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Letters from an Imaginary Country
Roam through the captivating stories of World Fantasy, Locus, and Mythopoeic Award winner Theodora Goss (the Athena Club trilogy). This themed collection of imaginary places, with three new stories, recalls Susanna Clarke’s alternate Europe and the surreal metafictions of Jorge Luis Borges. Deeply influenced by the author’s Hungarian childhood during the regime of the Soviet Union, each of these stories engages with storytelling and identity, including her own.
The infamous girl monsters of nineteenth-century fiction gather in London and form their own club. In the imaginary country of Thüle. Characters from folklore band together to fight a dictator. An intrepid girl reporter finds the hidden land of Oz—and joins its invasion of our world. The author writes the autobiography of her alternative life and a science fiction love letter to Budapest. The White Witch conquers England with snow and silence.
The infamous girl monsters of nineteenth-century fiction gather in London and form their own club. In the imaginary country of Thüle. Characters from folklore band together to fight a dictator. An intrepid girl reporter finds the hidden land of Oz—and joins its invasion of our world. The author writes the autobiography of her alternative life and a science fiction love letter to Budapest. The White Witch conquers England with snow and silence.
352 pages, Paperback
First published November 11, 2025
18 people are currently reading
3707 people want to read
About the author
Theodora Goss
133 books2,172 followersTheodora Goss was born in Hungary and spent her childhood in various European countries before her family moved to the United States, where she completed a PhD in English literature. She is the World Fantasy and Locus Award-winning author of the short story and poetry collections In the Forest of Forgetting (2006), Songs for Ophelia (2014), and Snow White Learns Witchcraft (2019), as well as novella The Thorn and the Blossom (2012), debut novel The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter (2017), and sequels European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman (2018) and The Sinister Mystery of the Mesmerizing Girl (2019). She has been a finalist for the Nebula, Crawford, Seiun, and Mythopoeic Awards, as well as on the Tiptree Award Honor List. Her work has been translated into thirteen languages. She teaches literature and writing at Boston University and in the Stonecoast MFA Program.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
August 15, 2025
From letters to academic articles to emails, Goss interweaves fantasy elements, Victorian literature, and autofiction into a unique collection of short stories. Can't say that they worked for me but at times I could see the vision.
A girl growing up in the US begins to suspect that a double of her remained in her birth country and they are growing up in parallel across oceans. A group of young academics dream up an imaginary country, only for them to be discredited when the country comes into existence and everyone insists it has always been around. A scientist seeks to identify an alien species that appears in the form of beautiful young men.
Cool, right? Conceptually I really enjoyed some of the premises of these stories and how they play with reality, fiction, and language. Many of the stories connect or callback to one another, and others are directly inspired by the author's life. As implied by the title, almost all have epistolary elements or are written in the form of academic articles. All of this I like in theory, but in practice I had a lot of trouble with the writing style and narrative structures. Most of the stories feel like they vaguely parallel the real world or a well-known piece of literature (in the story notes, Goss mentions how nearly every story plays off of existing ones) but there's not a sense of internal cohesion or payoff within the stories, either challenging the original work or building on it. I agree that "England Under the White Witch" mirrors real life oppressive regimes but there's not really any other point to the story.
The interconnectedness of the stories are cool in theory, but some of them are misleadingly not connected even though they seem to be. "The Mad Scientist's Daughter" and "Frankenstein's Daughter" both have characters who are supposed to be Frankenstein's daughter but the characters and stories are completely unrelated according to the story notes. There are also at least three different characters named Mary across multiple stories, possibly more, but also possibly less since some of them might be the same Mary which I think is unnecessarily confusing. The characters Dora and Dóra in one story are inspired by Theodora the author but are not her. The narrator in "To Budapest, With Love" seems to legitimately be the author, and Theodora Goss in the titular story is kind of the author but potentially in an alternate universe. All this is just very unclear and that in addition to the loose feeling of purpose within the stories independently made this very difficult to read for me.
If you already like Theodora Goss, you'll probably enjoy this collection, but at best I would say to new readers that this is probably not the best place to start with her writing.
Thank you to Theodora Goss and Tachyon Publications for this ARC in exchange for my full, honest review!
Happy reading!
A girl growing up in the US begins to suspect that a double of her remained in her birth country and they are growing up in parallel across oceans. A group of young academics dream up an imaginary country, only for them to be discredited when the country comes into existence and everyone insists it has always been around. A scientist seeks to identify an alien species that appears in the form of beautiful young men.
Cool, right? Conceptually I really enjoyed some of the premises of these stories and how they play with reality, fiction, and language. Many of the stories connect or callback to one another, and others are directly inspired by the author's life. As implied by the title, almost all have epistolary elements or are written in the form of academic articles. All of this I like in theory, but in practice I had a lot of trouble with the writing style and narrative structures. Most of the stories feel like they vaguely parallel the real world or a well-known piece of literature (in the story notes, Goss mentions how nearly every story plays off of existing ones) but there's not a sense of internal cohesion or payoff within the stories, either challenging the original work or building on it. I agree that "England Under the White Witch" mirrors real life oppressive regimes but there's not really any other point to the story.
The interconnectedness of the stories are cool in theory, but some of them are misleadingly not connected even though they seem to be. "The Mad Scientist's Daughter" and "Frankenstein's Daughter" both have characters who are supposed to be Frankenstein's daughter but the characters and stories are completely unrelated according to the story notes. There are also at least three different characters named Mary across multiple stories, possibly more, but also possibly less since some of them might be the same Mary which I think is unnecessarily confusing. The characters Dora and Dóra in one story are inspired by Theodora the author but are not her. The narrator in "To Budapest, With Love" seems to legitimately be the author, and Theodora Goss in the titular story is kind of the author but potentially in an alternate universe. All this is just very unclear and that in addition to the loose feeling of purpose within the stories independently made this very difficult to read for me.
If you already like Theodora Goss, you'll probably enjoy this collection, but at best I would say to new readers that this is probably not the best place to start with her writing.
Thank you to Theodora Goss and Tachyon Publications for this ARC in exchange for my full, honest review!
Happy reading!
December 13, 2025
Theodora Goss left Hungary as a child, and has always wondered what her life would be like if she stayed. One story in the book involves two versions of her, one who stayed and one who left. Other stories investigate other possible imaginary places, countries that never existed but sound as if they might. Mainly Eastern European. If this sounds like Le Guin's Orsinian Tales, that's probably no accident; Goss is a great admirer. But her reality was different than Le Guin's, and it shows in her thoroughly convincing investigations of the lives of people who are displaced or disrupted by national disputes or borders.
Goss has made her reputation on examining and re-imagining fairy tales (European variety), and some stories involve that. She also has an alternate stories about Oz and Barsoom (not alternate fairy tale places, but close). There is also a precursor story in her Athena Club world, centered on the women from 19th century fiction who were seen as 'monsters' by society.
Goss is always worth reading. This collection is notable for how personal it feels. There's actually a story that is called "To Budapest, With Love", a paean to her birth city.
Goss has made her reputation on examining and re-imagining fairy tales (European variety), and some stories involve that. She also has an alternate stories about Oz and Barsoom (not alternate fairy tale places, but close). There is also a precursor story in her Athena Club world, centered on the women from 19th century fiction who were seen as 'monsters' by society.
Goss is always worth reading. This collection is notable for how personal it feels. There's actually a story that is called "To Budapest, With Love", a paean to her birth city.
August 22, 2025
Una raccolta di gioielli, racconti stranissimi, sempre sospesi tra letteratura, realismo magico, realtà. Racconti in cui il fantastico è talmente comune da non esserlo nemmeno più, in cui intere nazioni esistono autonomamente perché accuratamente descritte su Internet, in cui la la letteratura e i suoi protagonisti sono talmente reali da avere vite proprie, indipendenti; in cui i regimi autoritari sono sempre dietro l'angolo, ma dietro l'angolo sono anche le creature fantastiche del folklore (inventato). In cui Theodora Goss si frammenta, insieme autrice e personaggio, multiforme filo conduttore della sua narrativa.
Ironica e suggestiva la scrittura, dal sapore vittoriano e moderno insieme, americano ed europeo insieme; una scoperta straordinaria, ricca di spunti per future letture.
Ironica e suggestiva la scrittura, dal sapore vittoriano e moderno insieme, americano ed europeo insieme; una scoperta straordinaria, ricca di spunti per future letture.
December 26, 2025
This was a truly great short story collection that suffered from my own wants and expectations. I pre-ordered this book knowing that it contained two connected short stories that I loved, and expected some more stories that expanded on the premise, and while one new story did, the rest were unconnected, which was disappointing. However, the voice and concepts presented here were amazing, and almost all the stories are in conversation with each other and with classic fantasy stories as well that it truly felt like a love letter to speculative fiction.
Top 5 stories:
"A Letter to Merlin"
"Estella Saves The Village"
"Pellargonia" (1 of 2 of the stories I already read)
"Letters From An Imaginary Country"
"The Secret Diary of Mina Harker"
HM: Cimmeria was the 2nd story I already read
4.5/5
Top 5 stories:
"A Letter to Merlin"
"Estella Saves The Village"
"Pellargonia" (1 of 2 of the stories I already read)
"Letters From An Imaginary Country"
"The Secret Diary of Mina Harker"
HM: Cimmeria was the 2nd story I already read
4.5/5
November 3, 2025
Letters from Imaginary Country is a novel to set to release on November 11th. The author Theodora Goss has a very creative mind for storytelling and this is my first time reading anything by her so I am not very familiar with her work. I will admit that I was a little bit confused when I first started reading this book but when I got a couple of chapters in I really started to take a shine to this book.
A lot of the stories talked about in this book range from stories told in the Victorian era. There are mentions of Frankenstein and Sherlock Holmes. Overall I was very impressed with the stories that were told.
A lot of the stories talked about in this book range from stories told in the Victorian era. There are mentions of Frankenstein and Sherlock Holmes. Overall I was very impressed with the stories that were told.
Read
November 10, 2025The first Theodora Goss book I read was another of her short story collections, Snow White Learns Witchcraft which, perhaps helped by happening across it during an unexpectedly fairytale 2018, I loved. The stories here grow in very different directions, and in keeping with the trend of all things over that long, unlovely seven-year stretch, often I wasn't so keen. Snow White's post-Angela Carter twists on familiar stories were feminist, of course they were, but often slyly, wryly so; here, the agenda is sometimes stated more directly, wearily, angrily, which gods know is understandable given the way things have been going, but that doesn't make it any more artistically satisfying. And while the title of the collection obviously offers a get-out clause, I did find myself bridling in particular at the stories set in Britain, which too often felt like the standard Hollywood version of us. Yes, England Under The White Witch is meant to see the place icily transfigured, but even before she comes people are talking about stores rather than shops, and I couldn't take the notion of Wordsworth's poxy daffodils as dangerous samizdat at all seriously. As for Estella Saves The Village... there's something lovely in the notion of this gentle home for the favourites of Victorian literature, and something remarkable in the way that Goss puts it under attack by an affliction only Estella can see which echoes Queen Victoria's own hallucinations – hallucinations recorded in a diary I don't think can have come to light when this story was written. But even once everything is explained, parts of the framework niggled at me*.
Set against that, the stories in which Goss wrestles with her complicated feelings about her Hungarian heritage, most directly in Dora/Dóra: An Autobiography, parallel lives growing up in America and Hungary – though even the former is not exactly, she notes in the backmatter, her own life. Or more obliquely; the title story is about Thüle, not Hungary, but the two countries have distinct similarities in their situations, even if Orban does not, as yet, have figures from national folklore attempting to overthrow him (still, fingers crossed, eh?). The last and longest piece is both a sequel to and unpicking of Dracula, but that's part of this strand too because yes, the simple answer is that Transylvania is in Romania, but in Europe simple answers often involve overlooking an awful lot of history and geography. These ones all convince, because at least to me, who visited Budapest once, thirty years ago, when history was meant to be ending, it feels like Goss has the place held firmly and fully in her mind as she writes. See also, the recurring motif across stories in which the real monster is neither the scientist nor his creation, but the insecure and exploitative state of modern universities – dark academia, but not in the fashionable sense.
And then there are my absolute favourites here, the two Letters To The Journal Of Imaginary Anthropology. They're acknowledged riffs on Borges' Tlön, students dreaming up nations for a project or a lark and then realising quite what complicated things countries are, that they're easier to invent than get rid of, and that past a certain point events tend to get out of everyone's control. These are stories about storytelling, and the malleability of the world, and how all countries are imaginary in the beginning. But they're also very funny about the different tastes people can have in history, and the cluelessness of Americans about the finer points of Europe: "on the map we found a little country called Andorra, right in the Pyrenees mountains. It was so much like Pellargonia that we figured someone else must have had the same idea we did and put it there. I mean, you can tell it's one of the imaginary countries, like Ruritania and Liechtenstein." Though, in fairness, when it comes to that lot I suspect plenty of Europeans are hazy too, and I don't just mean us lot being incurious on our nearby archipelago.
*SPOILER: the village exists within the mind of a professor of Victorian literature, who wanted to see her favourites happy. OK, that's sweet. But surely they'd be exactly the person least able to overlook that Pip and Joe are a lifetime before Sherlock Holmes' detecting pomp, let alone his beekeeping retirement, and that his downs cannot be their marshes? And how could anyone who loves Holmes bear to preserve him as the utterly un-spiky figure we see here, a man so affable as to make Basil Rathbone look like Jeremy Brett? Likewise, if you put Estella and Miss Havisham in a nice little house with green shutters and geraniums, have you really preserved Estella and Miss Havisham at all?
(Edelweiss ARC)
Set against that, the stories in which Goss wrestles with her complicated feelings about her Hungarian heritage, most directly in Dora/Dóra: An Autobiography, parallel lives growing up in America and Hungary – though even the former is not exactly, she notes in the backmatter, her own life. Or more obliquely; the title story is about Thüle, not Hungary, but the two countries have distinct similarities in their situations, even if Orban does not, as yet, have figures from national folklore attempting to overthrow him (still, fingers crossed, eh?). The last and longest piece is both a sequel to and unpicking of Dracula, but that's part of this strand too because yes, the simple answer is that Transylvania is in Romania, but in Europe simple answers often involve overlooking an awful lot of history and geography. These ones all convince, because at least to me, who visited Budapest once, thirty years ago, when history was meant to be ending, it feels like Goss has the place held firmly and fully in her mind as she writes. See also, the recurring motif across stories in which the real monster is neither the scientist nor his creation, but the insecure and exploitative state of modern universities – dark academia, but not in the fashionable sense.
And then there are my absolute favourites here, the two Letters To The Journal Of Imaginary Anthropology. They're acknowledged riffs on Borges' Tlön, students dreaming up nations for a project or a lark and then realising quite what complicated things countries are, that they're easier to invent than get rid of, and that past a certain point events tend to get out of everyone's control. These are stories about storytelling, and the malleability of the world, and how all countries are imaginary in the beginning. But they're also very funny about the different tastes people can have in history, and the cluelessness of Americans about the finer points of Europe: "on the map we found a little country called Andorra, right in the Pyrenees mountains. It was so much like Pellargonia that we figured someone else must have had the same idea we did and put it there. I mean, you can tell it's one of the imaginary countries, like Ruritania and Liechtenstein." Though, in fairness, when it comes to that lot I suspect plenty of Europeans are hazy too, and I don't just mean us lot being incurious on our nearby archipelago.
*SPOILER: the village exists within the mind of a professor of Victorian literature, who wanted to see her favourites happy. OK, that's sweet. But surely they'd be exactly the person least able to overlook that Pip and Joe are a lifetime before Sherlock Holmes' detecting pomp, let alone his beekeeping retirement, and that his downs cannot be their marshes? And how could anyone who loves Holmes bear to preserve him as the utterly un-spiky figure we see here, a man so affable as to make Basil Rathbone look like Jeremy Brett? Likewise, if you put Estella and Miss Havisham in a nice little house with green shutters and geraniums, have you really preserved Estella and Miss Havisham at all?
(Edelweiss ARC)
November 9, 2025
𝐈 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐍𝐞𝐭𝐆𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰
Thanks to Tachyon Publications through the ARC platform Netgalley I had the opportunity to read and experience Theodora Goss’ writing for the first time. It is absolutely necessary that before you read this book (and I guess the rest of her bibliography) you understand that Theodora Goss is Hungarian. She moved and established in the United States after having lived not only in her native Hungary but also in several other European countries. This explains why folklore, especially eastern European and Hungarian in particular, as well as modern Hungarian History are deeply rooted in her stories. “Letters from an Imaginary Country” is a collection of short stories of speculative fiction with lots of folklore, literary references, political thinking and magic realism in them.
It takes a couple of the stories included in this book to realize that Goss’ apparent detachment in her style of narration is not so. At the beginning I admit that I took her attitude towards her stories as coldness, not quite unfeeling but borderline so. Even though each and every one of said stories are written in the first person. Some times this voice is more unreliable than others and the detection of this feeling of reliability or lack of thereof is purely instinctual for the reader’s part. However, as the reading advances, the reader will find more and more engaged in the writing despite its cold yet elegant style.
This book is pure metaliterature. Many characters from the classics, especially from the 19th century are brought back as main characters, side characters or ancient relatives. These are not retellings, quite the opposite, the stories are completely new, as if they were given a chance to change their destinies. What can be taken for granted is that a literate reader will be familiar with them.
If there is a theme that unites the stories in Goss’ book is women. Also self discovery, studies in human nature, the influences of modern times. But the main theme is without a shadow of a doubt, women.
As I progressed through the pages I found myself more and more mesmerized with what Goss was telling me and how. Of course I liked some of the stories more than others as is natural. But in conclusion, she intrigued me enough to make me want to read her other works and follow her future endeavors.
Thanks to Tachyon Publications through the ARC platform Netgalley I had the opportunity to read and experience Theodora Goss’ writing for the first time. It is absolutely necessary that before you read this book (and I guess the rest of her bibliography) you understand that Theodora Goss is Hungarian. She moved and established in the United States after having lived not only in her native Hungary but also in several other European countries. This explains why folklore, especially eastern European and Hungarian in particular, as well as modern Hungarian History are deeply rooted in her stories. “Letters from an Imaginary Country” is a collection of short stories of speculative fiction with lots of folklore, literary references, political thinking and magic realism in them.
It takes a couple of the stories included in this book to realize that Goss’ apparent detachment in her style of narration is not so. At the beginning I admit that I took her attitude towards her stories as coldness, not quite unfeeling but borderline so. Even though each and every one of said stories are written in the first person. Some times this voice is more unreliable than others and the detection of this feeling of reliability or lack of thereof is purely instinctual for the reader’s part. However, as the reading advances, the reader will find more and more engaged in the writing despite its cold yet elegant style.
This book is pure metaliterature. Many characters from the classics, especially from the 19th century are brought back as main characters, side characters or ancient relatives. These are not retellings, quite the opposite, the stories are completely new, as if they were given a chance to change their destinies. What can be taken for granted is that a literate reader will be familiar with them.
If there is a theme that unites the stories in Goss’ book is women. Also self discovery, studies in human nature, the influences of modern times. But the main theme is without a shadow of a doubt, women.
As I progressed through the pages I found myself more and more mesmerized with what Goss was telling me and how. Of course I liked some of the stories more than others as is natural. But in conclusion, she intrigued me enough to make me want to read her other works and follow her future endeavors.
November 9, 2025
I have long been a fan of Theodora Goss’ hauntingly beautiful writing, but her latest collection, Letters from an Imaginary Country, is one of my favorites. Goss has crafted an anthology of old and new stories designed to push readers past the defined boundaries of speculative fiction, and the characters, prose, and insight found within its pages will linger long after the book has been closed.
Goss, who was born in Hungary and immigrated to America during her childhood, uses her personal experiences to create fictional stories which capture the harrowing experience of liminality. In selections like Dora/Dora: An Autobiography and To Budapest, With Love, Goss explores her childhood home, honoring it while wondering about the effect it might have had upon a young woman’s life experiences. Goss also makes use of her deep knowledge of Victorian literature and feminist theories to explore well-known 19th century characters including Dracula’s Mina Harker and Frankenstein’s daughter. Fans of The Extraordinary Adventures of the Athena Club, a trilogy about the daughters of infamous Victorian monsters (Mary Jekyll, Diana Hyde, Beatrice Rappaccini, Catherin Moreau, and Justine Frankenstein) will find an origin story in The Mad Scientist’s Daughter, and those who love folkloric characters like the Snow Queen will enjoy England Under the White Witch. Goss uses her extensive talents to present multiple variants of complex characters while rounding out the flat characters in the background of famous stories. Most of the tales contain an epistolary element which mires them in 19th century sensibilities while providing clear contemporary context. Although each selection can be enjoyed in isolation, taken together, images, themes, and characters resonate, creating a deep connection between the writer and her readers.
Letters from an Imaginary Country is the latest brilliant work from an expert writer. Whether you are revisiting an old friend or reading Theodora Goss for the first time, prepare to be enchanted by what you find. This collection will always have a special space on my bookshelf and in my heart.
Goss, who was born in Hungary and immigrated to America during her childhood, uses her personal experiences to create fictional stories which capture the harrowing experience of liminality. In selections like Dora/Dora: An Autobiography and To Budapest, With Love, Goss explores her childhood home, honoring it while wondering about the effect it might have had upon a young woman’s life experiences. Goss also makes use of her deep knowledge of Victorian literature and feminist theories to explore well-known 19th century characters including Dracula’s Mina Harker and Frankenstein’s daughter. Fans of The Extraordinary Adventures of the Athena Club, a trilogy about the daughters of infamous Victorian monsters (Mary Jekyll, Diana Hyde, Beatrice Rappaccini, Catherin Moreau, and Justine Frankenstein) will find an origin story in The Mad Scientist’s Daughter, and those who love folkloric characters like the Snow Queen will enjoy England Under the White Witch. Goss uses her extensive talents to present multiple variants of complex characters while rounding out the flat characters in the background of famous stories. Most of the tales contain an epistolary element which mires them in 19th century sensibilities while providing clear contemporary context. Although each selection can be enjoyed in isolation, taken together, images, themes, and characters resonate, creating a deep connection between the writer and her readers.
Letters from an Imaginary Country is the latest brilliant work from an expert writer. Whether you are revisiting an old friend or reading Theodora Goss for the first time, prepare to be enchanted by what you find. This collection will always have a special space on my bookshelf and in my heart.
December 8, 2025
My book review in a sentence: just read the book and devour the magical fantasy world created by Theodora Goss.
This book collects sixteen short stories, and they left me utterly flabbergasted. The Mad Scientist’s Daughter is about an imaginary club that can be joined only by women labeled as “monsters”—monstrous not by nature, but because they were transformed by their fathers’ failed scientific experiments. In Dora/Dora, a doppelgänger story, Goss imagines what Dora might have become had she grown up in Hungary or in the United States.
I love this quote:
“The future is always a series of threads that we cast ahead of us, with only partial control over how they are woven. Our lives are a collaboration with fate, and the best we can hope for is a hand to hold in the darkness, a voice on the other side of uncertainty—another who, when called, will answer ‘I am here.’”
In Come See the Living Dryad, Daphne—who escaped Apollo and was transformed into a laurel tree—is reimagined as a patient with Lewandowsky–Lutz dysplasia in 1888, and the story becomes a detective mystery. I also love “Pug,” which centers on Anne de Bourgh (from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice) and explores what it means to go through life “unnoticed,” insignificant, and dull: “Nothing ever does happen to me. I don’t think anything ever will.” Yet she is given the most exciting door of all.
These stories let my imagination take flight, and I found myself deeply curious about how such unique ideas took shape. I really appreciate the “Story Notes” section, where Theodora Goss shares a bit about the making of each piece.
Many thanks to @theodoragoss and @tachyonpub for the eARC via @netgalley.
#TheodoraGoss #LettersFromAnImaginaryCountry #MythologyRetelling #FeministFantasy
This book collects sixteen short stories, and they left me utterly flabbergasted. The Mad Scientist’s Daughter is about an imaginary club that can be joined only by women labeled as “monsters”—monstrous not by nature, but because they were transformed by their fathers’ failed scientific experiments. In Dora/Dora, a doppelgänger story, Goss imagines what Dora might have become had she grown up in Hungary or in the United States.
I love this quote:
“The future is always a series of threads that we cast ahead of us, with only partial control over how they are woven. Our lives are a collaboration with fate, and the best we can hope for is a hand to hold in the darkness, a voice on the other side of uncertainty—another who, when called, will answer ‘I am here.’”
In Come See the Living Dryad, Daphne—who escaped Apollo and was transformed into a laurel tree—is reimagined as a patient with Lewandowsky–Lutz dysplasia in 1888, and the story becomes a detective mystery. I also love “Pug,” which centers on Anne de Bourgh (from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice) and explores what it means to go through life “unnoticed,” insignificant, and dull: “Nothing ever does happen to me. I don’t think anything ever will.” Yet she is given the most exciting door of all.
These stories let my imagination take flight, and I found myself deeply curious about how such unique ideas took shape. I really appreciate the “Story Notes” section, where Theodora Goss shares a bit about the making of each piece.
Many thanks to @theodoragoss and @tachyonpub for the eARC via @netgalley.
#TheodoraGoss #LettersFromAnImaginaryCountry #MythologyRetelling #FeministFantasy
August 16, 2025
LETTERS FROM AN IMAGINARY COUNTRY by Theodora Goss
This is an intriguing collection of “what if?” stories, full of possibilities, inviting one to ponder and wonder long after reading. Some were familiar, having appeared elsewhere, and fun to see again. Some are brand new, written especially for this book, with parallels and lessons applicable to our real (or is it?) world.
I was most enthralled by the new renderings of familiar tales: the truth in Mina’s Diary, the important mission of the Lost Girls of Oz, Estella with a kind and loving Miss Havisham, Frankenstein’s very lovely daughter. I was also intrigued by revelations of new and alien worlds and visitors.
These are beautifully written, inviting rereading and meditation on truths revealed or merely hinted at. I’m glad to have them all in one place, easy to revisit.
This is an intriguing collection of “what if?” stories, full of possibilities, inviting one to ponder and wonder long after reading. Some were familiar, having appeared elsewhere, and fun to see again. Some are brand new, written especially for this book, with parallels and lessons applicable to our real (or is it?) world.
I was most enthralled by the new renderings of familiar tales: the truth in Mina’s Diary, the important mission of the Lost Girls of Oz, Estella with a kind and loving Miss Havisham, Frankenstein’s very lovely daughter. I was also intrigued by revelations of new and alien worlds and visitors.
These are beautifully written, inviting rereading and meditation on truths revealed or merely hinted at. I’m glad to have them all in one place, easy to revisit.
September 19, 2025
I’ve read a few of Theodora Goss’s stories in magazines so I was very interested in a book with a group of her works. This was a unique concept combining fantasy elements and Victorian literature into a collection of short stories.
There was some crossover characters throughout the stories, but they often did not synch with the same character from a previous story. This could be somewhat convoluted, but the fantasy and alternate reality play was fun at times. Although the pacing could be frustrating, I did enjoyed a few of the stories. I do wish I had enjoyed more of them, but I’m sure fans of her work might really appreciate this group of tales.
Thanks to Theodora Goss and Netgalley for the ARC!
There was some crossover characters throughout the stories, but they often did not synch with the same character from a previous story. This could be somewhat convoluted, but the fantasy and alternate reality play was fun at times. Although the pacing could be frustrating, I did enjoyed a few of the stories. I do wish I had enjoyed more of them, but I’m sure fans of her work might really appreciate this group of tales.
Thanks to Theodora Goss and Netgalley for the ARC!
October 21, 2025
A wonderful collection of short stories, Theodora Goss uses her family history, and her time as a young child in Hungary to present what would have been familiar stories but now with an exotic and different feel. The equivalent of Victorian Pop culture as a style is incredibly well used, with Goss presenting several versions of classic monsters but with a feminine twist. For the first time that I have ever seen she combines many well known characters of the Victorian literary scene, much like Alan Moore's League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and actually has a well thought out reason as to why they are all living in a village together (from Miss Haversion to Sherlock Holmes and Irene Adler)
I will be looking out for her novels
3.5 Stars
I will be looking out for her novels
3.5 Stars
September 18, 2025
*Thank you to the publisher via Netgalley for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review*
Unfortunately, I feel like the concept of this collection was more interesting than the actual stories themselves. The stories take varied formats and not all of them worked for me. Some of the writing felt stilted and repetitive in places, while the stories I was actually kind of interested in seemed to cut off before they could dig into the meat of things. I do appreciate the ingenuity; I just didn't really connect with any of the stories in the way I wanted to.
Unfortunately, I feel like the concept of this collection was more interesting than the actual stories themselves. The stories take varied formats and not all of them worked for me. Some of the writing felt stilted and repetitive in places, while the stories I was actually kind of interested in seemed to cut off before they could dig into the meat of things. I do appreciate the ingenuity; I just didn't really connect with any of the stories in the way I wanted to.
November 6, 2025
A perfectly marvelous collection!
Theodora Goss delights in LETTERS FROM AN IMAGINARY COUNTRY, a new collection in conversation with folklore, Victorian lit, classics of genre fiction, & the human spirit of creativity. Lyrical and lovely: a highlight of my autumn as the weather turns.
Personal highlights included "Cimmeria: From the Journal of Imaginary Anthropology", "Dora/Dóra: An Autobiography", "England Under the White Witch", and "Lost Girls of Oz". Just really excellent from top to bottom!! And a great mix of reprints alongside stories original to the collection.
Theodora Goss delights in LETTERS FROM AN IMAGINARY COUNTRY, a new collection in conversation with folklore, Victorian lit, classics of genre fiction, & the human spirit of creativity. Lyrical and lovely: a highlight of my autumn as the weather turns.
Personal highlights included "Cimmeria: From the Journal of Imaginary Anthropology", "Dora/Dóra: An Autobiography", "England Under the White Witch", and "Lost Girls of Oz". Just really excellent from top to bottom!! And a great mix of reprints alongside stories original to the collection.
November 12, 2025
What I loved about these short stories was how many of them offered new visions of familiar tales, but with very clever twists. Ones that often put the emphasis on female characters. The stories inspired by the author's Hungarian heritage were also appreciable. What I really enjoyed was the emphasis on the power of imagination and storytelling.
The only story I didn't like was "Beautiful Boys". For the rest, it was a pretty solid collection with a unique vision.
The only story I didn't like was "Beautiful Boys". For the rest, it was a pretty solid collection with a unique vision.
October 22, 2025
I am really sorry to give this such a poor review but I found the book to be a great disappointment. Goss’ trilogy was riveting and unique. This seems like a sloppy collection of confusing outtakes, hastily assembled and festooned with wordy embellishments to hide the fact that there really is no “there” there. The heart of the prior trilogy is missing from this mish-mash.
September 2, 2025
This is my first Goss, but these short stories are incredibly well done. We get the problem of imaginary anthropology (making up a country wholesale), the what ifs of a version of yourself staying behind when you immigrate, and some neat playing around in public domain settings (Frankenstein, Dracula, Oz, Arthuriana). Highly recommended collection.
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