A journey into the lives of seven tellers of fairy tales: inventors, thieves, rebels and forgotten geniuses who gave us classic tales such as ‘Cinderella’, ‘Hansel and Gretel’, ‘Beauty and the Beast’ and ‘Baba Yaga’. The Fairy Tellers travels from medieval Kashmir to nineteenth century Scandinavia, exploring the connections that link stories across the world, and investigating the astonishingly specific life experiences that many tellers poured into their tales. Amongst the characters in the book are a German apothecary’s daughter, a Syrian youth running away from a career in the souk and a Russian dissident embroiled in a plot to assassinate the Tsar.

‘A carnival of a book, rigorously researched and jostling with life’. Amy Jeffs, author of Storyland

‘His cornucopia of tellers and tales is a delight, a riveting celebration of a genre’. Financial Times

‘Prepare yourself for a wild ride.’ The Times