New book with Lorena coming in 2022

I’m delighted to announce that my new book with Lorena Carrington, Magical Tales from French Camelot, will be published by Serenity Press in March 2022. It features my original translations and retellings of several wonderful French Arthurian tales from the 12th century, especially those by Marie de France and Chrétien de Troyes. Though not strictly speaking fairy tales, they include many fairy tale elements and are extraordinary stories. Lorena has created the most gorgeous visual world for the stories, with glorious, atmospheric and richly evocative illustrations. It’s been a great joy collaborating with her again!

Below is the beautiful cover, and the blurb of the book. Can’t wait for it to be out!

The legend of King Arthur began in Britain. But it is in twelfth-century France that the stories really took off, with gifted writers creating a panoply of vivid new characters and elements such as Lancelot, Perceval, the Grail and the doomed love between Lancelot and Guinevere, within a richly imagined, action-packed world of adventure, magic, romance and mystery. Women as much as men are important characters in the French stories, there’s an intriguing take on shapeshifters and other supernatural beings, and fascinating glimpses of the patterns and customs of medieval life as well as explorations of conscience and the true nature of courage. In the process these extraordinary medieval writers, such as Chrétien de Troyes and Marie de France, created a whole new immensely popular genre of literature whose appeal and influence endures to this day.

This beautiful new collection of stories translated and powerfully retold by Sophie Masson and superbly illustrated by Lorena Carrington will introduce you to some of the most striking tales and extraordinary characters and places from the French Arthurian tradition, transporting you into a gripping, magical world like no other.

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It was a lovely launch!

French Fairy Tales was launched online yesterday evening–it was such a lovely launch, enjoyed it so much! Here below is a link to the launch video(the event was livestreamed). And now the book is well and truly out in the world! You can buy it as a print book here, or as a flipbook(like an ebook, only better!) here.

Something about French Fairy Tales…

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.

 

 

Welcome to my Fairy Tale Country site!

Welcome to my new  site, which focuses on those of my books and stories which are based on or inspired by fairy tale themes. Here you’ll find lists of those books, info, resources and more. I’ll be adding to it as I go along.

I started it in readiness for the upcoming release of French Fairy Tales, my collection of five newly-translated, retold and adapted fairy tales from my mother country, superbly illustrated by the wonderful Lorena Carrington. It will be published by Serenity Press in October. Can’t wait!