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C'era una volta: Non è una storia per bambini
Prima che le fiabe fossero innocenti, erano sovversive.
Lontano dagli intrighi della vita di corte a Versailles, sotto il regno di Luigi XIV, un gruppo di intellettuali - per lo più donne - si ritrova in un salotto parigino per condividere storie che l'arguta padrona di casa, Marie d'Aulnoy, ha chiamato contes de fé le fiabe. Allontanato di recente dalla corte e ancora profondamente scosso dalla morte dell'amata moglie, Charles Perrault trova conforto e affinità creativa in questo circolo, dove entra con entusiasmo a far parte dei narratori.
Ma tra Cenerentola e il Gatto con gli stivali, a Versailles si susseguono misteriosi avvelenamenti, e gli arresti non risparmiano nemmeno i nobili più nessuno sembra più al sicuro. La paranoia alimenta le insicurezze del Re, e tra i membri del salotto si nasconde una qualcuno più pericoloso di qualunque creatura inventata nelle loro fiabe. Osserva, ascolta, riferisce ogni segreto... e minaccia di distruggerli uno a uno. E se il salotto più intellettuale del regno fosse anche il più pericoloso?
Ispirato a un'incredibile storia vera, C'era una volta è un romanzo audace e storicamente accurato che nel raccontare le peripezie di un improbabile book-club ante litteram, delinea i confini della nostra cultura e celebra il potere di una bella storia. E no, non è assolutamente una storia per bambini.
“Elegante e decadente, volgare e astuto, magico e oscuro” - Sarah Perry, autrice de Il serpente dell’Essex
Lontano dagli intrighi della vita di corte a Versailles, sotto il regno di Luigi XIV, un gruppo di intellettuali - per lo più donne - si ritrova in un salotto parigino per condividere storie che l'arguta padrona di casa, Marie d'Aulnoy, ha chiamato contes de fé le fiabe. Allontanato di recente dalla corte e ancora profondamente scosso dalla morte dell'amata moglie, Charles Perrault trova conforto e affinità creativa in questo circolo, dove entra con entusiasmo a far parte dei narratori.
Ma tra Cenerentola e il Gatto con gli stivali, a Versailles si susseguono misteriosi avvelenamenti, e gli arresti non risparmiano nemmeno i nobili più nessuno sembra più al sicuro. La paranoia alimenta le insicurezze del Re, e tra i membri del salotto si nasconde una qualcuno più pericoloso di qualunque creatura inventata nelle loro fiabe. Osserva, ascolta, riferisce ogni segreto... e minaccia di distruggerli uno a uno. E se il salotto più intellettuale del regno fosse anche il più pericoloso?
Ispirato a un'incredibile storia vera, C'era una volta è un romanzo audace e storicamente accurato che nel raccontare le peripezie di un improbabile book-club ante litteram, delinea i confini della nostra cultura e celebra il potere di una bella storia. E no, non è assolutamente una storia per bambini.
“Elegante e decadente, volgare e astuto, magico e oscuro” - Sarah Perry, autrice de Il serpente dell’Essex
240 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 23, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 366 reviews
October 28, 2024
'...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!'.
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!'.
January 3, 2025
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.
This was one of my favorite fiction books of 2024!
Click here to hear more of my thoughts over on my Booktube channel, abookolive.
Read
August 11, 2025Fascinating 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.
love affair and just enough glimmers of human decency to keep you going. A cracking historical novel.
June 25, 2024
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.
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.
August 27, 2024
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
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
August 5, 2024
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.
August 22, 2024
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.
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.
January 12, 2026
For a book grounded in telling fairytales, it sure was bored of telling fairytales from the very beginning.
December 29, 2024
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.
March 20, 2026
AMO AMO AMO AMO !!!!
April 4, 2024
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!
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!
May 18, 2024
This very possibly will be my favorite book of 2024. Absolutely BRILLIANT.
August 2, 2024
I liked the concept of pairing fairy tales with France in the 1600s but hated the raunchy sexual exploits.
February 17, 2026
*4,5
Ultimamente in quello che leggo, sono sempre più alla ricerca di originalità, non fine a se stessa ma funzionale a veicolare un messaggio. Clare Pollard crea un meccanismo un po’ alla Decamerone per cui il lettore si trova ad ascoltare una serie di storie che vengono narrate all’interno di un salotto letterario nella Francia di Luigi XIV. Questo escamotage permette di inserire un forte elemento di critica al regime. In più la narrazione viene messa in atto da un misterioso narratore onnisciente consolidando ulteriormente la libertà nella narrazione. L’esplorazione del contesto storico risulta ulteriormente di interesse grazie all’inserzione di diversi elementi che possono risultare bizzarri ma che nella maggior parte dei casi sono assolutamente veri. L’autrice é abile nel riempire i buchi storici con la propria inventiva in modo del tutto verosimile inserendo anche l’elemento romance. Il tono é irriverente e spregiudicato, come del resto la personalità delle protagoniste femminili, riuscendo a tenere il lettore agganciato e ben intrattenuto.
Ultimamente in quello che leggo, sono sempre più alla ricerca di originalità, non fine a se stessa ma funzionale a veicolare un messaggio. Clare Pollard crea un meccanismo un po’ alla Decamerone per cui il lettore si trova ad ascoltare una serie di storie che vengono narrate all’interno di un salotto letterario nella Francia di Luigi XIV. Questo escamotage permette di inserire un forte elemento di critica al regime. In più la narrazione viene messa in atto da un misterioso narratore onnisciente consolidando ulteriormente la libertà nella narrazione. L’esplorazione del contesto storico risulta ulteriormente di interesse grazie all’inserzione di diversi elementi che possono risultare bizzarri ma che nella maggior parte dei casi sono assolutamente veri. L’autrice é abile nel riempire i buchi storici con la propria inventiva in modo del tutto verosimile inserendo anche l’elemento romance. Il tono é irriverente e spregiudicato, come del resto la personalità delle protagoniste femminili, riuscendo a tenere il lettore agganciato e ben intrattenuto.
July 29, 2024
A perfect depiction of gilded 17th century France, interspersed with the crude and vulgar reality of the aristocracy. *chefs kiss*
June 21, 2025
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
May 28, 2024
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.
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.
April 1, 2026
“L’amore non è fuoco da soffocare dentro l’anima; tutto ci tradisce, la voce, il silenzio, gli occhi. I fuochi mal coperti divampano più forti”.
June 29, 2026
cosa potrebbe mai accadere nella francia tra il diciassettesimo e diciottesimo secolo, sotto il controllo di luigi xiv? di tutto, davvero, ma una cosa è certa: per la mitica penna di clare pollard c'è il gossip. tanto gossip, tante storie che vanno la pena di essere raccontate - e direi che non posso fare a meno di essere d'accordo.
in duecento pagine, l'autrice riesce non solo a farci immergere nel mondo monarchico della versailles dell'epoca, ma quelli che sono soprattutto i lati negativi della questione. del fatto che non ci sono solo bellezze, ma che spesso è solo oro che nasconde... cioccolata, per essere family friendly. all'interno del circolo letterario di madame d'aulnoy, troviamo infatti per la maggior parte donne - anche se non mancano uomini - che raccontano storie che, in un certo senso, conosciamo già. tuttavia, non è solo di quello che parliamo.
l'elemento centrale della narrazione infatti non sono tanto le storie che vengono raccontate e la morale che portano avanti, ma i personaggi: i loro caratteri, tutti quanti diversi ma condizionati dalla società in cui si trovano e dal contesto familiare in cui vivono, e il prevalere dei loro desideri e impulsi. un tema che è piuttosto legato al mondo della commedia, che ho notato spesso nel corso della lettura: mi sento di considerarla proprio una commedia moderna, per quanto non sia canonicamente tale.
se cercate una storia da leggere magari nel corso di quest'estate calda, che sia breve e in grado di trascinare nel corso della lettura, piena di colpi di scena in stile teatrale, potrebbe fare al caso vostro. e in più... CI SONO LE SAFFICHE! non aggiungo altro.
in duecento pagine, l'autrice riesce non solo a farci immergere nel mondo monarchico della versailles dell'epoca, ma quelli che sono soprattutto i lati negativi della questione. del fatto che non ci sono solo bellezze, ma che spesso è solo oro che nasconde... cioccolata, per essere family friendly. all'interno del circolo letterario di madame d'aulnoy, troviamo infatti per la maggior parte donne - anche se non mancano uomini - che raccontano storie che, in un certo senso, conosciamo già. tuttavia, non è solo di quello che parliamo.
l'elemento centrale della narrazione infatti non sono tanto le storie che vengono raccontate e la morale che portano avanti, ma i personaggi: i loro caratteri, tutti quanti diversi ma condizionati dalla società in cui si trovano e dal contesto familiare in cui vivono, e il prevalere dei loro desideri e impulsi. un tema che è piuttosto legato al mondo della commedia, che ho notato spesso nel corso della lettura: mi sento di considerarla proprio una commedia moderna, per quanto non sia canonicamente tale.
se cercate una storia da leggere magari nel corso di quest'estate calda, che sia breve e in grado di trascinare nel corso della lettura, piena di colpi di scena in stile teatrale, potrebbe fare al caso vostro. e in più... CI SONO LE SAFFICHE! non aggiungo altro.
February 19, 2026
"Perché nessuno dice mai che è la bella principessa a diventare la regina cattiva, che sono la stessa persona in momenti diversi della storia? "
Read
February 27, 2026dnf...interesse non pervenuto
February 15, 2026
Bridgerton incontra Papà Castoro intorno al focolare domestico dei salotti intellettuali francesi (pre Rivoluzione).
Il narratore onnisciente descrive à la Alberto Angela gli intrighi della corte reale, librotrasportando il lettore tra l’opulenza di balli, nobiltà, pettegolezzi e velenose pietanze.
Le forti protagoniste femminili (e Perrault) si dilettano in abbellimenti di racconti di ‘balie e tutrici’, mentre Il Re Sole continua a forgiare un impero fatto di fasti, ori e cortigiani. Fuori Versailles intanto il popolo congela, e freme.
Perrault é un padre di famiglia molto umano e ingenuo, mentre Mme d’Aulnoy é una scaltra padrona di casa che nasconde un lato oscuro sebbene a tratti dolce.
Personaggio adorabilissimo (e Lady oscarissimo), la Principessa di Conti.
Il narratore onnisciente descrive à la Alberto Angela gli intrighi della corte reale, librotrasportando il lettore tra l’opulenza di balli, nobiltà, pettegolezzi e velenose pietanze.
Le forti protagoniste femminili (e Perrault) si dilettano in abbellimenti di racconti di ‘balie e tutrici’, mentre Il Re Sole continua a forgiare un impero fatto di fasti, ori e cortigiani. Fuori Versailles intanto il popolo congela, e freme.
Perrault é un padre di famiglia molto umano e ingenuo, mentre Mme d’Aulnoy é una scaltra padrona di casa che nasconde un lato oscuro sebbene a tratti dolce.
Personaggio adorabilissimo (e Lady oscarissimo), la Principessa di Conti.
September 14, 2024
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.
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.
September 28, 2024
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.
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.
August 7, 2024
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.
eARC provided by publisher via NetGalley.
April 1, 2026
A modo suo originale, ma di sicuro non imperdibile. Direi piacevole, ma purtroppo non l' ho trovato per niente scorrevole.
July 18, 2026
На эту книгу я наткнулась абсолютно случайно, но как только увидела слово «сказки» в аннотации: мигом поняла, что оно мне надо. Хорошо, что я не читала это глазами, потому что, скорее всего, бросила на первой трети. Серьезно, Соня Платошкина, которая начитала книгу в аудио, молодец. Но давайте по существу.
В «Версальских Фаях» писательница Клэр Поллард представляет читателю свою интерпретацию того, что происходило в салоне Мари д'Онуа в период правления Короля-солнце Людовика XIV. За редкими исключениями, все персонажи книги – реально существующие исторические личности. В целом у судеб героев Поллард всё же больше сходств чем различий с их историческими прототипами. И, пожалуй, в этом и главная проблема лично для меня.
Самые интересные события – это те, что произошли в реальности. Вклад автора в сюжетном плане ничтожно мал. Поллард пытается показать Версаль на закате правления Короля-солнца, и зрелище выходит малоприятным: придворные густо белят лица, маскируя следы оспы и «нехороших» болезней. Малоприятная картина. Но писательнице обязательно нужно добавить физиологичности. И вот мы уже читаем про Версаль, пропитанный запахом мочи из-за отсутствия канализации и неделями немытых горшков. Понятно, что это попытка сыграть на контрасте, но фокус не удался. Положительную сторону дворцовой жизни нам вообще не показывают. Ну знаете, то самое напускное богатство и роскошь, за которыми скрывается всякая грязь. Читателя нельзя шокировать мерзостью если пишешь только про мерзость. Более того, Клэр Поллард считает нужным придать практически каждому взаимодействию персонажей сексуализированный подтекст. Да, даже тем, которые могли бы обойтись без него. Вот это бесило больше всего. Не само их наличие, или не то, что это безвкусно и беззубо. Видит бог, я не настолько эстет. А то, что эти подтексты ни на что не влияют и существуют просто «потому что». По мне так, это хуже.
Средняя оценка связана с тем, что я мало что знала о Версале и о правлении Людовика XIV, так что все события книги лично для меня – новая информация. Это были интересные несколько часов на Википедии, но не более. Как художественное произведение вдохновлённое реальными событиями а-ля Филиппа Грегори – это плохо. Как фанфик, написанный про реальных людей и фантазии на тему их сексуальной жизни – ещё хуже.
В «Версальских Фаях» писательница Клэр Поллард представляет читателю свою интерпретацию того, что происходило в салоне Мари д'Онуа в период правления Короля-солнце Людовика XIV. За редкими исключениями, все персонажи книги – реально существующие исторические личности. В целом у судеб героев Поллард всё же больше сходств чем различий с их историческими прототипами. И, пожалуй, в этом и главная проблема лично для меня.
Самые интересные события – это те, что произошли в реальности. Вклад автора в сюжетном плане ничтожно мал. Поллард пытается показать Версаль на закате правления Короля-солнца, и зрелище выходит малоприятным: придворные густо белят лица, маскируя следы оспы и «нехороших» болезней. Малоприятная картина. Но писательнице обязательно нужно добавить физиологичности. И вот мы уже читаем про Версаль, пропитанный запахом мочи из-за отсутствия канализации и неделями немытых горшков. Понятно, что это попытка сыграть на контрасте, но фокус не удался. Положительную сторону дворцовой жизни нам вообще не показывают. Ну знаете, то самое напускное богатство и роскошь, за которыми скрывается всякая грязь. Читателя нельзя шокировать мерзостью если пишешь только про мерзость. Более того, Клэр Поллард считает нужным придать практически каждому взаимодействию персонажей сексуализированный подтекст. Да, даже тем, которые могли бы обойтись без него. Вот это бесило больше всего. Не само их наличие, или не то, что это безвкусно и беззубо. Видит бог, я не настолько эстет. А то, что эти подтексты ни на что не влияют и существуют просто «потому что». По мне так, это хуже.
Средняя оценка связана с тем, что я мало что знала о Версале и о правлении Людовика XIV, так что все события книги лично для меня – новая информация. Это были интересные несколько часов на Википедии, но не более. Как художественное произведение вдохновлённое реальными событиями а-ля Филиппа Грегори – это плохо. Как фанфик, написанный про реальных людей и фантазии на тему их сексуальной жизни – ещё хуже.
May 20, 2026
C’era una volta. Non è una storia per bambini, edito a gennaio 2026 da Heloola Books (traduzione di Velia Februari), è un romanzo storico ambientato alla corte di Luigi XIV, re di Francia, alla fine del 1600. L’autrice è Clare Pollard, scrittrice, traduttrice e critica letteraria britannica. Nel 2024 è stata eletta membro della Royal Society of Literature.
Siamo alla corte di Re Sole, ma non è tutto oro quello che luccica. I francesi soffrono una tassazione severa per estendere i confini del territorio, e per mantenere una florida economia il sovrano si inventa tante regole, addirittura fa acquistare stoffe, merletti e sete all’aristocrazia per participare ai balli. Quasi tutti i nobili sono sul lastrico, le dimore delle famiglie nobiliari sono mezze disabitate, fredde, fatiscenti. Le strade di Parigi sono piene di gente povera, malata e affamata. Per sopravvivere bisogna ingannare, tramare, ordire complotti. Non ci si può fidare di nessuno.
In questo contesto, nasce un salone letterario che passerà alla storia per le figure illustri che hanno partecipato alle serate dove venivano narrate le fiabe più belle e originali. La fondatrice è Madame Marie-Catherine D’Aulnoy (1651-1705), che fu la prima persona a pubblicare una fiaba in Francia, L’Isola della Felicità. Assiduo frequentatore del suo salotto fu Charles Perrault (1628-1703) membro dell’Académie française dal 1671 e autore di Histoires ou contes du temps passé, avec des moralités, noto anche come Contes de ma mère L’Oye (I racconti di mamma Oca), una raccolta di fiabe tra le più conosciute e amate: Pelle d’asino, Cappuccetto Rosso, Barbablù, la bella addormentata nel bosco, Pollicino, Cenerentola e il gatto con gli stivali. Altro membro, meno illustre ma importante per la fiaba che andrà a comporre, fu Charlotte-Rose de Caumont de La Force, che dopo uno scandalo rientrerà nel salotto per condividere il suo lavoro Persinette, fiaba entusiasmante per il pubblico grazie al finale innovativo nel quale è la protagonista a salvare l’amato principe. Questa favola è arrivata a noi, con un altro nome, nell’adattamento dei fratelli Grimm: Raperonzolo.
Dalle prime pagine capiamo subito che gli intellettuali vengono perseguitati dagli uomini del Re e dalla polizia, per la satira, le battute o semplicemente qualche riferimento irriverente al sovrano, nonostante l’uso frequente dell’allegoria per rendere i contenuti meno espliciti. Luigi XIV non appare mai nel libro; lo vediamo solo di sfuggita in un frangente, ma di lui sappiamo molte cose. Gli piacciono le donne, ha moltissime amanti, figli illegittimi, non bada a spese sperperando denaro senza criterio alcuno, ma tiene alla sua reputazione, coprendo persino dei crimini, se questi possono delegittimare la sua autorità. Ha la gotta e non emana un buon odore, in vita sua si sarà lavato tre volte. Più che un personaggio è un’entità che rappresenta alla perfezione la decadenza della corte di Versailles.
“E l’apoteosi del potere reale è la Bastiglia”. Entreremo dentro al carcere di massima sicurezza nel corso della narrazione, una delle nostre protagoniste, infatti, verrà condotta lì. Perché? Nel salotto c’è una spia che riferisce tutto al capo della polizia La Reynie. I membri sono in allerta, ma non riescono a individuare chi sia fra loro. Sanno che “la letteratura è un nido di vipere”, ma non riescono a capire chi sia la più serpe di tutti. I membri, quando mettono in scena le loro storie, cercano il più possibile di mascherare la satira nei confronti del governo e di non usare termini che possano urtare la sensibilità del sovrano. Termini come veleno, per esempio.
Il Re ha una lunga relazione con una donna, che per decenni è stata la sua favorita, Marie-Anne-Christine-Victoire di Baviera. Questa donna è una delle figure più potenti dell’epoca; spietata e senza scrupoli, tutta la corte la teme. Con il passare degli anni, sfiorendo la sua bellezza, ha dovuto complottare, cospirare e passare anche all’azione per mantenere il suo status. La sua firma divenne proprio il veleno. Non che non ci fossero prove, ma il Re preferiva coprire gli omicidi piuttosto che avere uno scandalo che macchiasse la sua figura.
Ma non è la corruzione del corpo ad accendere la miccia del terrore, bensì la corruzione dell’anima, la sete di potere e di ricchezza e l’abitudine agli agi, a cui nessuno può o vuole rinunciare.
Quello che fa Pollard in questo libro è alternare fiction e non fiction, personaggi storici e personaggi inventati, che vanno a costruire una favola nella favola. Vi divertirete a cercare di capire dove l’autrice è intervenuta, e lo andrete a cercare, perché non resisterete alla tentazione di indagare nella storia
April 29, 2026
oh this was SCRUMPTIOUS!!!!!!!!
Read
August 4, 2025Winner 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.
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.
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