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Bedside Companion to Folklore and Magic

Jane McMorland Hunter

Batsford

Format:

Hardback ISBN: 9781849944984

Hardback publication date: 11 September 2025

Series: Bedside Companions

Category: Folklore & fairy tales

Hardback price:

£ 25.00

Step into a world of enchantment with this captivating collection of prose and poetry, fact and fiction on myth and magic, folklore and faery.

Bedside Companion to Folklore and Magic contains a rich selection of prose and poetry, fiction and fact, with one entry to read every night of the year. Within the pages of this beautifully designed volume you’ll encounter dancing fairies, ferocious dragons, trickster gods, witches and wizards, enchanted islands, shape-shifting animals, and magic spells. Fantastical delights to peruse include:

• Tales from global folklore: Anansi the spider, Little Tieke the Dancing Thief from Maori legend, and Louise Erdrich’s accounts of North American Ojibwe tradition.

• Fiction ranging from classic fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen to exciting modern fantasy such as Marlon James’s Black Leopard, Red Wolf, and poetry including Christina Rosetti’s peerless Goblin Market.

• The very best of magical children’s literature: excerpts from The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, Peter Pan, His Dark Materials and, more recently, Katherine Rundell’s Impossible Creatures.

• Non-fiction sources: extracts from 18th-century grimoires containing bloodthirsty revenge spells, lively accounts of enduring folk wisdom, and classic anthropological texts such as James George Fraser’s The Golden Bough.

If you’re in need of an escape into otherworldly realms, keep this book by your bedside and end every day with a fascinating flight of fantasy.

ABOUT THE Editor

Jane McMorland Hunter writes and edits books on the good things in life: gardening, nature, cookery, craft and poetry, whilst also working part-time at Hatchards Bookshop, London. She has written and edited several books, including 100 Happy PoemsA Happy Poem to End Every Day, Ode to London, Favourite Poems of England, A Nature Poem for Every Day of the Year and Nature Writing for Every Day of the Year. She lives in West London and can be found on social media at @alittlecitygarden.

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