Emily Wilde series by Heather Fawcett
Emily Wilde's Encyclopedia of Faeries
See also (soon):
Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands
Emily Wilde's Compendium of Lost Tales
COMING SOON: Emily Wilde's History of Dark Faerie (shivers!)
*Be aware that these are fairy tales in the OLD sense, where the Fae are beautiful beyond words but also deadly: treacherous, amoral, and careless of mortal frailties where they are not outright cruel beyond human comprehension. Do not read these to your pre-teen children - or to any adults prone to nightmares.
It's impossible to praise just one of the Emily Wilde books and do it justice. Even though they can be read alone, the 3 books available so far have beautifully connected stories that flow together like one longer story that we readers are privileged to join for the journey in each part. When I accidentally dipped into the 3rd book last fall when it showed up on the New Release shelf of my local library, I instantly had to go back and start at the 1st book to learn how Emily got to that VERY intriguing opening sequence.
The writing, the characters, the setup were all catnip to one who has loved Genevieve Cogman's INVISIBLE LIBRARY series or The Scholar and the Last Faerie Door by H.G. Parry. The character Grace in Natasha Pulley's The Watchmaker of Filigree Street. Lydia, wife of James Asher in the vampire novels by Barbara Hambly, who is also a scholar: a brilliant medical researcher & sometimes paranormal investigator. Or any other book about academic women of any era who are investigating arcane mysteries while fending off putdowns by their patriarchal department heads, fellow professors, and disapproving family members (male, mostly). They are all women in men's worlds, investigating and at risk from dangers both mortal and.. extra-mortal, which includes a number of options beyond simply paranormal.
I've since devoured all three Emily books currently available and can unhesitatingly recommend them to anyone who loves strong women, academia, feminism, and the Fae. In fact, I've been known to read snippets out loud to family and friends, because the gentle humour and snarky sidelights on dating life have near-universal appeal.
But enough about me. Back to Emily.
In Emily Wilde's Encyclopedia of Faerie, we quickly learn that Emily's a professor whose area of study is Dryadology, the study of all things related to the Fae. From her journal, which forms the backbone of the narration, it's clear that she's starting field work in a tiny village on an island called Ljosland that might - or might not - correspond to the Norwegian region of the same name known to our modern world.
In her world, roughly akin to early Edwardian British Isles, dryadology is a recognized field of academic endeavour and women can earn degrees in it (they couldn't receive degrees in England until the 1920s in our world). To make her mark and cement her place in the department, Emily's attempting to finish off her Encyclopedia of Faerie with a series of additional entries on the Folk: the Hidden of this region (from the High Fae, or Tall Ones, to the wee brownies, sprites, fox-faeries and others of their lesser stature). She's been working on her Encyclopedia for nine years already, and when it's finally finished and accepted for publication, it will be the most comprehensive of its kind in her world. A worthy endeavour indeed, and one that might finally shift her title from adjunct professor to tenured one.
Before she can begin, though, this gently-bred and college-residing scholar must learn to fend for herself (and her immense black hound) in the extremely rustic conditions of her rented cottage: chop her own firewood, haul her water from the stream out back, shovel snow, and lug provisions up the steep track from the nearest village. She must make pleasant conversation with her landlord and the villagers, a skill she has never yet managed to master. As she says herself, "I may be a poor judge of human feeling, but I have had plenty of experience with putting my feet wrong..." Her interactions with the amused, occasionally bemused, and sometimes hostile locals are a constant source of simmering amusement to readers even as they frustrate Emily's efforts to get her studies under way..
But all that is nothing to the frustration she feels when her department's Golden Boy, Professor Bambleby, turns up with two graduate students in tow, blithely declaring he is there to oversee her efforts. And he arrives just before the winter snows set in, making it impossible for Emily to send him packing back to England.
Worst of all, her dog likes him!
The journal entries in Emily's inimitable, irascible voice are a delight to read, and the scholarly footnotes provide much background information via references to species of fae and other scholarly works related to her current pursuits. She's adept at parsing folklore to tease out useful clues for dealing with the courtesies expected for meeting the local wee ones and obtaining their cooperation.
But then those adorable wee ones meet Bambleby, and their extreme reactions to him set Emily's senses on high alert. Just who - or what - will be sharing her cottage over the dark, cold months?
The mystery and adventure of the following winter is a page-turner, with other-worldly excursions and twisty deals with fae both Tall and wee, through breathtaking scenery and spellbinding terror. And always a new problem to solve that needs every nuance Emily can glean from her mind's encyclopedic knowledge of fairy tales the world over.
I left Emily's world this first time with relief, joy, wonder, and eagerness for more.
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