and Lord of the Forest was a nice twist on a beast terrorising a town.
I thoroughly enjoyed this, and encourage you to read and let me know which your favourites were! 4 stars.
I’m on the blog tour for this book, and would love it if you could lookout for the other posts in the tour!
Buy Once Upon a Winter: A Folk and Fairy Tale Anthology from Waterstones or Blackwells.
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