The hailed King of masterful writing has pierced the page with mighty words once again, releasing a whopping fantasy novel, reminiscent of the haunting magnificence of those Brothers Grimm. Fairy Tale comes as a nurtured seed during the horrors of the pandemic, bursting forth as an unstoppable beanstalk when Stephen King asked himself the question: “What could you write that would make you happy?”
Charlie Reade is a good lad. When his mother, garbed in her red-riding hood coat, is struck down and his father turns to the bottle in his grief, Charlie is forced to grow up pretty quick. And in a world of pain and problems, it takes a brave heart to keep fighting on. When the sound of troubled barking lures Charlie to elderly Mr Bowditch broken beneath a ladder, his story shifts into unimaginable new chapters, to caring for those in need to discovering gold worthy of Rumpelstiltskin. And to taking winding, stone steps beneath the earth into a world where grey, damaged folk are afraid of something unspeakable…
With King’s world-building leaving little breadcrumbs to the ultimate gingerbread house of plot wonderment, Fairy Tale soars, allowing you to bask happily ever after in its unforgettable spell.
Fairy Tale, Stephen King (Hodder & Stoughton)
Price: £22. Info: here
words KARLA BRADING