They’re more of a skeleton you can hang different skins on,' Albert says. 'Fairy tales seem, when I reread them now, almost shockingly spare. The promise of the portal fantasy wasn't the only thing that got Albert excited when writing The Hazel Wood: the idea of using fairy tales to drive the plot was a titillating challenge she couldn't resist. It’s an idea that kind of makes my writer brain explode with excitement,' she says. She created one of her own because, according to the author, her 'favorite fictional assumption is that we exist in a multiverse. 'There’s something so exciting about the idea that your entire life can change in an instant if you can just find a door,' Albert says of portal fantasies, like The Hazel Wood, that allow their characters (and readers) to escape into entirely new worlds in a matter of moments. The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert, $11, Amazon With the help of a classmate and Hinterland super-fan Ellery Finch, Alice embarks on the mission of a lifetime: She must find her grandmother's hidden Hazel Wood estate, a mysterious location where reality meets fairy tales, and bring her mother back to the real world. That is, until Ella is kidnapped by a mysterious figure who claims to be from Hinterland, and Alice is forced to confront the fact that her grandmother's world of make-believe might not be make-believe after all. After the death of her famous grandmother Althea Proserpine, the author of a singular collection of devious fairy tales about the 'Hinterland' that boasts a cult-like following, Alice and her mom settle down in New York City, where they hope to finally have a 'normal' life. A unique mashup of fantasy and mystery, The Hazel Wood tells the story of Alice, a 17-year-old girl who spent her life on the road with her mother, Ella, trying to outrun bad luck that never seemed to leave them be. 'Also addictive: the sudden reversals in fortune - paupers to princes, or vice versa - the sudden intrusions of magic on humdrum lives, the satisfying predictability of the more well-known tales.'Īlbert's debut novel, out now from Flatiron Books, is an original fairy tale story that is certainly addictive, but nowhere near predictable. 'It’s hard to resist the bold, black and white morality of fairy tales: the brutal punishments, the rewarding of self-abnegation and beauty,' The Hazel Wood author Melissa Albert tells Bustle.

If their format is so consistent, if their outcomes are so predictable, then why is it we keep returning to the familiar world of fairy tales? When it comes to fairy tales, most readers know exactly how the stories go: The baby is cursed at birth by a jealous rival the wish is granted, but with unintended consequences the ugly old witch is actually a beautiful being in disguise.

The hazel wood series book 3