Rekindle the Wonder: Fairy Tales for Adults

The magic of fairy tales is everlasting. There's always been an underlying darkness to fairy tales worth revisiting and exploring, for it brings with it a fascinating kind of romance steeped in history and culture, but also dreams and the unconscious. Check out these titles if you're interested in rekindling the wonder and suspension of disbelief that fairy tales never fail to provide.

More Than True: At first this nonfiction book may seem like an overanalysis of children’s stories. But slowly, as Robert Bly reinterprets old classics, he no longer sounds like the crazy professor but instead a sage of interpretation.

J.R.R. Tolkien’s Beren and Lúthien, published for the first time in 2017 as a standalone novel by his son, Christopher Tolkien, is a romantic fairy tale and adventure story about the love and journey between a mortal man—Beren—and an Elfin maiden—Luthien.

Undine and Other Tales is considered one of the finest stories from the fairy tale canon. It features timeless worlds such as a quaint rural cottage, an island garden, an enchanted wood, a town and kingdom, and the deep blue sea. Oh, and there’s a mermaid.

Tanith Lee’s White as Snow is a disturbing and powerful book that infuses mythology, specifically the Demeter and Persephone story, into the Snow White fairy tale.

Read an entry from the Gale Virtual Reference Library for a comprehensive definition of the fairy-tale.