Publication: 19th January 2023 – Orbit
Enter the world of the hidden folk – and discover the most whimsical, enchanting and heart-warming tale you’ll read this year, featuring the intrepid Emily Wilde…
Emily Wilde is good at many things: she is the foremost expert on the study of faeries; she is a genius scholar and a meticulous researcher who is writing the world’s first encylopaedia of faerie lore. But Emily Wilde is not good at people
So when she arrives in the hardscrabble village of Hrafnsvik, Emily has no intention of befriending the gruff townsfolk. Nor does she care to spend time with another new arrival: her dashing and insufferably handsome academic rival Wendell Bambleby.
But as Emily gets closer to uncovering the secrets of the Hidden Ones – the most elusive of all faeries – she also finds herself on the trail of another mystery: who is Wendell Bambleby, and what does he really want? To find the answer, she’ll have to unlock the greatest mystery of all – her own heart.
Filled with enchanting magic, heart-warming romance and a heroine you can’t help but love, Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries is the perfect read for fans of The Ten Thousand Doors of January and Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell.
I am really excited to take part in the blog tour for Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Fairies, the fantastic new novel by Heather Fawcett.
The protagonist of the story is Emily Wilde, a Cambridge professor and a worldwide expert on dryadology, the study of faeries. The story is set at the beginning of the 1900s, and, because she is a woman, Emily must prove twice as much as her male colleagues her value and her knowledge. Emily is working on a comprehensive encyclopaedia of faeries, the first of its kind, so she travels around the world researching. Her next trip is to Ljosland, an isolated island situated in the wild seas between the Norwegian and the Arctic Circle coasts.
While Emily is highly intelligent and really good at her job, she is not good at socialising or talking to people in general, so she manages to antagonize the villagers of Hrafnsvik on her first day there. And when her charming, handsome, and yet frustrating colleague and only friend, Wendell Bambleby, arrives to help her, things get much more interesting. Emily is focused on her research for the mysterious species of faerie known as “Hidden Ones”, and, as secrets are unravelled, she will have to figure out what she really wants…
Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Fairies is an incredible story. I was completely engrossed in the writing style, the story, and the amazing characters. Emily is a unique character and I loved her. Socially awkward, smart, witty, and determined, she travels followed by her loyal dog Shadow and her many books. She has always been obsessed with fairies and she’s made her life mission to uncover their secrets, no matter the dangers. I enjoyed her relationship with Wendell and their slow-blooming romance, but he is keeping secrets. What happens when she uncovers them?
At the beginning of the story, Emily declares that she intends to give an honest account of her activities, so the story is told in first person in diary format which I really loved as it makes for a different and fantastic reading experience. Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Fairies is a cosy, magical, intricate, and engrossing academic fantasy debut, the beginning of a series that I can’t wait to keep reading.
A huge thank you to Tracy and Orbit for inviting me to join the blog tour and providing me with a proof of the novel.
Heather Fawcett is the author of the middle grade novels Ember and the Ice Dragons and The Language of Ghosts, as well as the young adult series Even the Darkest Stars. She has a master’s degree in English literature and has worked as an archaeologist, photographer, technical writer, and backstage assistant for a Shakespearean theater festival. She lives on Vancouver Island, Canada.
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