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Cover of Thistlefoot. There is an image of a walking house, and two figures walking along with it, and a bridge at the bottom of the page with a car.

Folkloric Reads for Fall

Written by alamancelibraries on . Posted in Book Reviews.

As the leaves fall and the days get shorter, I always love curling up with a good book. This time of year, I often find myself reaching for folklore-inspired stories alongside a warm mug of cider or hot cocoa to fend off the impending chill. Here are some excellent folkloric books to check out this fall!

Cover of Thistlefoot. There is an image of a walking house, and two figures walking along with it, and a bridge at the bottom of the page with a car.


Nethercott, GennaRose. Thistlefoot. New York : Anchor Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, 2022.
One of my favorite characters from folklore is Baba Yaga and her strange house on chicken legs, roaming the forests of eastern Europe. In Thistlefoot, GennaRose Nethercott breathes new life into the tale through estranged siblings Isaac and Bellatine Yaga, who can’t believe
their luck when they receive a mysterious inheritance: a sentient house on chicken legs called Thistlefoot. Only, someone—or something—else is hunting it, relentlessly stalking the Yagas and the house across the country as they embark on a last-stitch tour of their family’s traveling puppet theater. Nethercott’s writing is lush and lyrical, balancing theatrical humor with the haunting darkness of the Yaga’s family history.
Content Warnings: Violence, Antisemitism, Fire, Mentions of eugenics, Genocide, Child
death

Cover of Uprooted. There is a bookcase-like structure to the images at the top of the cover. There's a woman holding a blooming rose in the center. To the left of her, there is a window with a woman looking at her, a window with a bird, and a window with two glass chemical beakers. To the right, there is a window with a creature with three heads and necks, a window with flying books, and a window with just the eye and part of the face of a man.

Novik, Naomi. Uprooted. New York : Del Rey, [2015].
Inspired by Polish folklore, Naomi Novik’s Uprooted weaves together elements of traditional fairy tales—an ancient wizard, a girl in a tower, a forest of dark magic— to create a story that feels both familiar and fresh. Young Agnieszka lives in a small village in a kingdom that borders the Wood, a forest of sinister magic that destroys villages and drives villagers mad. Their only protector from the Wood is the Dragon, a centuries-old wizard who lives in a grand tower… but his protection comes at a cost. Every ten years, the Dragon demands a sacrifice: a village girl, who will serve him for ten years. When the Dragon reluctantly selects Agnieszka to serve him during the Choosing, it leads her down a long, twisting road to discovering her own power. Uprooted leans into the darkness of old fairy tales and twists reader expectations connected to fairy tale tropes. A trip through the Wood
is not for the faint of heart….
Content Warnings: Death, Violence, War, Vomit, Sexual content

Cover of A Dark and Drowning Tide. A man and a woman are lying in water on the cover, mostly in black and white, but with red lips and a bare hint of color in their faces. They are staring at the reader.

Saft, Allison. A Dark and Drowning Tide. New York : Del Rey, [2024].
Folklore meets fantasy romance in this story where an expedition is thrown off course when the leader is murdered. As the expedition pushes onward, two rival students must work together to uncover the identity of the murderer and locate a site long believed to be myth as even more dangers lie ahead: mythical monsters, forests that rearrange themselves at night, and simmering tensions among the remaining members of the expedition. At its core, A Dark and Drowning Tide is a love letter to Bavarian folklore and a confrontation of the prejudices that lie at the center of many fairy tales—perfect for fans of
Leigh Bardugo and Ava Reid.

Content Warnings: Murder, Sexual content, Violence, Antisemitism

Sara D. is a Library Assistant at Graham Public Library.

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