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Twisted Fairy Tales: 20 Classic Stories With a Dark and Dangerous Heart
Twisted Fairy Tales is a brand-new collection of very old tales--but tales with gothic twists of plot guaranteed to astound and terrify even the most fearless readers. These re-told stories
* Snow White * Rapunzel * Little Red Hood * The Cinder Wench * Beauty and the Beast * Pinocchio * The Goose Girl * The Pied Piper of Hamelin * and twelve more
Well-known tales get gruesome revisions--in many cases bringing them closer to the dark, sinister ways they were told eons ago. Several tales in this book are based on chilling versions collected by the brothers Grimm in the nineteenth century. For example, this new collection presents a Cinderella who, like the heroine in the brothers Grimm story, is known as the Cinder Wench. In this version, readers will discover a young lady tormented by a stepmother who is far more wicked and frightening than the villain we find in most of today's watered-down renditions. All who relish the macabre atmosphere that dominates the Cinder Wench's tale will want to acquaint themselves with all stories in this scary collection. They'll find--
* Snow White * Rapunzel * Little Red Hood * The Cinder Wench * Beauty and the Beast * Pinocchio * The Goose Girl * The Pied Piper of Hamelin * and twelve more
Well-known tales get gruesome revisions--in many cases bringing them closer to the dark, sinister ways they were told eons ago. Several tales in this book are based on chilling versions collected by the brothers Grimm in the nineteenth century. For example, this new collection presents a Cinderella who, like the heroine in the brothers Grimm story, is known as the Cinder Wench. In this version, readers will discover a young lady tormented by a stepmother who is far more wicked and frightening than the villain we find in most of today's watered-down renditions. All who relish the macabre atmosphere that dominates the Cinder Wench's tale will want to acquaint themselves with all stories in this scary collection. They'll find--
144 pages, Hardcover
First published February 1, 2013
28 people are currently reading
2110 people want to read
About the author
Maura McHugh
73 books72 followersMaura McHugh is a writer living in Galway, Ireland.
She has a MA in Irish Gothic, and a MA in Screenwriting. Her short fiction, poetry, and essays have appeared in publications in America and Europe. She's published two collections - Twisted Fairy Tales and Twisted Myths - in the USA, and her new collection The Boughs Withered When I Told Them My Dreams was published by NewCon Press in 2019.
She's written several comic book series for companies like Dark Horse and IDW, and most recently Judge Anderson for 2000 AD, and is also a screenwriter, playwright, a critic, and has served on the juries of international literary, comic book, and film awards. She's written a monograph on David Lynch's iconic film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, published by Electric Dreamhouse Press/PS Publishing, which was nominated for a 2018 British Fantasy Award for Best Non Fiction.
Her short story 'Bone Mother' was adapted into a short stop-motion animated film by Sylvie Trouvé and Dale Hayward of the See Creature animation company, produced by the National Film Board of Canada’s Animation Studio, and premiered at Festival Stop Motion in Montreal in September 2018.
Maura's sf rom-com radio play The Love of Small Appliances was broadcast on NearFM in Ireland in June 2019.
She has a MA in Irish Gothic, and a MA in Screenwriting. Her short fiction, poetry, and essays have appeared in publications in America and Europe. She's published two collections - Twisted Fairy Tales and Twisted Myths - in the USA, and her new collection The Boughs Withered When I Told Them My Dreams was published by NewCon Press in 2019.
She's written several comic book series for companies like Dark Horse and IDW, and most recently Judge Anderson for 2000 AD, and is also a screenwriter, playwright, a critic, and has served on the juries of international literary, comic book, and film awards. She's written a monograph on David Lynch's iconic film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, published by Electric Dreamhouse Press/PS Publishing, which was nominated for a 2018 British Fantasy Award for Best Non Fiction.
Her short story 'Bone Mother' was adapted into a short stop-motion animated film by Sylvie Trouvé and Dale Hayward of the See Creature animation company, produced by the National Film Board of Canada’s Animation Studio, and premiered at Festival Stop Motion in Montreal in September 2018.
Maura's sf rom-com radio play The Love of Small Appliances was broadcast on NearFM in Ireland in June 2019.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 81 reviews
August 6, 2019
This is an excellent collection of adapted fairy-tales from various cultures (albeit heavy on the Grimms). The illustrations are also fantastic without being overdone. I particularly loved the author’s decision to name every character which is very uncommon in folktale collections. Highly recommended!
October 5, 2016
I really enjoyed the way it took Classic Fairy tales and turned them into something Dark. Although I thought it was going to be darker & more twisted than it was. I think the Tales were dark but that's the way they originally were, I think this book is more for the people who had never read the Original Fairy tales. Although Each Fairy tale is Well-written & the Illustrations were Beautifully Done, I was not really a fan of this book. Some of the Stories were Great, but most were Forgettable. I Think this book will appeal to many people who like Fairy Tales & Fairy Tale Retellings.
Features Popular Tales as Well as lesser known Gems Such as Snow White, The bone whistle, Rapunzel, The Gold Spinner, May & the Elf Knight, The Goose Girl, Godmother Death, The Seven Ravens, The Pied Piper of Hamelin, The Master & his Apprentice, The Red Shoes, Vasilia's Fire, Molly Whupple, Little Red Hood, The Cinder Wench, Beauty & the Beast, Pinocchio, Sleeping Beauty, The Island of Skeletons & The Tiger Chest.
Features Popular Tales as Well as lesser known Gems Such as Snow White, The bone whistle, Rapunzel, The Gold Spinner, May & the Elf Knight, The Goose Girl, Godmother Death, The Seven Ravens, The Pied Piper of Hamelin, The Master & his Apprentice, The Red Shoes, Vasilia's Fire, Molly Whupple, Little Red Hood, The Cinder Wench, Beauty & the Beast, Pinocchio, Sleeping Beauty, The Island of Skeletons & The Tiger Chest.
April 18, 2013
I’m a fairy tale addict, so this beautiful book is just the thing for me. If you also devour things like Angela Carter’s The Bloody Chamber, you’ll love it too. I know it’s meant to be a YA book, but there’s such deft hands at work here that the only thing that makes it feel like a book for young readers is that the tales are short. Despite their brevity McHugh manages to invoke entire worlds that live vividly. It’s a challenge to keep finding ways to reignite the magic of fairy tales, but so many of the tales offered up surprises that nonetheless felt just right — as if we’d had the story wrong before.
The tales remain dark: there’s cruelty, mayhem and some genuine scares. I *loved* that as a kid, always seeking out macabre tales. And what great heroines, too! Boys and girls both will love Molly Whupple, Pinocchio and brave Vasilisa who ventures to Baba Yaga’s house. These stories give spark to the true magic of fairy tales: showing us how we can face evil and survive.
This gorgeous book will be a treasure to any reader. Not only are there the gloriously dark illustrations by Laurie, who captures the feel of the stories succinctly — and wow! do the images linger — but the whole book is a beautiful macabre package. I know there are young readers now who will treasure the memory of first reading this book. It’s one of those books. Wonderful.
Buy it for someone you love (or get it for yourself).
The tales remain dark: there’s cruelty, mayhem and some genuine scares. I *loved* that as a kid, always seeking out macabre tales. And what great heroines, too! Boys and girls both will love Molly Whupple, Pinocchio and brave Vasilisa who ventures to Baba Yaga’s house. These stories give spark to the true magic of fairy tales: showing us how we can face evil and survive.
This gorgeous book will be a treasure to any reader. Not only are there the gloriously dark illustrations by Laurie, who captures the feel of the stories succinctly — and wow! do the images linger — but the whole book is a beautiful macabre package. I know there are young readers now who will treasure the memory of first reading this book. It’s one of those books. Wonderful.
Buy it for someone you love (or get it for yourself).
July 18, 2013
I liked this book, but it didn't really deliver what it promised. The back of the book said these were reimaged twisted fairy tales to give a dark and gothic ending. Well yes, the tales where dark but that's just the way they originally were. I think this book was really for people that had never read the original Brothers Grimm etc. because if you have they really aren’t all that many differences.
I know this all sounds bad but the book is really beautifully illustrated and it is nice to read the story’s written in a more up to date way.
This is a really nice book for people that don't know the original tales or people that just love rereading them like me.
I know this all sounds bad but the book is really beautifully illustrated and it is nice to read the story’s written in a more up to date way.
This is a really nice book for people that don't know the original tales or people that just love rereading them like me.
May 21, 2013
I love fairy tale retellings and I love art. This is the perfect combination. Each fairy tale is dark and well written. The language is extremely beautiful. I'd love to read more of this author's work.
April 16, 2013
This book was really, really amazing. I love fairy tales with a twisted! I love it, it's full of classic fairy tales with a amazing twist. It's not the regular fairy tales you heard growing up!
March 22, 2020
Wow, excellent read and spin on some familiar and not so familiar fairy tales. Some of my favs were Snow White, The Bone Whistle, Rapunzel, Little Red Hood, Pinocchio, Sleeping Beauty, and Beauty and the Beast.
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June 9, 2016Twisted Fairy Tales provides extremely engaging retellings of many classic fairy tales. I really enjoyed the way that it took many classic fairy tales and turned them into something a little more dark and creepy. This is a great book for teens who read many classic fairy tales as a child. It has many similarities to the originals but with an added creepy twist that will keep them interested with each turn of the page. The pictures in this book really add to the overall aesthetics of the text bringing the stories to life. One of the great things about classic fairy tales is that they are almost always accompanied by wonderful pictures. Although this book is meant for teens rather than children that theme still continues which really adds to the experience of reading a fairy tale whether it be classic or a twisted retelling.
January 10, 2016
Vor einem Jahr habe ich schon die Twisted Myths gelesen. Jetzt habe ich auch das Märchenbuch aus der Reihe verschlungen und es war toll *__* Die Zeichnungen und die Gestaltung sind einfach zum Niederknien. Ich hatte erst Angst, dass mir die Märchen aufgrund ihrer Bekanntheit zu langweilig sein könnten, aber die Autorin hat es geschafft sie ein wenig aufzupeppen ohne Grundlegendes zu verändern. Sie sind persönlicher erzählt als die klassischen Märchen und legen viel wert auf starke Frauenrollen. Außerdem gab es eine vielfältige Mischung. Das einzige, was ich mir dringend gewünscht habe, war ein Index, der noch ein bisschen was zur Herkunft der einzelnen Märchen erklärt.
May 15, 2013
Twisted Fairy Tales by Maura McHugh is the newest recreation of favorite childhood stories. This time around they are dusted with a dash of horror. From Cinder Wench (Cinderella) to Pinocchio, these tales will leave you slightly disturbed. If not, the illustrations by Jane Laurie will do the trick.
I went into Twisted Fairy Tales not expecting much and am glad I gave it a shot. The descriptions of horror went far beyond my expectation and the images provided gave such a creep factor, that I read Twisted Fairy Tales in a good 30 minutes. It was horrifically delightful.
I went into Twisted Fairy Tales not expecting much and am glad I gave it a shot. The descriptions of horror went far beyond my expectation and the images provided gave such a creep factor, that I read Twisted Fairy Tales in a good 30 minutes. It was horrifically delightful.
April 21, 2013
I've always been a big fan of fairy tales so I was excited to find this illustrated volume at my local library. This book written by Maura McHugh and illustrated by Jane Laurie has grisly versions of some of the classic fairy tales such as Snow White and Rapunzel as well as some less familiar tales. I enjoyed this book, it was well written and the illustrations were stunning and helped to enhance the stories. Fabulous read, highly recommended for fairy tale or fantasy lovers!
October 25, 2014
Has the same format and art as "Twisted Myths" - perfect for Halloween, especially if you're like me and enjoy things that are slightly spooky for the holiday, but you're not a fan of intense horror and gore. Plus, it didn't feel like these stories needed much tweaking from the originals to be very creepy (though I did appreciate the twists made in the retelling of "Snow White" - have it be from the evil queen's point of view throughout the entire story). Another one to highly recommend!
July 12, 2015
Jeg er så glad for at have læst denne bog. Jeg kender de fleste af eventyrene, men det gør ikke spor for de er godt fortalt og smukt illustreret. Denne bog er så gennemført lækker at den meget gerne måtte have været længere for min skyld.
July 3, 2017
Just plain stupid and not worth finishing. Had to force myself to read this. I was expecting something somewhat original and this is just a basic retelling of classic tales in a short format. Definitely a pass
April 22, 2013
Pretty good! I really liked the Snow White and Beauty and the Beast retelling.
April 24, 2013
The artwork is so beautiful and the stories are amazing.
May 10, 2013
4 stars
June 30, 2016
*3.5 stars
May 18, 2018
Twisted fairy tales are honestly great! Especially if you like the goorey and creepy sides of things. This book has multiple twisted fairy tales like sleeping beauty, snow white, rapunzel and so many more.The story i will be summarizing is snow white.In the story snow white her mother tries to have children,but she has a miscarriage each time until she uses her magic.She then has Snow White in the first week of december.She later on tries to murder her daughter because she is the fairest.She succeeds to kill her but a random dude finds the corps in the middle of nowhere, saves her and then marries her.
I thought this was an amazing book in my opinion and it’s really getting to me and i’d love to read more books like this.I would recommend this book to anyone above the age 12.This book has really taken the disney version or the child version of the story and changed it to where it's not scary but is twisted to the point where no children should read it.The book is very descriptive to the point that you want to finish your last sentence even if you have no time adn while your reading it you can picture everything that is happening in the story.In conclusion this is a great book for anyone and i really enjoyed each of the tales that i read. My favorite so far was sleeping beauty.
I think the author Maura McHugh and Jane Laurie made a great book with all the illustrations and the ways Maura had wrote the book. I would really enjoy a second version of this book or if she had wrote a book about Nursery Rhymes but some kind of twisted version that wasn’t as positive or happy as we know them to be.
In all her book is amazing and i would love to read much more of her writing!
I thought this was an amazing book in my opinion and it’s really getting to me and i’d love to read more books like this.I would recommend this book to anyone above the age 12.This book has really taken the disney version or the child version of the story and changed it to where it's not scary but is twisted to the point where no children should read it.The book is very descriptive to the point that you want to finish your last sentence even if you have no time adn while your reading it you can picture everything that is happening in the story.In conclusion this is a great book for anyone and i really enjoyed each of the tales that i read. My favorite so far was sleeping beauty.
I think the author Maura McHugh and Jane Laurie made a great book with all the illustrations and the ways Maura had wrote the book. I would really enjoy a second version of this book or if she had wrote a book about Nursery Rhymes but some kind of twisted version that wasn’t as positive or happy as we know them to be.
In all her book is amazing and i would love to read much more of her writing!
May 1, 2019
What the book is about: Classic fairy tales receive dark twists in this novel. These mysterious and dark legends will spark fear in all those who choose to read it. With wicked illustrations, these versions of the fairy tales make one fearful and uncomfortable. Even the seemingly innocent tale of Pinocchio is given a gruesome twist. So give the book a try, but I don't recommend reading it at night.
What I thought of the book: The book was an interesting read. Seeing your favorite childhood stories being twisted in a such a dark way is frightening. It was a very intriguing read and it was very frightening to read right before bed. The author has a great ability of setting the horror tone that still had a pinch of fairy tale.
Why I rated the book like I did: The read gave me much excitement; however, a couple of stories did not seem so different from the original story. I enjoyed the fear associated with this book, but there was one story in particular that I felt was for the most part the same to the traditional story and it was that of Beauty and the Beast.
What I thought of the book: The book was an interesting read. Seeing your favorite childhood stories being twisted in a such a dark way is frightening. It was a very intriguing read and it was very frightening to read right before bed. The author has a great ability of setting the horror tone that still had a pinch of fairy tale.
Why I rated the book like I did: The read gave me much excitement; however, a couple of stories did not seem so different from the original story. I enjoyed the fear associated with this book, but there was one story in particular that I felt was for the most part the same to the traditional story and it was that of Beauty and the Beast.
May 1, 2019
Twisted Fairy Tales by Maura McHugh includes the original tales we have all heard and turns them into something a bit more dark with some illustrations. After reading all of the stories, some appear to be very much the same. Some of the details could fit right into the original tale, which I wish was not the case. I was hoping that each story would be much different and tell a side of the story we have not heard yet. For example, The Cinder Wench was still about a young girl who is tormented by her evil stepmother. Also, every story in this book has turned dark. Why do they all have to turn dark? I wanted to see some lighter versions to some of the stories that were already dark. All of the characters in Cinder Wench have the same thoughts and the same dialogues. Also, most of the description could fit right in the original. Overall, this book, as a whole, did not fit my expectations at all. I do recommend this book to readers who like fairy tales and seeing the different side of those original stories.
March 27, 2020
This was a nice book on various fairytales that we know and love, but with a horror twist. I did enjoy the tales, but I agree with other reviewers. Some of these I feel were too close to the original Grimm's stories. They did have their own twist, but I wish there was more of difference within the pages. My favorite tale was probably the Rapunzel twist. I wish the Beauty and the Beast tale had ended better. I didn't expect a happy ending and was waiting for the horrible twist, but it was the same tale which fell flat for me. I did really enjoy the illustrations within the pages though. I thought they were creative and gruesome which was fitting for the theme. I have to admit I did have high expectations because I fell in love with the cover. It was a good book, but I wanted more than what it gave. But if you are a fan of fairytales like me, give it a whirl!
January 2, 2020
The book Twisted Fairy Tales by Maura McHugh is a collection of old fairy tales that has short warped stories that have well-known fairy tales like Snow White, Little Red Riding Hood, and Beauty and the Beast. I would recommend this book if you’re into fairy tales and fiction themed books like I am. I thought it was a fantastic book and would rate this a 4 out of 5 stars, One thing I would change to make this a 5 out of 5 stars is if they made it more gory and warped. I think this book would be great for middle schoolers it has many short stories in the book and it isn’t too scary plus the whole book is pretty short so if you don’t like reading long books, Twisted Fairy Tales is a good short book to read.
October 14, 2018
3.5/5
These are definitely twisted fairy tales compared to the Disney versions. However, if you've read the Grimm versions they're quite similar. Some Grimm ones are far darker and disturbing such as Sleeping Beauty. The illustrations are gorgeous and they really add to the tales. I would recommend this for people who haven't read the Grimm's Fairy Tales.
These are definitely twisted fairy tales compared to the Disney versions. However, if you've read the Grimm versions they're quite similar. Some Grimm ones are far darker and disturbing such as Sleeping Beauty. The illustrations are gorgeous and they really add to the tales. I would recommend this for people who haven't read the Grimm's Fairy Tales.
December 17, 2017
I'm not sure how much new stuff went into these stories. Since the Disney versions aren't as gory as the real stories, this collection might just be the original stories with some light modernization. The artwork is incredibly gorgeous, though.
October 12, 2018
I didn't read all of the tales, but the ones I did read I really liked
January 12, 2020
Loved this book. Being a lover of alternative fairytales, this book has a collection of stories which are perfect.
January 25, 2020
Nice mix of well known and obscure fairy tales. They were a little too short though, some less than 5 pages.
June 18, 2020
It's definitely twisted but I wasn't amazed.
Meh...
The illustrations were lovely so that's the only reason I don't regret buying this one. The way it was written was so tedious to read.
Meh...
The illustrations were lovely so that's the only reason I don't regret buying this one. The way it was written was so tedious to read.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 81 reviews