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One of the best books I‘ve read this year, The Modern Fairies veers between the court intrigues and excesses of Louis XIV‘s Versailles and the Parisian literary salon of Madame Marie d‘Aulnoy, where a primarily female group of intellectuals gather to remake and retell the Mother Goose stories told to them by their nursemaids as children. These are the darker, bawdier, cleverer stories that were later cleaned up by the Brothers Grimm. Captivating.

Thoroughly enjoyed this novel set in the literary salons of 17th century France that fostered fairy tales as we have come to know them. Charles Perrault features as one of the main characters. It's a fun mix of actual fairy tales, profiles of the various tellers of these tales, and the intrigue and politics of Louis XIV's court. When is a story ever just a story?

Intricate and dazzling, this sharply crafted novella offers a multi-faceted presentation of the world and writings of Charles Perrault, Madame D‘Aulnoy, and their circle of influential and unfortunate fairy tale writers. It‘s no coincidence they coined the term fairy tale during the court of King Louis XIV, a period of history when enchanted palaces, beastly husbands, imperiled princesses, and bloody plots weren‘t confined to “once upon a time…”

Fairytales, political and sexual intrigues, and all of the ignoble realities of life in the court of the Sun King. I enjoyed this but not as much as I enjoyed Pollard's previous novel, Delphi. Being in the salons surrounding the court at Versailles was fun, but there's not much I feel like I am taking away from this novel.

An engaging read, reimaginging the literary salons of pre-revolutionary France. Pollard prefectly captures the tension and stresses of the time, as there is a spy amongst their midst. This results in arrests and the cessation of these gatherings where fairytales are told by Charles Perrault & Madame D'Aulnoy.

#NetGalleyGroup Released 13/6/24

https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/459466/the-modern-fairies-by-pollard-clare/97802...

One of the things I really love about Camp Litsy is all the great new books I hadn‘t yet seen. Here are my nominees. Say Hello looks bizarre and interesting and I haven‘t seen it nominated yet. Avalon is written by the author of one of my favorite books a couple of years ago. Lastly, the tagged is published in July, so it doesn‘t make the cut, but looks really fun so I thought it deserved a shout out. #CampLitsy24