Autumn Book Roundup

Autumn has arrived in the Northern Hemisphere, and with it comes The Fairy Tale Magazine’s list of spooky tales and forest reads to keep you warm as the temperatures begin to fall. Rake up our recommendations while you can!

It’s always fun to begin spooky season with a classic tale, and Washington Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow definitely fits the bill! Ichabod Crane, the new school teacher in Tarry Town, is haunted by the legend of a headless horseman, and readers will be haunted by Irving’s rich detail and luscious prose.

The Haunting of Hill House is another classic story best read when the nights darken early. Written by Shirley Jackson, this novel, which features an odd collection of people who gather together to collect ghostly phenomena, is the ultimate haunted house tale. It even inspired a Netflix show filled with well-placed jump scares to get your heart beating!

The Curse of Penryth Hall by Jess Armstrong is set at a haunted estate in the Cornish countryside. This is the first installment in the adventures of bookseller Ruby Vaughn and folk healer Ruan Kivell, and it will delight fans of folklore and murder mystery. You can read my review here. The sequel, The Secret of the Three Fates is fabulous too!

Ghosts can haunt more than houses in The Ghosts of Beatrice Bird  by Lousia Morgan; they can also haunt people. This book presents ghosts as manifestations of the past and looks at how trauma can influence a person’s life. You can read my review here.

In The Warm Hands of Ghosts, Katherine Arden takes readers back to World War I. The legend of a fiddler who haunts soldiers in a strange hotel speaks to the juxtaposition of beauty and horror, life and death. You can read my review here.

Juliet Marillier’s Heart’s Blood is a Gothic retelling of Beauty and the Beast with spooky autumn vibes. Whistling Tor is a place full of secrets, and Marillier captures the complex emotions of her characters in this stunning novel.

If spooky Fairy Tales and Folklore are your vibe, check out Leanbh Pearson’s collection Three Curses and Other Dark Tales. Stories of vengeful goddesses, shadowy travelers, and uncanny folk will keep you up at night, and while you lay awake, you can read another volume of frightening tales edited by Pearson, Cursed Shards: Tales of Dark Folklore. Just be careful what you wish for!

The autumn woods are on display in Kathryn Purdie’s fairy tale novel The Forest Grimm. After 66 people disappear in the forest, a hero is chosen to search for them each year. Filled with red capes, rampion, wolves, stone towers, castles, and spinning wheels, this is a novel for fairy tale fans! You can read my review here.

Into the Woods, by Loraine Murphy, is another forest themed novel for fairy tale fans. This book has a true crime feel, and though it is set in contemporary times, it is full of fairy tale references. You can read my review here.

Walking the Celtic Wheel, by Julie Armstrong is a book that will help readers celebrate autumn and all the seasons of the year. This bewitching memoir explores the equinoxes, solstices, and fire festivals that connect us to the spirit of nature, helping readers revel in whatever gifts the seasons have to offer.

Although After the Forest by Kell Woods doesn’t take place in the autumn, the rich gingerbread baked by the protagonist, Greta, gives the book an autumnal feel. If you have ever wondered what happened after Hansel and Gretel defeat the witch in the woods and grow up, then After the Forest is for you!

And, if you are interested in the “after” of traditional fairy tales, then add Lissa Sloan’s novel, Glass and Feathers to your reading list today! This book looks at Cinderella’s life after she marries the prince and learns her glass slipper no longer fits. Cinderella is the most autumnal of tales, and Sloan’s Cinderella character spends plenty of time in the forest. Happy reading!

Kelly Jarvis is the Contributing Writer for The Fairy Tale Magazine. Her work has also been featured in A Moon of One’s Own, Baseball Bard, Blue Heron Review, Corvid Queen, Eternal Haunted Summer, Forget Me Not Press, Mermaids Monthly, The Chamber Magazine, The Magic of Us, and the World Weaver Press Anthology Mothers of Enchantment: New Tales of Fairy Godmothers. Her first novella, Selkie Moon, comes out in 2025. You can connect with her on Facebook (Kelly Jarvis, Author) or Instagram (@kellyjarviswriter) or find her at https://kellyjarviswriter.com/

Cover Image by Pixabay