Fearsome Fairies: Haunting Tales of the Fae

Gilded Nightmares – Timeless British Library Books

by Elizabeth Dearnley (Editor)

Fearsome Fairies taps into the enormous fascination with fairies in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and includes cornerstone authors of the Weird genre such as Arthur Machen, M R James and Charlotte Riddell. Edited by Elizabeth Dearnley, who has previously edited the Tales of the Weird anthology Into the London Fog: Eerie Tales from the Weird City

You see – no, you do not, but I see – such curious faces: and the people to whom they belong flit about so oddly, often at your elbow when you least expect it, and looking close into your face, as if they were searching for someone – who may be thankful, I think, if they do not find him.

There was an enormous fascination with fairies in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries which popularised depictions of benevolent, butterfly-winged beings and glittering pantomime figures. But the fae have always had a more sinister side. Taking inspiration from folk tales and medieval legends, the works of weird tale and ghost story writers such as Arthur Machen, M. R. James, Angela Carter and Charlotte Riddell show that fairies, goblins and other supernatural entities could be something far more unsettling.

Delving into a frightening realm of otherworldly creatures from banshees to changelings, this new collection of stories revives and revels in the fearsome power of the fairy folk.

Genres: Fantasy, Short Stories, Horror, Fiction, Folklore, Anthologies, Classics

336 pages, Hardcover

First published October 21, 2021

Reviews

[Lauren · Rating 2 out of 5]

This compendium of stories had a lot of promise, but ultimately fell flat for me. The more I read, the more this book felt like a slog to get through. As with any compilation of stories, there was variation in quality: unfortunately I found most of the stories dull, a few I thought were awful, and only one or two really good gems. It's worth noting that these stories were compiled by one person and originate from mid-19th century to today, which changes how I compare them to each other. I'm giving the book as a whole 2.5 stars, but below I'll get into ratings for each story:

1. The Banshee's Warning (1867) by Charlotte Riddell: 2.5 ⭐

Just okay - very finicky, stuffy language, but has a decent sense of irony.

2. Laura Silver Bell (1872) by J. Sheridan Le Fanu: 3 ⭐

Mildly spooky and enjoyable. The author spends a lot of time mocking lower-class people but it's not all that surprising for 1872.

3. The White People (1904) by Arthur Machen: 2.5 ⭐

More like an acid trip than a story. It has some really cool imagery, almost no plot, and far too much philosophical debate.

4. In The Closed Room (1904) by Frances Hodgson Burnett: 4 ⭐

Eerie and dreamy and lots of fun, if a little confusing. Solid characters, gripping plot, and "Return to Oz" vibes.

5. Lock-Out Time (1906) by J.M. Barrie: 3 ⭐

The author of Peter Pan, and this short story is about him as well. There was nothing scary/spooky about this one - the fairies were very cutesy flower-children. This story is kind of a bummer.

6. By The Yellow Moonrock (1921) by Fiona Shaw: 1.5 ⭐

Long boring dialogue and characters I didn't care about. There was one decent moment of fear - I wish the author had leaned into that more. Otherwise the story is just super dull.

7. After Dark in the Playing Fields (1924) by M.R. James: 1 ⭐

Just a weird, silly, pointless little nothing-burger. This one is really not for me.

8. The Case of the Leannabh Sidhe (1945) by Margery Lawrence: 3.5 ⭐

This is SUCH a long story but it's a lot of fun and really satisfying. The author definitely could have trimmed the fat in a lot of places. That being said, I love a good changeling story, and this one is deliciously nasty. This story gives more of a 'detective novella' feel than a short-story feel, but it's worth it.

9. The Trod (1946) by Algernon Blackwood: 3.5 ⭐

Decently entertaining and chilling, with unsatisfying characters and an even more unsatisfying ending.

10. The Erl-King (1979) by Angela Carter: 4.5 ⭐

The best story in the bunch, in my opinion. The prose is intricate, evocative, and imagery-rich. It's eerie, unsettling, and disturbing. What it lacks in plot it makes up for in Vibes. Just stunning.

11. Concerning A Boy And A Girl Emerging From The Earth (1980) by Randolph Stow: 1 ⭐

I really hated it. This story feels like an excuse for the author to detail the sexual escapades of a child with a string of grown men and paint her as the "seductress". Really gross.

12. In Yon Green Hill To Dwell (2014) by Jane Alexander: 3 ⭐

I like the modern prose, and the characters were compelling, but I feel like I needed more context for it to really resonate with me. It felt like I was reading a fan-fiction based on a book I'd never read.

[Gabriella · Rating 5 out of 5]

This anthology was fantastic - eerie, unsettling, and magical. Elizabeth Dearnley selected a great range of stories from the 1860s to the present, each revealing a different face of Faerie. My favourites were "Laura Silver Bell" (Le Fanu), "The Case of the Leannabh Sidhe" (Lawrence), and "The Trod" (Blackwood). All were gripping stories informed by a deep love and knowledge of folklore - the tropes and traditions in each story were familiar, but all were so well-written that they made the ancient tales more memorable and striking.

I had never actually read "The White People" by Arthur Machen before, and found it seriously unsettling - it refused to leave my mind for days. I can see how many contemporary horror authors have been influenced by this story - its tone reminded me of other works I've read by Tanith Lee and Laird Barron. Something about the girl's narrating style in the Green Book even reminded me of "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins-Gillman. Extremely creepy. Even the horror film, "Hereditary", was brought to mind (though it may give spoilers to explain exactly why).

Overall, I loved this anthology and Dearnley's introduction has extended my TBR list even further with some intriguing mentions in her "Further Reading" section!

As a final note... the presentation of this book is divine. Beautiful thick paper (almost like card!), a buttercup-yellow hardcover with shimmering green foiling, AND twining, mystical leaf-green endpapers... the content aside, it is a simply beautiful book to hold and admire. I hope there is a Volume 2 in the works!

[AC · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of the stories were better than others.

The winners: I'm biased but I always love JM Barrie and Frances Hodgson Burnett. Some others that I hadn't heard of as well, Margery Lawrence's The Case of the Leannbh Sidhe, The Trod

The losers: The White People, In Yon Green Hill to Dwell

Overall, a solid collection on a really nice theme. I love creepy fairy tales.

[Kaye Salter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful collection! A nice mix of more famous and lesser known tales

[Aura · Rating 3 out of 5]

An exciting panorama into almost two centuries of faery lore, ranging from the mysterious to the eerie, historical to modern.

[Kelly Warner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just perfect... This book is everything I wanted from a compendium of fairy lore. The Trod was my favourite. The cover and illustrations are gorgeous.

This book is for you if:
-You're looking for stories that don't just paint fairies as beautiful gentle things, but creatures ancient and wily and sometimes evil
-You like Christina Rossetti's Goblin Market
-You like creepy, atmospheric and ghostly stories steeped in nature
-You like folklore
-You don't mind short stories of varied lengths (I thought it was well paced)

Beautiful!!!!!!

[Aaron Long · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fearsome fairies is an anthology of short haunting tales relating to the fae but not as one might expect. The beautful book edited by Elizabeth Dearnley is perfect in it's structure, it's content and presentation, the pages are of thick, high quality and the feel of the book is just top notch. Elizabeth really excelled when putting together this collection and she does so with each short tale from the earliest selected being (1867) all the way up to (2014). Each story will offer something to someone and it's clear that Elizabeth took time and great care in her excellent balance of selections for the book. My personal standouts of the book were as follows.👇

1) (Laura silver Bell) Written by the godfather of the weird and wonderful Sheridan Le Fanu was my personal favourite and one of the most spine chilling yarns I have ever read. The way in which Le Fanu writes just sends chills down my spine and isn't that what the purpose is.? Written in 1872 and set in the moorlands of Northumbria where unbaptized orphan Laura Lew encounters a mysterious young Lord adorned in black velvet clothes. The beauty behind Le Fanu's writing is that less is more and no gore needed, his subtle edginess of atmosphere building is second to none and in my opinion nobody does it better than these 18th century writers of a bygone era.

2) (The white people) written by Arthur Machen 1904 which inspired Pan's Labrynth is just as haunting as it is dreamlike a story which focuses on a young girl whom is drawn into a dark yet magical underworld by the little people or good folk as they are known teeters between a dream and a nightmare. Very atmospheric, feverish and inviting.

3) (In the closed room) written by Francis Hodgson Burnett 1904 breaks up the collection just at the perfect time, as you've been subjected to chills and unnerving haunts up to now Elizabeth breaks it up and gives you this utterly beautful tale of one young girls encounter with something behind a closed door. The story opens up in downtown new York and ends within the mythical Scottish highlands. Perfect light hearted story telling which caters both to young and old.

4) (By the yellow moonrock) written by William Sharp via alter ego Fiona Macleod 1921 is a superb chilling Scottish highland tale about a bloodsucking lamia similar to the Scottish legend bao-bhan sith who is said to procure unwitting men to untimely demise not before madness sets in to the unsuspecting traveller.

5) (After dark in the playing fields) written by M.R.James 1924 is probably my second personal favourite of the collection and suffice to say James was highly inspired by master horror writer Sheridan Le Fanu which is why I loved this eery, midsummer underlying dark tale within the playing field after dark. It is clear M.R James was massively inspired by Le Fanu but at the same time finds his own rhythm/style which raised the bar for those who came after.

6) (The case of Leannabh Sidhe) written by Margery Lawrence 1945 is the longest of this collection and a perfectly told and preserved haunting Irish tale about those who venture into the woods never to be the same again. The legend of the changeling (Leanbh si/fairy child) is perfectly represented here by Lawrence and will remain with you weeks or months thereafter.

7) (The Trod) written by Algernon Blackwood 1946 could well have been a novella of it's own as this one is just written with such endless possibilities yet ends in perfect fashion. Sometimes in this life it's worth heeding warning by those in the know, the trod should reaffirm this to you. A true hidden gem and one worth searching for, excellent.

8) (The erl-king) written by Angela Carter 1979 is a gothic, folk horror tale written in a completely unconventional style which proved refreshing in the sense of how Carter conveys the living wood of unexpected terror you are immersed in, whether or not that's a good thing is down to who's invited.

9) (Concerning a boy and a girl emerging from the earth) written by Randolph Stow 1980 was inspired by true accounts of two green skinned children who are reported to have been found in the 12th century and were intolerant to human food. I have studied this case in great detail and it was a welcome surprise to have read Randolph Stow's superb emotionally charged retelling of the green children of woolpit in such a creative and heart warming fashion. Perfect addition for the collection which fit like a glove.

In closing as a huge fan of subtle sub genre folk horror and tales of the fae it doesn't get much better than this, it's flawless in every way and if such genre is you're bag then why haven't you added this stunning book to you're shelf yet.? Great editing job Elizabeth Dearnley and thank you for preserving these timeless tales for future generations to experience.💖

[Aaron Long · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fearsome fairies is an anthology of short haunting tales relating to the fae but not as one might expect. The beautful book edited by Elizabeth Dearnley is perfect in it's structure, it's content and presentation, the pages are of thick, high quality and the feel of the book is just top notch. Elizabeth really excelled when putting together this collection and she does so with each short tale from the earliest selected being (1867) all the way up to (2014). Each story will offer something to someone and it's clear that Elizabeth took time and great care in her excellent balance of selections for the book. My personal standouts of the book were as follows.👇

1) (Laura silver Bell) Written by the godfather of the weird and wonderful Sheridan Le Fanu was my personal favorite and one of the most spine chilling yarns I have ever read. The way in which Le Fanu writes just sends chills down my spine and isn't that what the purpose is.? Written in 1872 and set in the moorlands of Northumbria where unbaptized orphan Laura Lew encounters a mysterious young Lord adorned in black velvet clothes. The beauty behind Le Fanu's writing is that less is more and no gore needed, his subtle edginess of atmosphere building is second to none and in my opinion nobody does it better than these 18th century writers of a bygone era.

2) (The white people) written by Arthur Machen 1904 which inspired Pan's Labrynth is just as haunting as it is dreamlike a story which focuses on a young girl whom is drawn into a dark yet magical underworld by the little people or good folk as they are known teeters between a dream and a nightmare. Very atmospheric, feverish and inviting.

3) (In the closed room) written by Francis Hodgson Burnett 1904 breaks up the collection just at the perfect time, as you've been subjected to chills and unnerving haunts up to now Elizabeth breaks it up and gives you this utterly beautful tale of one young girls encounter with something behind a closed door. The story opens up in downtown new York and ends within the mythical Scottish highlands. Perfect light hearted story telling which caters both to young and old.

4) (By the yellow moonrock) written by William Sharp via alter ego Fiona Macleod 1921 is a superb chilling Scottish highland tale about a bloodsucking lamia similar to the Scottish legend bao-bhan sith who is said to procure unwitting men to untimely demise not before madness sets in to the unsuspecting traveller.

5) (After dark in the playing fields) written by M.R.James 1924 is probably my second personal favourite of the collection and suffice to say James was highly inspired by master horror writer Sheridan Le Fanu which is why I loved this eery, midsummer underlying dark tale within the playing field after dark. It is clear M.R James was massively inspired by Le Fanu but at the same time finds his own rhythm/style which raised the bar for those who came after.

6) (The case of Leannabh Sidhe) written by Margery Lawrence 1945 is the longest of this collection and a perfectly told and preserved haunting Irish tale about those who venture into the woods never to be the same again. The legend of the changeling (Leanbh si/fairy child) is perfectly represented here by Lawrence and will remain with you weeks or months thereafter.

7) (The Trod) written by Algernon Blackwood 1946 could well have been a novella of it's own as this one is just written with such endless possibilities yet ends in perfect fashion. Sometimes in this life it's worth heeding warning by those in the know, the trod should reaffirm this to you. A true hidden gem and one worth searching for, excellent.

8) (The erl-king) written by Angela Carter 1979 is a gothic, folk horror tale written in a completely unconventional style which proved refreshing in the sense of how Carter conveys the living wood of unexpected terror you are immersed in, whether or not that's a good thing is down to who's invited.

9) (Concerning a boy and a girl emerging from the earth) written by Randolph Stow 1980 was inspired by true accounts of two green skinned children who are reported to have been found in the 12th century and were intolerant to human food. I have studied this case in great detail and it was a welcome surprise to have read Randolph Stow's superb emotionally charged retelling of the green children of woolpit in such a creative and heart warming fashion. Perfect addition for the collection which fit like a glove.

In closing as a huge fan of subtle sub genre folk horror and tales of the fae it doesn't get much better than this, it's flawless in every way and if such genre is you're bag then why haven't you added this stunning book to you're shelf yet.? Great editing job Elizabeth Dearnley and thank you for preserving these timeless tales for future generations to experience.💖

[Adrian Farrel · Rating 4 out of 5]

In "Fearsome Fairies: Haunting Tales of the Fae" (published by The British Library) Elizabeth Dearnley has collected together 12 shortish stories from English-language writers and ordered them chronologically from 1867 to 2014. This ordering might make some sense if the choice of tales is intended to show how fairy lore evolved over that period, but seems only to have been done to solve the question of in what order to place the contributions in the book.

Not all of the stories directly concern faeries, although each has some "other-worldly" aspect, be it the spirit of a dead child in Frances Hodgson Burnett's "In The Closed Room", or green children in Randolph Stow's "Concerning A Boy And A Girl Emerging From The Earth."

All the tales capture, through re-telling, some elements of folk history and the underlying belief in the unknown. Dearnley introduces the collection by talking about Connan Doyle's discovery of the Cottingley Fairy photographs and his long-standing belief that they were genuine pictures. She uses this to claim that the most common view of fairies nowadays is based on these images (small, delicate, and winged humanoid creatures). I would suggest such images have as much to do with the joint sacarine influences of J.M. Barrie and Walt Disney as Connan Doyle, something that the editor goes some way to confirm by including "Lock-Out Time" by Barrie in which Peter Pan is introduced to us together with the fairies with whom he lives.

Maybe the best commonality in the stories is that they are set in the real world so that the proximity of the fae (or else some otherworldliness) appears always close at hand. Fairies could be real. Otherwise, the collection is somewhat ad hoc. That is not to say that the stories are not worth reading, and some are very good (I particularly liked Jane Alexander's "In Yonder Green Hill To Dwell").

Each tale is introduced by the author through one or two pages of text describing the author, their involvement with the subject matter, and the context of the story. This is really helpful, well-written, and informative.

In order to book-end her opening remarks, Dearnley concludes the volume with reproductions of the famous Cottingley Fairy photographs, each with a short explanation and history. This, I feel, is a shame and something the book didn't need. It's true that the photos are also "artistic creations" and tell a tale of fairies for us to think about today, and they also relate the story of how people's willingness and desired to believe in fairies has existed even in modern times, but there is no sophistication to the pictures and they are nothing but sugar on the eyelids.

All in all, this is a nice book to have on the shelf: it is splendidly solid in its bright yellow hard cover and with its thick, no-nonsense pages.

[Adam Cuninghame · Rating 4 out of 5]

At risk of sounding like I'm buying into these stories a little too much, I swear this book wanted me to read it: It sat on a shelf in the shop where I work over the summers, and the eyes in its cover gazed at me every time I went into the back room. Three days I tried to ignore it, thinking that surely someone would buy it (it's a rather attractive book), but eventually I gave in. This is why working in a bookshop is rarely profitable.
Anyway, I was not disappointed. The only tale I was disappointed by was 'The White People'. I found it difficult to read, long, and uninteresting. The first two are of course forgivable, but the third...
Anyway, to cheerier matters. Most of these authors I had never heard of, and I surprisingly enjoyed the short biographies on each of them before each story. And the stories themselves!
A great collection with a lot of variety. Many reviews on this book seem to swoon over Laura Silver Bell and The Case of Leannabh Sidhe. I can't disagree. They're outstanding. But so is In The Closed Room - exceptionally creepy, By The Yellow Moon Rock - breathing more of the Celtic Mysticism back into the collection, Concerning a Boy and Girl... - which is just unsettling, and In Yon Green Hill to Dwell, which surprised me greatly. I hadn't expected anything quite so modern.
I'll wrap up the review now, by saying this. It wasn't overall as haunting as I expected. Rarely did I get the feeling of sitting around as kids and telling each other ghost stories. But you also don't always need that. These are mostly just good.

[Siri Olsen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fearsome Fairies: Haunting Tales of the Fae is an anthology of stories concerning fairies and fae folk. The collection spans from the mid-nineteenth century into the twenty-first and includes tales by such famous writers as J. Sheridan Le Fanu, J. M. Barrie and Angela Carter. The selection is highly engaging, and many of the stories are effectively unsettling, not least such entries as The Case of the Leannabh Sidhe from 1945 and The Erl-King from 1979. Together, the stories in the collection provide a great introduction to the development of fae mythology in literature through the last 150 years. Another fantastic, and very atmospheric, entry in the British Library's anthology series.

[Elena Varg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Extremely hit and miss collection. Some of the stories where excellent (like ’The Trod’ and ’In Yon Green Hill to Dwell’) but some of them were neither fearsome nor about fairies (at least I read ’In the Closed Room’ more as a ghost story).

The biggest mistake the editor made with this collection was putting ’The Case of the Leannabh Sidhe’ right in the middle of the book. Having a full on novella in a collection of short-stories really messed up the pacing.

[Ehryn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really, really enjoyed reading this collection, so terribly sad when I got to the last story and closed the book. Each story is different and unique, some quite popular and others were ones I had never heard of. Each held that eerie, sort of gothic feeling, making you second guess whether you really wanted to see the fairies or not.

[Jessica Hooley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Really struggled to get through the short stories. Some were better than others. But struggled to attach to any because they were short. I don't really remember them since I was distracted. The by Margery Lawrence I vaguely remember. Not bad. Just not for me.

[Robyn Tocker · Rating 4 out of 5]

This colourful cover jumped out at me on the shelf and I just had to read it. A collection of fearsome fairy stories indeed! The stories span the 1890s all the way to 2014. All were enjoyable (some more than others) and I'm sure it will prove useful for future stories I work on. I'm eager to collect more collections like this in the future!

[Rachael Mills · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely loved this collection of fae tales and discovered some new authors I plan to read.

[Ryan Morrison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book filled with some fantastic stories not all were to my taste, but from it I have gathered a good list of other authors to track down!

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favourites included Laura Silver Bell and The Case of The Leannabh Sidhe ✨

[BEEEAR]

**The Case of the Leannabh Sidhe (1945) by Margery Lawrence

[Dee Dee · Rating 5 out of 5]

The stories vary in tastes but the good ones outweigh the bad. Overall, a great collection of unique tales.

[Irina Kuzmina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was looking for Scandinavian folklore tales when I came across this book, so I can’t say I had any particular expectations. I���ve never been a big fan of fairies, but you never know what hidden gem might be waiting under the cover.

The book includes 11 stories written by different authors across various periods (from the mid-1800s to the 2010s). I truly enjoyed only four of them—the rest were either difficult to follow because of the writing style or simply felt boring to me.

True fans of fairy tales will probably find this collection more captivating than I did.