The Modern Fairies

by Clare Pollard

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?

Versailles, 1682: a city of the rich, a living fairy-tale, Louis XIV's fever dream. It's a place of opulence, beauty, and power. But strip back the lavish exterior of polite society, and you'll find a dark undercurrent of sexual intrigue and vicious gossip. Nobody is safe here - no matter how highly born they are.

No one knows this better than Madame Marie d'Aulnoy. Each week, a rogue group of intellectuals gather at her Parisian home to debate, flirt and perform Contes de Fées - fairy tales - that challenge the status quo, at a salon that will change the course of literature forever. But while they weave tales of glass slippers, enchanted beasts and long-haired princesses, a wolf is lurking, who threatens to destroy the members of the salon one by one.

Brilliant and bawdy, romantic and provocative, The Modern Fairies is a dazzling novel inspired by real events, about the delights and dangers of storytelling in dark times.

'Elegant and decadent, vulgar and clever, enchanting and dark. The love child of Angela Carter and Anaïs Nin - the book I really really needed' SARAH PERRY, author of The Essex Serpent

'Pollard's future, as a novelist, is very bright indeed' THE I, praise for Delphi

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Fantasy, Historical, France, Literary Fiction, Fairy Tales

241 pages, Hardcover

First published July 23, 2024

Reviews

[Christy fictional_traits · Rating 4 out of 5]

'...Mother Goose tales, as they often call them: of ogres, enchantments, and talking creatures. Since she was a small girl she has adored such stories. They could make a game of it, taking it in turns to give them a modern spin'.

It's late 17th Century France, and Louis XIV has ruled for long enough to ensure that all of France revolves around his omnipotence as the Sun King. However, for some of Paris' literati, King Louis' absolutism is a point of critique, and criticising the King is.a sure way to end your life, 'Louis XIV, understanding that story telling is political has placed the literati under strict surveillance'. Undeterred, Madame d'Aulnoy gathers together a salon of mostly women to take turns to re-tell old Mother Goose stories. Perhaps unsurprisingly, those stories seem to somewhat mirror the lives of the King, court, and the salonniéres at Madame's residence, 'Ah, these Modern Fairies! In each age-old tale they borrow, there are hard-won truths...'.

The Modern Fairies is a unique story, inspired by the real adventures of the Modern Fairies in 17th Century France. They helped shape many of the well-known fairy tales we are familiar with today. Clare Pollard not only shares some of these re-tellings but also recreates the people and environment in which they are told, lifting the lid on their imagined lives and the potential debauchery they lived within. The vulgarity and circumstances, narrated about the salon attendees reaches satirical levels and underscores the almost fantastical world in which Louis XIV created and perpetuated. Dispersed throughout the book are the re-tellings of the fairy tales themselves, revealing glimpses of just how the stories we now know and love were shaped.

This is a very unique book, enhanced by the fact that it is inspired by real events. However, if you're easily offended by bawdy, vulgar, humour, this might not be for you.

'We come to escape into the human imagination, which spins gold from the straw base of reality!'.

[Olive Fellows (abookolive) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sumptuous. I can't believe a huge portion of this actually happened.

This was one of my favorite fiction books of 2024!
Click here to hear more of my thoughts over on my Booktube channel, abookolive.

[K.J. Charles]

Fascinating and revolting account of the salons at which what became our versions of the traditional fairy tales were elaborated. Full of the utter revoltingness - political, moral, personal, hygienic - of Versailles and the horror of the Sun king's grotesque regime. Hugely readable with a sapphic sort-of
love affair and just enough glimmers of human decency to keep you going. A cracking historical novel.

[Fiona · Rating 5 out of 5]

The origins of fairy stories are lost in the myths of our ancient grandmothers, maidservants and wise women. When they were first set down in writing, the authors took their own liberties with the stories and they evolved into the classics we know today. In the salons of Paris in Louis XIV’s reign, it was popular to share these tales, the storytellers putting their own spin on them, often with underlying political satire.

The Modern Fairies is as dark as any fairytale but it’s also very funny and very bawdy. The narrator shares her memories of these times with the reader in an intimate (often very intimate!) way. We learn about the debauchery of life at Versailles in deservedly unflattering terms. Men and women lived in fear of losing their positions, if not their heads. Women who fell out of favour with their husbands or the king would be exiled to chateaux that acted as prisons or locked up in convents. These were bloodthirsty times and revolution against them was just around the corner.

I thoroughly enjoyed this. The author takes liberties with timelines but not with the basic facts. It was interesting to learn how fairy tales evolved and about the lives of those responsible for the earliest written versions. Highly recommended as an interesting fun read.

With thanks to NetGalley and Penguin General UK for a review copy.

[Sofia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pollard has given us a fictionalised account of a group of fairy tellers, who started the literary, written fairy tale tradition. We are back at the time of the French Sun King, Louis the XIV, in a salon in Paris where Marie D'Aulnoy and her friends meet and recount their written fairy tale adaptations.

Like any other story, these adaptations are imprinted by the people telling the story. She successfully shows the interlinking between the fairytales themselves , the personal stories of the writers, and the effect of living under the reign of Louis XIV. Thus, the tales are shaped by the cultural and political times in which they were written down and may have also been used to send veiled messages as regards what was happening and morality.

Excellently done, another Pollard I enjoyed.

An ARC gently provided by author/publisher via Netgalley

contes de fées

[Eren · Rating 1 out of 5]

Just can not get into it. Too many names, too many people I can’t figure out why I should care about them or if I should and some of the stuff included to be spicy or saucy just did not land with me. Not for me.

[Sara the Librarian · Rating 5 out of 5]

You know that question that comes up from time to time? Where would you go if time travel were possible? I've absolutely wondered that on more than one occasion. What I haven't spent much time on is where I wouldn't go. After reading Clare Pollard's utter triumpth of a novel I can safely add at least one location. If it even remotely resembled the picture Ms. Pollard paints I would not set foot in Paris during the reign of Louis XIV for a bajillion dollars.

Pollard's Paris is a decadent nightmare city where face paint, powder, and carefully placed beauty marks barely conceal a turd choked cesspool. The city is populated by vainglorius nobles who orbit the Sun Kings throne, dancing attendance and avoiding his capricious moods (considering the dude bathed ONCE A YEAR I'd have avoided him too) and nearly overwhelmed by an ever increasing number of poverty stricken, furious lower classes who can barely scrape together a few francs while Louis dines on stuffed partridge and pipes champagne through the fountains of Versaille.

Literary salons are allll the rage in Louis's Paris and chief among them is that of Madame d'Aulnoy's where a select group meets to share fairy tales. It is a source of delicious scandal that most of the members are women and there are more than few sordid stories circulating in the city about their romantic entanglements, private perversions and political ideas. But when those stories find their way to Louis's chief of police, Madame d'Aulnoy realizes there is a traitor in their midst.

Pollard is a simply superb writer. She lulls you into a sweet, sweet haze of princesses and castles only to stick you with the poinard of a truly superior, utterly vulgar wit. Even as you tsk tsk at the oppulence and wastefulness of a world rapidly spirally toward revolution you fall in love with these women and feel desperately for the lives of oppression and abuse they suffer through. In a world where men were practically encouraged to beat their wives and a woman could be sent to prison or a convent for the high crime of being annoying is it any wonder they'd seek out comfort and empathy wherever they could find it?

This was a totally gorgeous, utterly appalling read. If, like me, you were not aware that it was possible for a book to be both those things I strongly encourage you to snap this decadent, disgusting little treat right up and devour it like the juicy, succulent pear it is.

Just eat around the maggoty, brown bits.

[Joy D · Rating 3 out of 5]

Set during the reign of King Louis XIV of France, a small group of artists and writers meet in a salon. They share and act out retellings of the “Donkey Skin” stories (aka fairy tales). It is a time of censorship and persecution, and the group suspects someone among them is a spy. These are mostly grim stories with disturbing content, such as sexual violence, many forms of death, and abuse. They read as more of a collection of short stories tied together by the group’s musings. Well-known tales are retold, and the reader will likely recognize many versions of classic tales that have been told and retold over the ages. These are not for children, though. I can appreciate the writing, and the creativity, but it is too dark for my taste.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

For anyone else who grew up with Charles Perrault’s fairy tales, this will be so much fun! Pollard crafts a quirky litfic story set in the 1600s but very modernized language - think Coppola’s Marie Antoinette movie.

This is based on real events involving Perrault and the women around him, and how they crafted his famous fairy tales around the reign of Louis XIV. It’s an interesting take, and a shorter novel that doesn’t overstay its welcome. Pollard is definitely a writer I’ll be reading from again!

[Tori · Rating 5 out of 5]

This very possibly will be my favorite book of 2024. Absolutely BRILLIANT.

[Judy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I liked the concept of pairing fairy tales with France in the 1600s but hated the raunchy sexual exploits.

[Samantha Krivensky · Rating 5 out of 5]

A perfect depiction of gilded 17th century France, interspersed with the crude and vulgar reality of the aristocracy. *chefs kiss*

[Janai Burgess · Rating 1 out of 5]

I got like 30% into this book and I can’t tell you what’s happening. There’s no way I’m finishing it 🙂‍↔️ sorry book clurb

[Jamie Walker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably the horniest book I have ever read, and I've read Penelope Douglas.

A sumptuous feast of a book, Full to the brim with debauchery, seduction and greed. The illicit content is tantalizing, the extremity of sexuality is shocking and seductive. At times, there seems no room to breath before you are bombarded with the next provocation.

That is the book's beauty, beneath the artifice and avarice lurks a wonderfully layered analysis of feminine agency. They use fairy tales to voice their grievances and depict their own fantasies, the gorier the better when a prince is concerned. The escape these stories allow is evident, though fraught for the outside begins to seep in and the threat of the Big Bad Wolf looms closer. The corruption of their safe space mirrors that of a fairy tale, a princess swoons and is betrayed, and her life unravels as she helplessly scrambles to find out what happened.

[Rachel Lilly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can't believe I actually won a GoodReads giveaway!

Such a clever concept filled with even more clever spins, riddles and 'morals'. I definitely enjoyed it, but the writing style isn't the most digestible. I know that that adds to the overall aesthetic and enhances the historical element. After all, there are very few things more pompous than Versailles, but it curbed my interest nonetheless. I found myself on a turtle race to finish.

[Pam · Rating 3 out of 5]

A reviewer describes this book as “elegant and decadent, vulgar and clever, enchanting and dark.“

Yes.

I would even add charming, although it dances lightly through heavy issues, showing them clearly but continuing the dance all the same. And while I braced myself for a sad conclusion, a ray of light broke through the gloom just in time to leave me happy.

Beautifully written, I probably would have rated it 4 stars if I had cared a whit about the Louis XIV era.

[Laura · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF - Overwritten, with a narrator voice that sounds like a dry history text book and characters that are flat.

eARC provided by publisher via NetGalley.

[Quill&Queer · Rating 2 out of 5]

For a book grounded in telling fairytales, it sure was bored of telling fairytales from the very beginning.

[victoria marie]

Winner of the 2025 Tadeusz Bradecki Prize

The Tadeusz Bradecki Foundation has awarded the inaugural Tadeusz Bradecki Prize to Clare Pollard for
The Modern Fairies (Fig Tree) for its ‘history and magic, novelistic depth and sharpness of fable’. Created to
honour the late Tadeusz Bradecki – international theatre director, actor and writer – the Prize is awarded
annually for a book in which fiction and non-fiction writing combine in an original and exciting way.

Chair Francis Spufford said:
‘My fellow judges and I are delighted to award the first Tadeusz Bradecki Prize to Clare Pollard’s
The Modern Fairies – a book whose combination of history and magic, novelistic depth and sharpness
of fable, beauty and bestial power, embody exactly the ambition we want the Prize to reward.’

Kate Sinclair, wife of Tadeusz Bradecki and founder of the Prize, said:
‘Tadeusz was a great adventurer and polymath and would have loved the risk-taking of The Modern
Fairies, which plays with storytelling and history, fiction and non-fiction, with extreme bravura.
Hats Off!’

Two runners-up prizes were also awarded:
Benjamín Labatut for The Maniac (Pushkin Press)
Tanja Maljartschuk for Forgottenness, translated by Zenia Tompkins (Bullaun Press)

Judges Francis Spufford (Chair), Carole Welch and Krzysztof Zanussi selected a shortlist of six books from
97 submissions by 70 publishers from the UK and Europe. They present works that combine story-telling
fiction and non-fiction in original ways, encompassing a range of artistic genres, disciplines, cultures and
subjects. The shortlist included multi-award-winning writers and relative newcomers from a broad range
of publishers.

*

author’s note:

"This novel is inspired by the real adventures of "the Modern Fairies" of the late 17th century who shaped fairytales as we know them. It is also a creative engagement with the brilliant tales that they wrote. I first learnt about these contes de fées through the work of Marina Warner, Jack Zipes, and Angela Carter, all of whom I highly recommend for further reading. I have taken many liberties in the service of a good story - from speculating wildly about the sex lives of the Salonières to playing extremely loose with the chronology - though I must tell you, an almost unbelievable amount of this is true."

_____

Clare Pollard is an award-winning poet and playwright based in London. She is the author of five poetry collections and the former Editor of the Modern Poetry in Translation magazine. Her first novel, Delphi, was published by Fig Tree in 2022. The Modern Fairies is her second novel.

[Lucy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Historical fiction but not as we know it. Irreverent, filthy, sparkling. Laying bare the pustulent morality and hypocrisy of the court of the sun king, stories within stories, perfectly crafted. Rich and abundant, like a pear tree laden with heavy golden fruit.

[Noriboo]

DNF at 15%.

What pulled my interest was the premise of the story: people regaling their life story through fairytales, let's go!

The parts where we got the snippets of the fairytales were interesting to me, but the characters telling these stories were just not interesting and fell flat, in my opinion.
The writing gives the air of wanting to come off as whimsical, but I missed some depth into the emotions and feelings. Why did they gather? We get superficial descriptions of the bourgeoisie in attendance at the event, but no information on why we should care about them.
Unfortunately, it is just not enough to make me want to continue the story. Unfortunately.

•••

I received an ARC through Netgalley. My opinions are my own.

[ReadingForFun · Rating 1 out of 5]

At times lyrical but mostly overwritten & overstuffed. This focuses almost entirely on the people telling the stories – there are so many they can only be thinly drawn.

If you wanted to see the evolution of these modern fairytales or how they were subversive you repeatedly get: "you know this story already" and the narration moves on.

Best for fans of lit-fic than those interested in fairytales or the court at Versailles.

[Ilzyaba · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book so much.

Henriette and princess de conti have my heart, I also love Charles and Marie.

[Sylvia Hertel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interessanter Einblick in die Zeit Ludwig des XIV

Klappentext:
Versailles zu Zeiten Ludwig XIV. Am Hof des Sonnenkönigs herrschen Pomp und Verschwendungssucht. Wer einen Blick hinter die Kulissen wagt, findet Intrigen, Missgunst Klatsch und Tratsch. Das wissen vor allem die Frauen, die sich regelmäßig in Marie d'Aulnoys Kaminzimmer in Paris treffen und dort zusammen flirten, lachen, Champagner trinken und sich Märchen erzählen. Doch das Geschichtenerzählen ist riskant und droht die Frauen eine nach der anderen in große Gefahr zu bringen …

„Der Salon der kühnen Frauen“ von Clare Pollard ist ein historischer Roman der von wahren Begebenheiten inspiriert wurde.

Die Frauen, wobei auch Männer anwesend sind treffen sich zum Geschichten erzählen.
Da unter König Ludwig XIV Literatursalons gefährlich waren, denn viele Bücher waren sanktioniert, trifft man sich zum Märchen erzählen. Einige der Personen geben sich als Autoren und bringen ihre neuen Werke vor. Die Märchen sind aber oft nur leicht abgeänderte Versionen von den Märchen, die sie schon als Kind erzählt bekommen haben.
So erkennen bestimmt auch die Leser*innen einige Märchen wieder, die es heute noch in etwas veränderter Version gibt.

Der Einblick in das Leben am Hof von Versailles war sehr interessant. Das Leben dort was recht verschwenderisch. Es herrschte großer Pomp. Als ich von den hygienischen Begebenheiten gelesen habe, hat es mich etwas entsetzt. Ich könnte mir das nicht vorstellen, auch bei allem Pomp und dem vielen Champagner nicht.

Auch der Einblick in den Salon von Marie d’Aulnog war interessant. Hier wurden Geschichten erzählt, getrunken und geflirtet.
Die Märchen waren den heutigen Märchen oft recht ähnlich, ich habe doch einige wiedererkannt.

Clare Pollard hat für ihre Geschichte gut recherchiert. Das Leben der Protagonisten, die Salons und das Leben am Königshof werden sehr realistisch widergespiegelt.
Auch die Charaktere werden gut beschrieben und sind recht unterschiedlich.
Die Stunden im Salon und das Erzählen der Märchen habe ich genossen. Hier hat die Autorin sich von den Märchenerzählerinnen, die es zu dieser Zeit wirklich gab, inspirieren lassen.
Die Sprache hat die Autorin gut der Zeit angepasst.
Auch die Sexualität zu dieser Zeit kam in diesem Roman zur Sprache. Dabei ging es auch um gleichgeschlechtliche Beziehungen. Hier war mir die Sprache dann doch ein bisschen zu vulgär. Das ist aber auch der einzige negative Aspekt bei diesem Roman.

„Der Salon der kühnen Frauen“ ist ein unterhaltsamer Historischer Roman mit nur kleinen Abstrichen, den ich gerne gelesen habe.

[Melissa Diaz · Rating 1 out of 5]

My expectations were high for this one so I’m disappointed. Listened to it and found it kind of boring and hard to follow. Read more as short stories than a novel. Sorry book club for putting you through this.

[Sriya · Rating 4 out of 5]

liked this a lot and learned some history i didn't know!

[Melanie aka Howtokillmyheart · Rating 4 out of 5]

Der Salon der kühnen Frauen ist eine überraschend unterhaltsame Reise zurück in das Paris des siebzehnten Jahrhunderts - genauer gesagt in den Salon der Marie d'Aulnoy, der Raum für Erzählungen der Grundgerüste der Märchen darstellt, die ich und viele andere als Kind so gerne gelesen und gehört haben. Man wird jedoch nicht nur mit unfassbar viel Nostalgie verwöhnt, sondern darf auch die modernen Märchenerzähler*innen und deren private Probleme näher kennerlernen sowie einen guten Überblick über das Leben unter der Herrschaft von dem berühmten Sonnenkönig erhaschen.
Geführt wird man dabei von der gewitzten wie auch literarisch talentierten Autorin, die auch die direkte und manchmal vulgäre Sprache nicht scheut.
Dieser Roman ist perfekt für Fans von historischen Romanen, die nicht nur die Intrigen, den Klatsch und Tratsch sowie die Kritik an der Gesellschaft lieben, sondern auch etwas dazulernen wollen. Diese Geschichte basiert nämlich auf wahren Persönlichkeiten, die die heute berühmten Märchen ein Stück weit prägten.

Plot: 3/5
Setting: 3,5/5
Charaktere: 4,5/5
Emotionen: 3,5/5
Schreibstil: 4,5/5

[Jenna Porter · Rating 4 out of 5]

I signed up for NetGalley just to request this book and was pleasantly surprised to receive this ARC!

I saw someone on the clock app say that this book is for readers who loved “when we lost our heads” by Heather O’Neill and I would second that recommendation.

Read The Modern Fairies if you’re a fan of: women’s wrongs, fables and fairy tales, messy entanglements, and social commentary.

In France, during the reign of the Sun King, a group of women, and a few trusted men, gather in a literary salon to share whimsical and irreverent stories. Censorship is prevalent during this time, and it’s dangerous to be caught speaking even remotely critically of Louis XIV, but salons like Madame d’Aulnoy’s are largely dismissed because they are seen as silly women telling silly stories. That is, until someone begins spilling their secrets.

It took me a minute to get into this one, I think because it’s a larger cast of characters than I am used to reading, and a lot of names to keep track of. I found myself skimming at times because it got somewhat wordy, but that says more about my own attention deficit than the quality of the writing. The imagery is so poetic and vivid, whether the author is describing places or food or clothing. She doesn’t romanticize the era, but the satire isn’t heavy handed either. You can tell she researched extremely thoroughly but wasn’t afraid to take creative liberties. The result is a wry, unapologetic snapshot of womanhood in the seventeenth century, with characters we can relate to no matter how many years separate us. Bravo!!

[Lauren]

Book Page review coming but if Angela Carter is your jam, this is your book.

https://www.bookpage.com/reviews/the-...

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Are you kidding?
Fairy tales as we know them now, sealed by... a fairy tale in itself!
4.75