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?
At a safe distance from the intrigues of courtly life at Louis XIV's Versailles, an intellectual crowd of mostly women have been gathering in a Parisian home to share what hostess Marie D'Aulnoy herself has christened contes de fées: fairy tales. Recently ousted from court and still raw from the death of his beloved wife, Charles Perrault finds companionship and creative camaraderie at the salon, where he eagerly joins the storytellers. Their hostess is impressive, fiercely intelligent, but somehow unreadable. She is harbouring secrets of her own: sold off as a child in marriage to a brutal baron, imprisonment, scandal. Despite the vicious Versailles gossip, Marie has mysteriously been allowed to return to polite society and establish her salon in the heart of Paris.
A devastating winter soon sweeps in, bringing with it all kinds of rumours and fears. A spate of poisonings at Versailles has led to several arrests, and no matter how high born the suspect, it seems no one is safe. Paranoia stokes the King's insecurities, and there is a wolf among the salon's members-someone more dangerous than any force they could conjure in their own tales, watching and waiting, reporting on the secret goings-on, and threatening to destroy them one by one.
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'There was once an omnipotent king'. (1, THE TALE OF THE DONKEY-SKIN, PART ONE)
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(@simonschuster, 23 July 2024, e-galley, 272 pages, ARC from the publisher via @NetGalley_UK)
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I'm a huge fan of the author and couldn't wait to read The Modern Fairies. I really loved this book. I enjoyed the structure of the book, how the fairytales were interwoven with events in Paris creating a rich, complex narrative. I also loved the fact that one of the main characters is Charles Perrault. I studied his fairytales for my OU degree and love them so this delighted me. I also loved the fact the book is set in Paris, a city I adore. I went on holiday to Paris for a week many years ago and fell in love with the dazzling city of lights. So this ticked another box for me. I was engrossed from start to finish and didn't want to stop reading this book. I loved the characters, the secrets, the lies, the Parisian lifestyle and of course, the fairytales. I'd recommend this book.
