Over the next month or so, I’ll be posting bits and pieces about my forthcoming collection, French Fairy Tales. With magical, extraordinary illustrations by Lorena Carrington, the book will be published by Serenity Press in late October, and I am so looking forward to its release! (You can also pre-order it right now from the Serenity Press bookstore).
So, for this very first post about French Fairy Tales, and to set the scene as it were, here, below, is the back cover blurb for the book. In future posts, I’ll reveal the identity of the five stories I chose to translate and retell, tell you something about their sources and inspiration, and join with Lorena in writing about a very special magical place in France, which not only inspired the setting of my retelling of a great classic fairy tale, but also became the primary source for Lorena’s creation of the extraordinary visual world of the book.
France is classic fairytale territory. Not just because it’s where many of the most well-known and beloved fairy tales were first written down in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, or because it’s where the term ‘conte de fées’ was invented. France, with its diverse regional cultures, glorious castles, gorgeous countryside and tumultuous history, lives and breathes fairy tale in a uniquely powerful way.
French Fairy Tales collects and retells five stories from stories from different parts of France: some well-known, others newly translated into English. Full of adventure, magic, mystery and romance, with a light-hearted dash of humour and a sprinkling of surprise, these stories feature unforgettable characters: tragic shape-shifters, monstrous creatures, mischievous tricksters, witty youth – and many different kinds of fairies!
Chosen, translated and superbly retold by award-winning French-Australian writer Sophie Masson and enchantingly visualised by acclaimed illustrator Lorena Carrington, these stories will transport you into the potently magical heart of the French fairy tale tradition.
Sophie Masson's Fairytale Country 
Pingback: Something about French Fairy Tales… — Sophie Masson’s Fairytale Country | Feathers of the Firebird