The Modern Fairies: A Novel BY Clare Pollard

Lauren Groff’s Matrix meets Ophelia Field’s The Favourite in this wry, sexy, and sharp historical novel inspired by true events. Set against the backdrop of Louis XIV’s Versailles, it features an elite group of Parisian intellectuals whose fairy tales will change the course of literature—and put their lives and secrets in grave danger.

Why don’t they tell you it is the beautiful princess who becomes the evil queen; that they are just the same person at different points in their story?

In a Parisian home far from the intrigues of courtly life, Marie D’Aulnoy has created a haven for intellectuals, especially women, to gather and share their contes de fées, or fairy tales. Recently ousted from court and mourning the death of his beloved wife, Charles Perrault finds solace and inspiration at Marie’s salon. The hostess is as impressive as she is enigmatic, harboring secrets of her own—a brutal past marked by marriage to a cruel baron, imprisonment, and scandal. Despite vicious gossip and a mysterious return to polite society, Marie has managed to establish her salon in the heart of Paris.

As a devastating winter descends, rumors of poisonings and arrests at Versailles create an atmosphere of paranoia. The King’s insecurities grow, and within the salon, a hidden danger lurks. Among the storytellers is a wolf in disguise, a traitor who watches and waits to report on their secretive activities, threatening to dismantle their world one by one.

Brilliant and bawdy, witty and wise, Modern Fairies is a dazzling novel of stories within stories, where familiar fairy tales are spun with fresh, provocative meanings. Perfect for fans of Jenny Offill, Deborah Levy, and Angela Carter.